Article

20350 ／ながわまち

Nagano Prefecture 小県郡

Nagawa Town

Winter travelers got gruel and a fire.

Wada Pass relief station

Photo by Charles's Wain (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Hoshikuso Pass

Shafts about 3 m across and 3 m deepoverlap in layers at this mining site.

A National Historic Site, designated on January 29, 2001. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, some 200 crater-like hollows about 10 m across have been confirmed, with shafts about 3 m in diameter and 3 m deep overlapping in layers: the remains of mining for raw obsidian.

National Historic Site, designated January 29, 2001
Some 200 hollows, about 10 m across
Shafts about 3 m in diameter and 3 m deep

02 ／ Wada post town honjin

Used as a local government and farmco-op office until 1984.

Wada post town honjin in Nagawa Town — Photo by Charles's Wain (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Part of the Nakasendo National Historic Site. The town says this main building, the largest in the Wada post town, was rebuilt after the great fire of 1861 (Bunkyu 1), ahead of Princess Kazunomiya's journey that November. After the Meiji Restoration it served as a government office and a farm cooperative office, and was restored over five years from 1986.

Part of the Nakasendo National Historic Site
Used as a government and farm co-op office until 1984
Restored over five years from 1986

03 ／ Tateiwa washi

Handmade paper made as a winter sidelinestopped once; a society formed two years later.

An article on the town's website says Tateiwa washi is handmade paper made in the Tateiwa district since around 1760. Farmers began it as a winter sideline, and its main use was shoji paper. It stopped in 1977, and in 1979 volunteers formed the Tateiwa Washi Preservation Society. The article says rinsing the boiled kozo in water was done, in the old days, in the Yoda River.

Made in the Tateiwa district since around 1760
Stopped in 1977; society formed in 1979
Main use was shoji paper

Nagawa Town 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 April 2013)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

A town with no station, 39 minutes by bus from Ueda Station.

about 6,000 people
Rural district town

The town has no railway station. Take the Japan Railway Bus Kanto local bus on the Wada Pass North Line, on a service that runs every day, from Ueda Station and you reach the Nagakubo-Furumachi stop in 39 minutes. The town is surrounded by mountains on three sides and holds the headwaters of the Yoda River; it was formed on October 1, 2005, by the merger of Nagato Town and Wada Village.

People living here: 5,600people
Area: 183.86km²
Households: 2,318households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 3 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —2 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.

Nagawa Town in Japan36.270°N 138.258°E

to UedaLocal bus39min

Travel times follow ジェイアールバス関東『和田峠北線・長和町内巡回バス時刻表』（2026年8月20日改正。長久保営業所 0268-68-2106。A4の画像PDF。目で読んだ） (checked 2026-10-21). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 6 municipalities.

Territory of Nagawa Town

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

21.3km

Ueda City, Tateshina Town, Shimosuwa Town, Matsumoto City, Suwa City, Chino City

Nagawa Town isthis kind of town.

01The Wada Pass relief station is a hut on the road linking the Wada and Shimosuwa post towns; the town says that in winter it gave travelers crossing Wada Pass gruel and a fire, and gave oxen and horses boiled barley free of charge. The town board of education's chronology dates its opening to 1828 (Bunsei 11)
02The Hoshikuso Pass obsidian source site is a National Historic Site, a mining site where shafts about 3 m across and 3 m deep overlap in layers. The Wada post town honjin is a main building the town introduces as a National Historic Site; it was rebuilt after the great fire and used as a government and farm co-op office until 1984
03Tateiwa washi is handmade paper made in the Tateiwa district since around 1760; it stopped in 1977 and a preservation society formed in 1979. The town has no railway station, and it is 39 minutes by local bus from Ueda Station

See the town as it is now.

Facebooknagawamachi ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Nagawa Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes