Historical Monument Spots in Eastern Shinshu Area

  • Manbei Hotel
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    4.0
    372 Reviews
    Travel / Tourism
    Nagano Kitasaku-gun Karuizawamachi Karuizawa 925

    We went to this hotel for afternoon, and it was wonderful. Biking around the hotel was very relaxing and picturesque. The hotel has a lot of history, and John Lennon used to stay here. We ordered a...

  • Honjin Omoya, Komoro Juku
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    4.0
    12 Reviews
    Travel / Tourism
    Nagano Pref. Komoroshi Ote 1-6-14
    "This history museum is on the grounds of Otemon Park in Ote, Komoro City. The building itself was where high-ranking officials like Daimyo would stay during their alternate attendance to the capital during the Edo period. It was relocated to its current location, where it was reconstructed as faithfully as possible before becoming a museum. In addition to exhibits on Komoro's history as a post town, they rent out a room called the ""Jodan-no-ma"" where the Daimyo used to stay. There is also a handicraft gallery and a cafe."

    無料で入れる歴史資料館といったところです。小諸駅大手門公園内に有る建物で、説明書からですが18~19世紀に建てられました。小諸宿の賑やかな時代を想像させる古民家です。

  • Komoro Castle Otemon Gate
    Travel / Tourism
    Nagano Pref. Komoroshi Ote 1-150
    Famous as an example of large gate architecture representative of eastern Japan, this castle gate is inside Otemon Park located in Komoro City, Nagano Prefecture. Inside the turret, there are limited time special exhibitions that are free to view. In addition, it has been selected as a nationally-designated Important Cultural Property, making it visited by many tourists.
  • Kyu Mikasa Hotel
    Travel / Tourism
    Nagano Pref. Kitasakugunkaruizawamachi Karuizawa 1339-342
    A historic building located in Karuizawa Town. This hotel was built by the industrialist Naoyoshi Yamamoto in 1906. Purely Western in design, the interior is decorated with accoutrements that were both cutting edge and of the highest class at the time, including a chandelier with electric lights and a carpet made in England. Prominent men such as Eiichi Shibusawa, Fumimaro Konoe, and Takeo Arishima once stayed here at what was called “the Rokumeikan of Karuizawa,” a name which alludes to the cultural cachet of the hotel. The hotel remained in operation until the 1970 and was designated a national Important Cultural Property in 1980.
  • Old Missionary House
    Travel / Tourism
    Nagano Pref. Uedashi Shimonogou 812-8
    The Old Missionary House is about a 25-minute drive from the Ueda-Sugadaira Interchange, next to Inishie no Oka Park. Built in 1904 and later moved to its present location, the building housed women who were Methodist missionaries from Canada, affiliated with Shinzancho Church. Originally it was next to the large Baika Kindergarten, and a training school for nannies was established there, so that it became a regional center for training daycare workers. Built in an early American colonial style, it is a highly valued building.
  • Former Residence of Toson Shimazaki
    Travel / Tourism
    Nagano Saku-shi Maeyama 1380-3
    "A 10-minute drive from the Nakagomi Station or the Saku-minami Interchange. This building, located on the grounds of the Teishoji Temple west of Lake Dougen, has been used as a set in films. The restored home Toson Shimazaki lived in for six years from 1899 while working as a teacher in the Komoro Gijuku school, the layout of the structure differs somewhat from how it was originally due to two moves and the requirements of the site, but the materials of the building remain unchanged. The building is also known as the place where Toson began writing ""The Broken Commandment,"" his most celebrated novel. The building's veranda has a view of the temple grounds and visitors can view areas such as the doma earthen floored room and irori sunken hearth inside the home."
  • Former Nakagomi School
    Travel / Tourism
    Nagano Saku-shi Nakagomi 1877
    "A five-minute walk from Namezu Station and an eight-minute drive from the Saku-minami interchange. This former school building, located right next to Seichi Park, was constructed in 1875. It is the oldest extant Western-style school building in the country and has been designated an Important Cultural Property and National Historic Site as an extremely important example of historic architecture. Due to its many glass windows and the stained glass windows decorating the first and second floors, an extreme rarity at the time, it was nicknamed the ""Glass School."" A taiko drum was used in the octagonal steeple jutting out from the center of the roof to announce the time and was thus known as the taiko tower. A lovely wisteria trellis stands in front of the school."
  • Sanada Stone
    Travel / Tourism
    Nagano Ueda-shi Ninomaru 6263I
    A huge rock which is part of the stone base of Ueda Castle, built by Sanada Masayuki in 1583. There are many examples across Japan of feudal lords incorporating a particularly large rock into the stone bases of their castles as a display of their power. Situated on the right side of the Higashi-koguchi-yagura-mon gate, the stone is 2.5 meters high and three meters wide, making it the largest stone in the castle base. According to legend, when Sanada Masayuki's son, Sanada Nobuyuki, was made the lord of Matsushiro Domain, he attempted to take the stone with him as a memento of his father, but the rock was unable to be moved in even the slightest.
  • Stone Tahoto
    Travel / Tourism
    Nagano Ueda-shi Bessho Onsen 2347 Jourakuji
    A stone spire located near the main temple building of the Joraku-ji Temple. The three meter tall tower stands amidst a forest of cedars. According to legend, the temple's principal object of worship, a statue of a thousand armed Kannon, appeared along with a huge pillar of flame; a stone inscription states the two tier stone steeple was offered to the statue along with sutras in 1262. The steeple has been designated a national Important Cultural Property; it and another at the Shobodaiji Temple in Shiga Prefecture are the only stone tahoto two tier steeples in the country. A valuable historical relic, the moss-covered spire has endured 700 years of winds and snows.
  • Anrakuji Temple Octagonal three-storied Pagoda
    Travel / Tourism
    Nagano Ueda-shi Bessho Onsen 2361 Anrakuji
    A wooden pagoda standing on the grounds of the Anrakuji Temple. The only wooden octagonal pagoda in the country, this rare structure has been designated a National Treasure. The pagoda's unusual form makes use of a pent roof on the lowest level; the reason why it is octagonal is because it was faithfully built according to a style of Zen architecture brought from China in the Kamakura period. A 2004 survey made clear the tower was erected in the 1290s at the end of the Kamakura period, making it Japan's oldest example of Zen architecture.
  • Suikyuso (Fomer Asabuki Sanso Hotel)
    Travel / Tourism
    Nagano Kitasaku-gun Karuizawamachi Nagakura 217 Karuizawa
    A historic building located inside the Karuizawa Taliesin resort complex in Nagakura, Karuizawa Town, Kitasaku County, Nagano Prefecture. Designed by American architect William Merrell Vories and built as a holiday home for businessman Tsunekichi Asabuki in 1931, the structure has been designated a National Tangible Cultural Property. The structure was dismantled and rebuilt in its current location in 2008 and is used for exhibitions and concerts.

Nagano Areas

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Nagano prefecture is an exciting mix of mountains, hot spring monkeys, and preserved Edo history. At the heart of the Japanese Alps, Nagano is one of the country’s most popular destinations, whether in winter for its snow sports and the much-loved Jigokudani Monkey Park or in the warmer months for discovering the undulating hills on foot. For fantastic Edo architecture, head to the Kiso Valley for a 60-kilometer stretch of quaint wooden buildings that marked the Nakasendo route 200 years ago.

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