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20218 ／ちくまし

Chikuma City

Round part: oval or rounded-rectangular.

Mori Shogunzuka, restored mound

01 ／ Ritual performance

A young man hung upside down from a bridgeswings a lion head over the water.

At the festival of Amenomiya-niimasu Hiyoshi Shrine, when the procession reaches Saijo Bridge just before Karasaki Shrine at the edge of the village, a young man holding a lion head is hung upside down from the bridge. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls this "hashigakari." The city's plan says it was held every April 29 until 1972 and every three years since.

Hashigakari
National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, 1981
Every three years since 1972 (city plan)

02 ／ Shrine building

The oldest building in the precinctis a Muromachi-period auxiliary shrine.

The oldest building in the precinct of Takemizuwake Shrine is the main hall of its auxiliary shrine, Korasha, which the city's plan dates to the early 16th century. It is a Prefectural Treasure. The Japan Heritage site says the renga poet Iio Sogi composed a verse at a renga gathering at the Hachiman shrine, which shows that such gatherings were held there then.

Korasha main hall (auxiliary shrine)
Prefectural Treasure, 1975
Muromachi period

03 ／ Townscape

The house of a raw-silk export pioneer who preached"no borders in trade" was restored and refurbished.

Inariyama was selected in 2014 as a Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. Kurashikan is the Matsubayashi residence, built by Matsubayashi Gennosuke and Matsubayashi Genkuro, who preached "no borders in trade" and pioneered raw-silk exports from the late Edo period into the Meiji era. The city restored and refurbished it. It stands on the north side of the district.

Matsubayashi Gennosuke and Genkuro
Preservation District, 2014
North side of the district

Chikuma City from the sky

Now and 1974–78. Tap a photo to zoom in.

Now1974–78

Wide (about 6 km across)

Close (about 1.5 km across)

Now (shot September–October 2024)Shot 1974–78

Source: Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) GSI Tiles（全国最新写真（シームレス）／国土画像情報（第一期：1974〜1978年撮影））

Open in GSI Maps (now)Open in GSI Maps (1974–78)

Living here

Four Shinano Railway stations, and JR Obasute.

about 60,000 people

The city says it has four Shinano Railway stations, Togura, Chikuma, Yashiro and Yashiro-koko-mae, and Obasute Station on the JR Shinonoi Line. The Japan Heritage site advises travelers from the Kanto area to take the Hokuriku Shinkansen and change to the Shinano Railway at Ueda, and travelers from the Kansai area to take a Chuo Line limited express and change at Shinonoi. Togura is the gateway station.

People living here: 58,852people
Area: 119.79km²
Households: 22,023households
Rent (average for rentals): 43,468yen
Healthcare: 4 hospitals ／ 41 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —17 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.

Shape

Borders 5 municipalities.

Chikuma City in Japan36.531°N 138.115°E

Territory of Chikuma City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (Administrative Area Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari.Lakes: National Land Numerical Information (Lake Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari. Prepared with the approval of the Director-General of the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, using its Digital Map 25000 (Spatial Data Framework) and Digital Map 25000 (Place Names and Public Facilities). (承認番号平27情使、第585号)

North to south

13.7km

Nagano City, Sakaki Town, Omi Village, Chikuhoku Village, Ueda City

Travel times per leg are not published by the municipality, so they are not shown.

Chikuma City isthis kind of town.

01Mori Shogunzuka Kofun, on a summit 490 m above sea level on the right bank of the Chikuma River, is a keyhole-shaped tomb 100 m long in two tiers, dated to the mid-4th century. Its round part is oval or rounded-rectangular, and its stone burial chamber, 7.7 m long, has rounded corners (National Historic Site, Hanishina Tumulus Cluster)
02The Obasute terraced rice fields are a National Important Cultural Landscape and Obasute (Tagoto no Tsuki) is a National Place of Scenic Beauty. The Japan Heritage site says that building Oike pond in the early Edo period let terraces spread across the whole slope
03The city announced in December 2025 that part of the original of "Hashiba Senku," a renga sequence prayed for victory in 1578 (Tensho 6), was found among documents of the Matsuda family, hereditary head priests of Takemizuwake Shrine. The Aratojo castle ruins are a city-designated historic site

See the town as it is now.

Facebookchikuma.city ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Chikuma City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

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