Nasushiobara City

The president himself designed the bank.

Takagi Kaikan, old Kuroiso Bank

Photo by Suikotei (CC BY 4.0)

01 ／ Sabigawa Fusekoshi

Water passed in a pentagonal tunnelbeneath a river that runs underground.

In 1885 the Nasu Sosui canal passed beneath the bed of the Sabigawa River, a river whose flow goes underground, through a tunnel of cut stone. Its cross-section was a pentagon, and it was about 267 m long. The gaps between the stones were filled with sulphur brought from Mount Nasu. A new tunnel beside it replaced the old one in 1969, and the shape of its outlet still remains.

Built 1885
About 267 m long
Pentagonal cross-section

02 ／ Former Aoki Villa

German influence shows stronglyin the frame and attic of this villa.

Aoki Shūzō, who served as minister to Germany and as foreign minister, built this villa on his own farm in 1888. It was designed by Matsugasaki Tsumunaga, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as his only surviving work in Japan. The exterior walls are covered in fish-scale slate, and it became an Important Cultural Property in 1999.

Central block completed 1888
Designed by Matsugasaki Tsumunaga
Important Cultural Property, 1999

03 ／ Kanshōdai

The north end of a survey baselineis a mound about 80 cm high.

In the early Meiji era a baseline for triangulation was laid out across the wide, flat Nasunogahara plain. Its north point is the Senbonmatsu Kanshōdai, and its south point is the Kanshōdai at Chikasono in Ōtawara. The distance between the two, measured several times in 1878, averaged about 10.63 km. Cut stone is set inside the mound, and a wooden tower once stood on top.

Mound about 80 cm high
Two points about 10.63 km apart (1878)
City-designated historic site

Living here

Tokyo in 68 minutes by Tohoku Shinkansen.

about 120,000 people
90 min to a city centre
Shinkansen stops here

From Nasushiobara Station, the fastest Tohoku Shinkansen to Tokyo Station without a change takes 68 minutes (JR East timetable, October 2026). The city has three JR Utsunomiya Line stations: Nishi-Nasuno, Nasushiobara and Kuroiso. It was formed in 2005 by a merger of Kuroiso City, Nishinasuno Town and Shiobara Town.

People living here: 115,210people
Area: 592.74km²
Households: 47,454households
Rent (average for rentals): 44,112yen
Healthcare: 6 hospitals ／ 65 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —28 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.

Nasushiobara City in Japan36.962°N 140.046°E

to TokyoTohoku Shinkansen68min

Travel times follow JR東日本の列車時刻表（2026年10月版・URL に 2610）。那須塩原駅の東北新幹線上り（宇都宮・大宮・東京方面）の駅時刻表と、東北・山形・秋田・北海道新幹線上りの『デジタル時刻表』（平日 003u1・土曜・休日 003u2）の『那須塩原発』と『東京着』を列車ごとに引いて差を数えた（2026-10-08 閲覧） (checked 2026-10-08). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 8 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Nasushiobara City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)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

35.3km

Tochigi Prefecture: 那須町, 大田原市, 日光市, 矢板市, 塩谷町
Fukushima Prefecture: 南会津町, 下郷町, 西郷村

Nasushiobara City isthis kind of town.

01Takagi Kaikan, near Kuroiso Station, was built in 1918 as the head office of the Kuroiso Bank and designed by the president himself; a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, its front is Ashino stone and the rest Ōya stone
02The Sabigawa Fusekoshi, part of the Nasu Sosui canal, was a pentagonal tunnel of cut stone laid in 1885 beneath a river that runs underground, and its outlet still remains as a city-designated historic site
03The former Aoki Villa and the north point of the Senbonmatsu Kanshōdai are constituent properties of the Japan Heritage story "The Future Imagined by Meiji Aristocrats: A Romance of the Opening of Nasunogahara", and the Kanshōdai became one base point of modern triangulation

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Nasushiobara City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗