Chikuma

Closed for repair until Jan 2027. A beautifully restored traditional building with a fascinating museum out the back.

Focusing on the work of the political cartoonist Hidezo Kondo.

A comprehensive museum with a permanent display room, a special exhibitions room, a library reading and reference room, a visual media room, and a lecture hall.

This is a very pretty park that has a great display of exquisite white cherry blossoms in spring. It is also a good place for a picnic, and there is play equipment for the kids. Beautiful lawns and a nice view across the Chikuma River valley from the pavilion at the top of the park.

The best time to view the blossoms is usually in early April. Good viewing places include Sketch Park (スケッチパーク) and Uwadaira Viewpoint (上平展望台).

Enjoy lion dances, drum performances, fireworks and the spectacle of portable shrines being paraded through the streets.

Listen to the big booms echoing up and down the valley during the massive fireworks display and eat your fill from the numerous food stalls.

See reenactments from prehistoric times at the Sarashina no Sato Ancient Experience Park.

You can soak your feet for free in this footbath onsen.

Although it is the most expensive public bathhouse in Togura Kamiyamada Onsen, it is also the most well equipped with the greatest variety of baths. The separate male and female areas each have a large indoor bath decorated with colourful natural boulders. The indoor area also has a sauna, jet baths, and a freshwater (cold) bath. The outdoor bath area has elegant gardens and contains baths you can lie down in, baths you can recline in, a stone slab with hot water trickling over it that is great for lying on at any time of the year, a large, sheltered bath, and two or three large ceramic tub baths.

The separate men's and women's baths have two indoor baths, as well as one large outdoor bath and a ceramic pot bath in a nicely treed area. If you like your onsens hot, this is the place for you.

A pleasant neighborhood onsen with 3 indoor baths of varying temperatures and large windows that catch the afternoon sun. From the baths you can access a zen-like outdoor garden area with benches, potted bamboo, and white gravel.

New modern building completed in 2015. Several baths in different styles and a restaurant.

Mt Gorigamine (五里ケ峰) (1094 m). Drive south on route 18 and take the first on the left after the Isobe Minami intersection. Cross the railway line, and take the first on the right. About half way up the hill is a car park. Follow the signs for Gorigamine. It's about a 2-hour climb to the top and involves an ascent of 600 m from the car park. On the way back down, follow a path to the left along the ridge to the ruins of Katsurao Castle (葛尾城) on Mt Katsurao (葛尾山). Keep you eyes open along the path for bits and pieces of the old fortifications. At the castle site are a few memorial stones and a pavilion for taking a rest. The views down to Chikuma to the north and west and Sakaki to the south are terrific.

And pick up a Hiking/Cycling brochure from Kamesei Ryokan and cycle along the Chikuma River cycle path.

Strawberry picking from November to June.

Pick apples from October to early December, grapes in September.

Shateki involves shooting at targets with a cork gun and trying to win prizes. Look for the 射的 signs in the narrow alleys of Kamiyamada.

A stainless steel slide that you ride down on luge type contraptions. The course is 710 winding metres long and drops over a 100 m from top to bottom. The ticket price includes going up on the chair lift. Free for infants, but children under 9 years old need to accompanied by an adult. Awesome fun for everybody!