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Nasu Mukunone

Nasu Mukunone

Feel nature, savor memorable dishes, and enjoy the space of a luxurious and relaxing retreat at Mukunone. The grounds of Mukunone consist of three areas: AUBERGE featuring villa accommodation and a restaurant that serves dishes prepared with a wide variety of seasonal ingredients and specialty food of Nasu; B&B for a casual overnight stay and breakfast; and Mizuniwa featuring its one and only landscape designed by the architect Junya Ishigami. In this precious space, you can spend time connecting with magnificent nature and reflecting on yourself. 【About Mizuniwa】 Mizuniwa is a spectacular architectural and art piece created with the precise calculation and sensibility of the architect Junya Ishigami. It is a place with a picturesque landscape that makes you want to close your eyes and take deep breaths. Trees keep growing and the stream continues to flow. With these continuous changes, Mizuniwa is a forever unfinished beautiful landscape. *Mizuniwa is open to the public (reservation required).

Nikko kaido Oshu kaido TOCHIGI
Shimotsuke To-ou-e Illumination

Shimotsuke To-ou-e Illumination

The Tenpyo-no-Oka Park located in Shimotsuke City, is the one of the most popular cherry blossoms viewing spot in Tochigi. In fact, here was an important site for the “Shimotsuke Kokubunji Temple” since more than 1,300 years ago. Inspired by Shimotsuke Kokubunji’s “Kekae” festival for the peace of the nation, the “Shimotsuke To-ou-e” illumination held every summer, which over 6,000 cup lanterns are placed on the lawn of the park. *Please check the homepage of the Shimotsuke City's website before your trip!   ■Schedule July 20(Sat):17:00~17:30 Shimotsuke Tououe Illumination Open Ceremony   July 21(Sun):17:00~17:30 Fasion Runway Event  

Nikko kaido Oshu kaido TOCHIGI
Morito Syuzou

Morito Syuzou

Founded in 1874, this brewery has been making delicious, quality-driven sake for over 140 years. Morito Brewery is a traditional sake brewery that places high value on the rice grown in-house in the vast rice plantations surrounding the brewery, the Shojinzawa water which has been chosen as one of Japan's top 100 water sources, and the handiwork of the local Toji brew master, ensuring the preservation of the traditional taste of their sake. The brewery offers a variety of sake flavors including their original sake made with a combination of the hand-produced sake brewing techniques of the past and the best parts of modern sake brewing technology.

Nikko kaido Oshu kaido TOCHIGI
Itamuro Kenko no Yu Green Green

Itamuro Kenko no Yu Green Green

This day spa is located in Nasushiobara City. Its indoor baths leverage the vast amounts of hot spring water on hand while its open-air baths featuring transparent and colorless alkaline simple hot spring water are said to help with conditions such as nerve pain and muscle soreness. The Ami no Yu open-air baths, one of the spa's most notable features, allow bathers to soak in water deeper than their waists while holding on to ropes suspended from the rafters. The spa's different baths rotate between the two genders on a weekly basis."

Nikko kaido Oshu kaido TOCHIGI
Tochigi Prefectural Museum

Tochigi Prefectural Museum

The Tochigi Prefectural Museum in Utsunomiya City is located in Tochigi Central Park and collects, preserves, and researches materials relating to Tochigi's nature and culture. This museum was opened as a general museum aimed at deepening understanding of Tochigi's nature and culture in October of 1982. The 72m spiral slope flora and fauna of Nikko, Tochigi's most famous area, exhibit is a site to see.The exhibition displays the animals in order of elevation and environment from the 600m elevation of the area around the Shinkyo Bridge to the 2578m elevation of the peak of Mt. Shirane. The exhibition rooms introduce the history of Tochigi from its geological age to the present, with themes on each era in chronological order, making the history easy to understand.The museum also hosts a variety of other themed exhibitions and planned exhibits as well as exhibits on nature, geology, plants and animal introductions."

Nikko kaido Oshu kaido TOCHIGI
Itamuro Onsen

Itamuro Onsen

A peaceful Onsen resort in the mountain ravines located in the western Nasu mountains. The clear alkaline hot spring water is known for its health benefits and the Onsen was designated as a “National Health Spa” by the Ministry of the Environment in 1971. Nestling into a natural landscape and surrounded by a richly preserved environment, most visitors come here for in search of the renowned health effects. Long known as a rustic therapeutic spa, the Onsen maintains its distinctive atmosphere. The temperature of the source of spring water is from 38℃ to 45℃, and its lukewarm water is gentle to the body.

Nikko kaido Oshu kaido TOCHIGI
Nikko Onsen

Nikko Onsen

The Onsen area spreads around two Shinto shrines (the Toshogu and the Futarasan-jinja) and a Buddhist temple (the Rinnoji) of Nikko. The source of hot spring was rediscovered in recent years at the place where Kobo Daishi, a famous Buddhist monk and skilled calligrapher of the 8th century, used to call it a “hot spring of a vision”. The clear hot spring water, which is more comfortable for people who do not like sulphur, helps stiff shoulders and nerve pain and promotes beautiful skin. It is perfectly located to visit the World Heritage sites, stroll around the Monzenmachi Street and take a relaxing soak afterward.

Nikko kaido Oshu kaido TOCHIGI
Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art (Batoh)

Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art (Batoh)

A museum dedicated to the works of Hiroshige Utagawa, an Ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period. You can get a glimpse of Japanese culture of the 19th century through his original drawings and Hanga (woodblock prints). The entire museum is made of local cedar and washi (handcrafted paper) designed by the global architect, Kengo Kuma, with a concept of “the traditional and serene appearance that expresses the artistry and tradition of Hiroshige”. Many visitors also come here to study design.

Nikko kaido Oshu kaido TOCHIGI
Irohazaka

Irohazaka

Irohazaka is a pair of winding roads (ascending and descending) connecting Nikko-city and the mountainous Lake Chuzenji area. The roads are named after the 48 syllables of the Japanese alphabet (kana) as they contain 48 hairpin turns while rising and falling 440 metres in elevation. The best viewing spot is the Akechidaira observatory on the descending road. The picturesque landscape is known as the most beautiful place to celebrate autumn leaves in Nikko, and it is well worth putting up with the traffic on the roads at this popular time.

Oshu kaido Nikko kaido TOCHIGI
Shiobara Onsen’s Taketori Monogatari, Illumination by Bamboo Lanterns

Shiobara Onsen’s Taketori Monogatari, Illumination by Bamboo Lanterns

In the Monzen and Furumachi districts at the heart of Shiobara Onsen, bamboo lanterns line the main streets, casting a soft, dreamlike light that enhances the charm of the hot spring town at night. The lanterns installed along the bridge railings and pathways are handcrafted by local residents, with as many as 1,000 adorning the area. During the event period, they are lit from sunset until around 9:00 p.m., creating a retro, romantic atmosphere in the streets of Shiobara Onsen.

Nikko kaido Oshu kaido TOCHIGI
Nagamine Park

Nagamine Park

One of "Japanese city park best 100", the famous azalea viewing place in Kanto City, North Kanto City, about 5,000 azaleas in full bloom here, and every year in May will be held “azalea festival”, swarming with many people.   From early April to mid-May (the peak season for cherry blossoms and azaleas), the park is illuminated at night, and the dreamlike flower scene makes people linger.   There are also lawn parks and amusement facilities in the park, which are suitable for family picnics. On a clear day, you can see Mt. Takahara and Mt. Nikko from the observatory in the park.

Nikko kaido Oshu kaido TOCHIGI
Hanazono sou

Hanazono sou

Hanazono sou is a farm stay operated by a farming family making rice for 15 generations in Hanazono, Ohtawara City. It is a lodging where guests can indulge themselves in the slow flow of time and the scenery of the vast countryside as well as the starry sky at night. For dinner, guests can cook for themselves in the shared kitchen or with the BBQ equipment. You can harvest chemical-free vegetables from the field and use them for dinner. They also serve home-grown rice freshly steamed on the rice-husk stove. After the meal, you are invited to enjoy Hanazono sou’s original Japanese sake for a relaxing time. In the morning, you will choose a Japanese or Western breakfast and cook it with the farm stay staff. The Japanese breakfast is freshly cooked rice on the rice-husk stove, miso soup with homemade miso, and a dish of seasonal vegetables. The Western breakfast is pancakes using homemade rice flour and soup featuring seasonal vegetables.

Nikko kaido Oshu kaido TOCHIGI
Isoyama Shrine Hydrangea Festival

Isoyama Shrine Hydrangea Festival

Isoyama Shrine in Kanuma City is a historic shrine that received a Goshuin (red seal) from the Tokugawa Shogunate, and is now known as one of the best known hydrangea viewing spots in the northern Kanto region.   The shrine is also known as one of the best places for viewing hydrangeas in the northern Kanto region. The 2,500 hydrangeas of 28 varieties planted along the approach to the shrine and around the shrine pavilions are in full bloom, creating a wonderful contrast with the green of the cedar trees. During the festival, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., lanterns are lit, and the hydrangeas reflected in the pale light create an ethereal atmosphere.   A "Chinoawa" or "ring of thatch," which is said to bring good health to those who pass through it, will also be set up.

Nikko kaido Oshu kaido TOCHIGI