Official Travel Guide of Shinanomachi, Nagano

Did you know Shinanomachi has such lovely horses? Yuki-maru and Chacha-maru are 11-year-old small sized horse of Japanese breed. They live in the Horse Lodge that the C.W. Nicol Afan Woodland Trust build at the foothill of Mt. Kurohime. To “bring back the beautiful nature of Japan, and the beautiful heart to appreciate the nature,” Mr. C.W. Nicol bought a portion of devastated woodland for himself 35 years ago, and has successfully restored the forest with plentiful biodiversity. Now he is on the next endeavor to “bring back the horses working in the field” to support his forest restoration, as such the lovely buddies arrived here in 2015. Their mission is the “horse logging,” in which a horse drags the …

History of Shinshu Uchihamono About 450 years ago, during the War period, many swordsmiths moved here to the Shinanomachi area from Echigo region to repair weapons and armors used in war. After that, villagers learned the techniques by blacksmiths who moved to the area, and have been used to make agricultural tools and forest tools. The technique has been handed down from master to disciple, and from child to grandchild, with incremental improvements. Even in the 21st century, there are some craftsmen’s workshops dotted in Furuma area that make cutting blades using traditional techniques. One of the reasons that the area flourished as a cutting tool production is that it was an important place of traffic along the Hokkoku Kaido …