Nagano Prefecture Specialties, Souvenirs, Shrines, Temples, and Travel | 47 Prefecture Guide

Nagano is The prefecture with the most neighbors in Japan, bordering eight other prefectures. And within it, mountains divide the land. These two facts make its food, crafts, and faith traditions diverse.

Specialties

Its lettuce harvest volume is the highest in Japan. In highlands around 1,000 meters above sea level, such as Kawakami Village, lettuce is shipped in summer, when it is too hot to grow it in the lowlands. It is the same idea as cabbage from Tsumagoi in Gunma.

Its shipment volume of miso is also the highest in Japan. Soybeans, rice, salt, and low temperatures. For slow fermentation, cold is not a disadvantage but a condition. It is the same logic as sake in Akita and Niigata.

Soba, Nozawana greens, and apples, whose harvest volume is second in Japan. Wines that make use of the altitude are also increasing.

Souvenirs

Dried Shinshu soba noodles, oyaki, and Obuse chestnut sweets.

Oyaki is made by wrapping vegetables in a skin of wheat or buckwheat flour and grilling it, in mountain areas where enough rice could not be harvested. Soba is the same; rice was not the only staple food in this land.

Along the approach to Zenkoji Temple, there are long-established shops selling shichimi chili pepper.

Shrines and Temples

Zenkoji Temple in Nagano City is a temple that does not belong to a specific sect. It is jointly managed by the Tendai and Jodo schools.

This is why people have long said, “Visit Zenkoji once in a lifetime.” Because it was open to people regardless of sect, anyone could make the pilgrimage. The fact that women's worship was not restricted is also considered a major reason the faith spread nationwide. The main hall is a National Treasure. It is known for okaidan-meguri, in which visitors feel their way through a dark underground passage.

Suwa Taisha Shrine is, the head shrine of the roughly 10000 Suwa shrines said to exist across Japan. It consists of four shrines: Kamisha Honmiya and Maemiya, and Shimosha Harumiya and Akimiya. It has no main sanctuary and preserves an old form of worship in which the mountain or trees themselves are regarded as the sacred object. The Onbashira Festival, held every seventh year, is an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Nagano Prefecture.

Togakushi Shrine is made up of five shrines, and the approach to Okusha is lined with cedar trees more than 400 years old.

Sightseeing

Matsumoto Castle is one of the five surviving castle keeps designated as National Treasures. Its black outer walls stand against the Northern Alps.

Kamikochi, Karuizawa, and Jigokudani Monkey Park. It is said to be the only place in the world where visitors can see Japanese macaques bathing in hot springs.

Traditional Crafts

Nationally designated items are Kiso lacquerware, Shinshu tsumugi, Iiyama Buddhist altars, Uchiyama paper, Matsumoto furniture, Nagiso lathework, and Shinshu forged blades, making 7 items.

The seven production areas are scattered across the prefecture. To reach the next area, you had to cross a mountain pass. That is why each developed independently.

For details, see [VILLAGE Report vol.28] Seven production areas in the mountains

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References: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries “Crop Statistics Survey,” Japan Federation of Miso Manufacturers Cooperatives, Nagano Prefecture, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries — Value Village Editorial Team