Nakatsugawa City

Walls link rock to rock in many places.

Naegi Castle ruins

Photo by 先従隗始 (CC0)

01 ／ Kashimo Meijiza

Giant trees about 400 years oldform the beams of a village playhouse.

Newly built in December 1893 (Meiji 26) and formally opened the next year, this rural stage is a Prefectural Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property. The city says volunteers of Kashimo Village built it as a theater with a revolving stage, a trapdoor and two hanamichi walkways, with giant trees about 400 years old and over 8 ken long assembled into its beams.

Prefectural Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property, July 12, 1972
Beams of trees about 400 years old, over 8 ken long
Newly built in 1893 (Meiji 26), opened the next year

02 ／ Ochiai stone pavement

Three stretches of stone paving, 70.8 m in all,survive as they were in the Nakasendo era.

Part of the Nakasendo National Historic Site, added to the designation in February 2010. The city says that about 840 m from the Shinano-Mino border to the Shinchaya and Yamanaka areas of Ochiai keeps much of the Nakasendo's look, and that the paving around it was restored under a historic-roads project from fiscal 1988 to 1995.

Part of the Nakasendo National Historic Site, added February 2010
Paving in 3 places, 70.8 m in all
About 840 m of the road keeps its look

03 ／ Kashimo cedar

A branch stuck in upside downis said to have taken root as this great cedar.

This cedar stands behind a jizo hall and is a National Natural Monument. The city says its age is estimated at more than a thousand years, with a girth of 13 m at eye level and a height of 30.8 m. Tradition says that during the Kenkyu era (1190-1198), Minamoto no Yoritomo, on a visit, stuck a branch in upside down and it took root.

National Natural Monument, designated December 9, 1924
13 m girth at eye level, 30.8 m high (per the city)
Age estimated at over a thousand years (said)

Living here

At Gifu Prefecture's southeastern tip, a city 28 km by 49 km.

about 80,000 people
60 min to a city centre

The city is bounded by the Kiso Mountains on the east and the Mikawa Highlands on the south, with the Kiso River running through its center. Its total area is 676.45 km². On February 13, 2005, it took in six towns and villages of Ena District and Yamaguchi Village from Nagano Prefecture, giving it its present extent. The gateway is Nakatsugawa Station, about a 10-minute bus ride from City Hall.

People living here: 76,570people
Area: 676.45km²
Households: 29,690households
Rent (average for rentals): 40,853yen
Healthcare: 2 hospitals ／ 53 clinics

Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Population from 2005 onward (municipal boundary changed).2005-02-13 に合併。2005年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —23 nurseries and similar
Home purchase subsidy: —
Average annual temperature: —

These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.

ACCESS

Where you can go from here.

Nakatsugawa City in Japan35.488°N 137.501°E

to NagoyaLtd. exp. Shinano48min

Travel times follow 名古屋→中津川：JR東日本『駅の時刻表』（2026年10月版）の特急しなの号別ページ（1号07:00→07:48・7号10:00→10:48・11号12:00→12:48・17号15:00→15:48・19号16:00→16:48 はいずれも名古屋発→中津川着48分）。新宿→中津川：JRバス関東『デジタル時刻表』（2026年3月1日改正）『東京・新宿～中津川・可児・多治見』の中央ライナー可児号（全日）。下りバスタ新宿07:55発→中津川駅12:55着＝300分 (checked 2026-10-15). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 9 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Nakatsugawa City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

49.0km

Gifu Prefecture: 恵那市, 白川町, 東白川村, 下呂市
Nagano Prefecture: 南木曽町, 王滝村, 阿智村, 平谷村, 大桑村

Nakatsugawa City isthis kind of town.

01Naegi Castle ruins, the site of the Tohyama family's castle on a 432 m hill on the north bank of the Kiso River, is a National Historic Site; the Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that its stone walls are built to link rock to rock in many places, and the city calls the walls that take in huge boulders its greatest feature
02Kashimo Meijiza is a rural stage newly built in 1893 and opened in 1894, designated by the prefecture as an Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property; the Ochiai stone pavement is part of the Nakasendo National Historic Site, with 70.8 m in three places surviving as it was, and Ochiai was the 44th post town from Edo
03The Kashimo cedar is a National Natural Monument, said to have taken root from a branch stuck in upside down; on February 13, 2005, Yamaguchi Village (Magome) moved from Nagano Prefecture into Nakatsugawa, Gifu Prefecture

See the town as it is now.

Facebookcity.nakatsugawa ↗

Source: Wikidata (P2002, P2003, P2013, P2397)

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Nakatsugawa City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗