Nagatoro Town

A town with a "window on the Earth".

Iwadatami, Nagatoro

Photo by Saigen Jiro (CC0)

01 ／ Geology

Rock formed 20–30 km undergroundsurfaces by the river.

The rock of Iwadatami (岩畳, "rock tatami") is crystalline schist, formed when seabed sediments were pushed some 20–30 km underground. Because it can be seen here at the surface, Nagatoro is called a "window on the Earth" (地球の窓). Researchers and students have kept coming since Dr. Edmund Naumann visited in 1878, and Chichibu-Nagatoro is known as the "birthplace of Japanese geology" (日本地質学発祥の地).

Formed some 20–30 km underground
Visited by Dr. Naumann, 1878
Birthplace of Japanese geology

02 ／ River boats

Down the rapids beside Iwadatamiin wooden boats.

Boatmen steer wooden boats about 6 km down the Arakawa River (荒川), from Oyahana Bridge (親鼻橋) to Takasago Bridge (高砂橋), through the Kotaki rapids (小滝の瀬) and past the cliffs of Chichibu Sekiheki (秩父赤壁) to Iwadatami. When the water is high, 3 km takes about 15–20 minutes. Three operators, including Chichibu Railway's Nagatoro Line Kudari (長瀞ラインくだり), run the boats, and river trips at Nagatoro go back more than 100 years.

About 6 km in all
Three boat operators
Over 100 years of history

03 ／ Mt. Hodo

On the mountain said to have stopped a fire,about 3,000 wintersweet in winter.

Legend says that when Yamato Takeru was caught in a mountain fire, wild dogs put it out and led him to the summit, and the mountain was named Hodosan (火止山, "fire-stopping mountain"); this is told as the origin of Hodosan Shrine (寳登山神社). Around the 497 m summit of Mt. Hodo (宝登山), about 3,000 wintersweet (ロウバイ) plants in some 800 clumps bloom yellow and sweet-scented from late December to late February.

497 m high
About 3,000 wintersweet plants
Late December to late February

Living here

About 2 hours from Ikebukuro, with one change.

about 7,000 people
Rural district town

There are four Chichibu Railway stations in town. The town says Nogami Station is about 2 hours from Ikebukuro, changing to the Chichibu Railway at Kumagaya or Yorii. The town pays medical costs for children from birth through high school, and school lunches at its elementary and junior high schools are free. The whole town lies within Nagatoro-Tamayodo Prefectural Natural Park (県立長瀞玉淀自然公園).

People living here: 6,807people
Area: 30.43km²
Households: 2,605households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 5 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.

Shape

Borders 4 municipalities.

Nagatoro Town in Japan36.115°N 139.110°E

Territory of Nagatoro Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

7.2km

皆野町, 寄居町, 本庄市, 美里町

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

Nagatoro Town isthis kind of town.

01A town that took the name of the scenic Nagatoro gorge in 1972, where the crystalline schist of Iwadatami is called a "window on the Earth"
02River trips in wooden boats steered by boatmen down about 6 km of the Arakawa River go back more than 100 years
03On Mt. Hodo, where wild dogs are said to have put out a fire, about 3,000 wintersweet plants bloom in winter

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Nagatoro Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗