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Fukuura Hakkei (Fukuura Eight Views）
The travel of collecting stamp in Kashiwazaki! Let’s join Kashiwazaki fan club, travel capes of Kashiwazaki, complete all stamps and get a premium card! In Kashiwazaki located in the southwest part of Niigata prefecture, the coastline eroded by rough waves of the sea of Japan are continued. Among them, the most beautiful landscapes are called “Fukuura Hakkei (Fukuura eight views)” Those beautiful landscapes are “Daruma rock”, “Cape Banjin”, “Onodachi”, “Kamomegahana”, “Shojo cave”, “Matsugasaki”, “Hijirigahana” and “Ushigakubi”. At there, you can enjoy various kind of landscapes of reefs, capes, caves, cliffs and faults. In 1271, saint Nichiren enraged Kamakura shogunate government and banished to Sado Island. In 1274, he was pardoned […]
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Tokamachi Snow Festival
“Tokamachi snow Festival” is very popular for its warm hospitality. It was fun just looking at various snow statues from artistic one to the one made by people in general. There were famous guest singers in the folk song show and there was also a Kimono show. I was very excited when I saw fireworks set off. Tokamachi in Niigata prefecture is one of the snowiest area in Japan. In the winter, 2 to 3m of snow falls and it is a special snowy area in Japan. Even in such difficult environment of snowy region, “Tokamachi Snow Festival” is a snow festival born from the thought of local people who […]
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Sado Gold Mine and recommended sightseeing spots around the gold mine
Actually, there is no mine named Sado Gold Mine on Sado Island. In Sado island, Niigata Prefecture, there was a mine that was the largest in Japan and was worldly famous. This time, I’m introducing “Sado Gold Mine” which is known as “island of gold”.Japan used to be called “Japan, the country of gold”. The reason was there were numbers of mines of gold and silver all over Japan. Especially “Sado Gold Mine” was different in scale with 400kg of gold and 40t silver per year at its best. These gold and silver supported the finance of Tokugawa Edo government. Its history dates back a long time ago and after it […]
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Swan of Lake Hyoko
Swans flew to Lake Hyoko! If you want to see them, recommended time will be morning and evening! Please also enjoy the feeding show by Uncle Swan! Lake Hyoko, a famous swan landing zone is located in Suibara area of Agano City, Niigata Prefecture. Lake Hyoko was originally an agricultural pond about 0.1㎢ built in Edo era. At that time, it was “gourd-shaped”, so it started to call as “Lake Hyoko (Lake Gourd) ”. It was 1950 that the swan flew for the first time. Zhusaburo Yoshikawa (commonly known as Uncle Swan) has succeeded to feed wild swans which is very cautious for the first-time in Japan, Lake Hyoko was designated […]
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Noh Play on Sado Island
In fact, Sado Island has one-third of all Noh stages in Japan. Noh play is part of the lives of the islanders, so if you want to see a Noh play for the first time, Sado Island is the place to be…. Japanese unique entertainment “Noh play” which is also registered as a World Heritage is very popular in Sado Island of Niigata Prefecture. Noh play of Sado Island has been penetrated the islanders’ lives as an entertainment to be performed at village festival and celebrations, so there used to be more than 200 of Noh stages in Sado Island from Edo period to Meiji era. Even now there are […]
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How to meet Japanese crested ibises on Sado Island
You can see critically endangered crested ibis on Sado island! With just 2cm of distance so you’ll be certainly excited! This time, I’m going to explain about crested ibis (Toki) who is critically endangered. Crested ibis (Toki) was present in all over east Asia from Japan, Russia, China and Korea until early 19th century. However, from the late 19th century to 20th century, many of them were hunted and most of their habitat were destroyed due to environmental degradation and they became critically endangered in the late 20th century. In Japan, in 1981, artificial breeding was attempted by capturing last 5 wild crested ibis on Sado Island, Niigata prefecture but […]
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Sado Island is called the island of exiles. Are the people who now live on Sado descended from those who were exiled to the island?
Ruzai is a punishment (exile) in which a criminal is banished from the capital to a remote place or island, especially when the exile is to an island called “Shima-Nagashi.” Ruzai is the second most serious punishment after capital punishment. Under the ancient Japanese Ritsuryo system, penalties were divided into three ranks according to distance from the capital: Konru (near), Churu (middle), and Onru (far), with the more serious the crime, the farther the exile. Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture was designated as an “Onru” place in the Nara period (in 724). (In addition to Sado, there were six other places of Onru: Izu, Oki, Awa, Tosa, and Hitachi.) […]
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Sasayama Ruin and Tokamachi City Museum (flame-shaped earthenware)
“What’s this!?” The master artist Taro Okamoto also surprised when he saw it for first time! I will introduce avant-garde earthenware of Jomon period from Tokamachi, Niigata Prefecture! A lot of ruins of the middle Jomon period which was about 5000 years to 4500 years ago have been found in the Shinano River basin (in and out of Nagaoka City, Tokamachi City and Tsunan Town) flowing in Niigata prefecture. Speaking of Jomon earthenware excavated in Niigata prefecture, the most famous is the “Kaen-gata Doki (flame-shaped earthenware),” which all Japanese people have seen in their elementary school textbooks, but it was first excavated in 1936 at the Umataka ruin in Nagaoka […]
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The Senkaku Bay on Sado Island
The Senkaku Bay on Sado Island was the holy place of the movie “Your Name”!? I went to Senkaku Bay because I’ve seen a wonderful view that is similar to the Scandinavian fjords on a travel magazines. There is “Senkaku Bay” on the southernmost part of Sotokaifu Coast, located northwest of Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture. Senkaku Bay is a fjord and is general term for 5 small bays, and the total length is about 3 kilometers. In ancient times, when the highest peak of Sado Island, Mt Kinpoku-san, erupted, lava flowed into the coastal terrace, and it was eroded by the winter winds and the rough waves of the Sea […]
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Kitamae-bune (Sadokoku Ogi MInzoku Museum)
After rowing a Tarai boat and watching the triangle house of Shukunegi in Sado Island, let’s go to “Sadokoku Ogi Minzoku Muzeum” where exhibits “Sengokubune” a large junk with loading capacity for 1,000 koku and has nostalgic atmosphere! * ”Koku” is a traditional Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is about 278.3 liters. A small village located the southern tip of Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture, Shukunegi is called as “The village of Sengokubune”. From the Middle Ages, a lot of people work for shipping and shipbuilding industries lived at there. From Edo period to Meiji era, it became a port of call of Kitamae-bune and flourished as a base […]
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Ondeko, a traditional performing art of Sado Island
Ondeko (The durum of demon) is a drum & dance unit performs in Sado Island from the Edo era. The performers dance with a scary demon mask or a dubious old man’s mask and make the audience happy. The drum of demon comes down to Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture is called “Ondeko” and this is the Shinto ritual performing art to pray for huge harvest, well-being of family, state of perfect health, prosperous business etc. and Ondeko go around the village houses one by one to keep off evil (to exorcise evil spirit).The origin of Ondeko is unknown, but it is said that Ondeko was influenced by Nogaku (Noh […]
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Bijin Bayashi (Beauty Forest)
The shower of negative ions come down! Refresh in Bijin Bayashi (Beauty Forest), a beauty beech grove! Both of your heart and body will be beautiful. In Tokamachi City, Niigata Prefecture, the beech grove of about 90 years old is extending in the hills of Matsunoyama. At the beginning of the Showa era, in order to make charcoal, all beeches around here have been cut down. However, since the year prior of cutting down was a great harvesting year of acorns once in several years, beeches grew together all at once and became a beech forest with same trunk size and height. Its tall and slim figure was too beautiful, […]