Tochigi-Ji-Guide in English
Oyama and Tochigi Area
an area where history and cities are well blended
This area primarily consists of Tochigi City, known for the street lined with warehouses, and transportation base Oyama City. Flowers of each season beautifully adorn the entire area. Historic sites, such as the remains of the Shimotsuke Provincial Monastery, and unique festivals and events also draw many tourists.
Sightseeing spot navigation
City with many old warehouses
Tochigi prospered as a post station and a distribution center in the early Edo Period. The streetscapes here retain the history and atmosphere of this city in the Edo Period. In particular, the downtown area where there are still more than 450 warehouses is a good place to feel the vestige of this former commercial city at its height of prosperity.
Three warehouses built some 200 years ago were converted into the Tochigi Kuranomachi Museum of Art, which was opened in March 2003. The collection includes works by ceramists in the Meiji Period and after, as well as those of craft workers related to Tochigi City.
Tochigi Autumn Festival
Festivals in Tochigi City are held by using Edo-type floats with dolls aboard, produced during the period from late Edo to Meiji. This type of float features brilliant carvings and embroidery, letting us know the outstanding craftsmanship of artisans those days.
Tochigi Autumn Festival was started in 1874 to celebrate the prosperity of Tochigi, which was then thriving as a leading commercial city in the northern Kanto Region. It is now held every five years. During the festival, nine floats (including six floats designated by the Prefectural Government as a Tangible Cultural Legacy) and a float with a lion mask are paraded through the main street. These floats are on display at the Tochigi Dashi Center all the time excluding the festival days.