Sightseeing Spots

In the midst of the peaceful Satoyama, get in touch with nature and experience farming hands-on. There is a "Fureai Farm," which visitors can use freely for an annual fee, and the popular "Strawberry Farm," for picking strawberries and other fruits. There are also rice cultivation, digging of bamboo shoots, udon (wheat noodle) making, potato cultivation, Satoyama walk and hiking experiences, and various other events held throughout the year.

Ranked 16th in the 1988 Japan Big Trees Ranking, this giant camphor tree is certified 1st in the prefecture. The tree has a trunk circumference of 15m, a height of 30m, and is over 1,000 years old. The tree canopy is also a magnificent sight to see. It is designated a natural monument of the prefecture.

Located in the Kitamoto Nature Observation Park, this facility serves as a base for Saitama Prefecture’s nature learning and environmental education. Various events related to observation and nature experiences are hosted on primarily Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. Inside the building, there are exhibits about nature and environmental issues and an information center filled with books related to nature. Staff are also stationed to provide information regarding nature within the park. There is a section on our website named “Park Journal,” where you can get daily updates on opening hours and events.

At this facility visitors can get a farming experience not obtainable in the city, such as rice growing and vegetable harvesting. Become the owner of your own rice field and plant and reap your own rice, or experience harvesting greenhouse strawberries. In the attached Kitagawabe History Museum, there are agricultural tools on display created from the wisdom and ingenuity of predecessors.

This 20-hectare park was established in March 1989 on the former site of Camp Drake, which was confiscated by the U.S. military in 1945, to ensure a comfortable living environment with beautiful urban landscape. The park is well known as a place for sports and recreation, with an outdoor plaza and jogging course. This vast park is also used as an evacuation site. Nearby are Tokyo Metropolitan Oizumi Central Park, Oizumi Sakura Sports Park, Tokyo Yono Green Belt (Nagakubo Ryokuchi), Niiza Green Path and Sakae Green Path in Niiza City, together serving as a large green belt that straddles municipal and prefectural borders.

The Saitama Forest Science Museum is a place where visitors can learn about both forests and forestry and deepen their understanding of the roles of forests and forestry. The Museum was built by Saitama Prefecture to encourage and support the local forestry industry.

This is a newly developed park in Hatoyama Town, with two large fir trees designated as “Hatoyama Town Scenic Trees." There is also the Midoyama near the entrance, the adjoining 88 temples of Takanokura and the yew oak of Hachiman Shrine, designated as a natural treasure by the town, allowing visitors to enjoy the “four seasons” of Hatoyama.

These twelve cities and towns and thirteen places of scenic beauty related to Matsuo Bashō’s “Oku no Hosomichi” have been recognized as influencing the scenery and lives of future generations, while preserving the elegance and atmosphere of ancient times. Collectively, these areas have been appointed as one of the top scenic spots in the country.

The largest Taiwanese Shinto shrine in Japan. This gorgeous structure is worth seeing at least once. The spiral ceiling assembled without any nails, the 5-meter Kowloon stone pillar, a 4-meter door with wood carvings of warrior gods and a coffered ceiling with dragons. You can experience authentic Taiwanese-style worship and omikuji (fortune slips) here.

The Kumagaya Municipal Ogino Ginko Museum is dedicated to Ogino Ginko, the first officially licensed female doctor in Japan who passed the medical practice examination in 1885, one of the three great historical figures of Saitama Prefecture. The museum is a Japanese-style building with tiled roof and plastered walls partly covered in wooden siding built to resemble the Nagaya-mon gate of Ginko Ogino's birthplace, and is divided into an exhibition room and a lounge area.

Please contact the farms listed in the link below for information about grape picking in Yokoze Town! Prices vary depending on the type of grape. You can also purchase grapes at the Ashigakubo Roadside Station (The farms will ship grapes when they are ready to eat. We apologize for any inconvenience if they are sold out). All farms incorporate appropriate hygiene precautions for a safe and comfortable visit.

There are around 1,500 hydrangea plants in bloom along this 3-kilometer-long road, and you can enjoy the fresh air and chirping of birds while surrounded by nature.

In 1187, the Yoshikawa clan reestablished this shrine as the Ujigami Suwa Shrine for indigenous deities. The shrines within the precincts include Yasaka Shrine, Furumine Shrine, Inari Shrine, Matsuo Shrine, Yoshikawa Tenmangu Shrine, Suijingu Eight Great Dragons, and Shikato Daimyojin. The old Shimotsuma Highway runs behind the shrine, and a Japanese bay tree in front of the precincts and a large camphor tree in the rear tell the shrine's long history. Every July, the shrine holds the Yasaka Festival, which has a history of about 400 years. The highlight is the "abare mikoshi," portable shrines that are carried and thrown high above the heads of the bearers for a spectacular sight.

The Edohigan Sakura tree located in Hachigata Castle Park is a natural town monument. This cherry blossom tree is estimated to be over 150 years old, and flowers bloom beautifully on its umbrella-shaped canopy of branches every year around the end of March. You can also enjoy the evening illuminated cherry blossoms during peak season!

The Border of Three Prefectures straddles Tochigi Prefecture’s Tochigi City, Gunma Prefecture’s Itakura Town, Saitama Prefecture’s Kazo City (around the Kitakawabe region), and comes together at a rice field approximately 500 meters to the southeast of Roadside Station Kitakawabe. The Border of Three Prefectures was located inside the Watarase River, however during the restoration of the river during the Meiji and Taishō periods, the location was changed to the current river channel. From January to March of 2016, land measurements were carried out by Tochigi City, Itakura Town, and Kazo City and an old stake made from concrete, assumed to be installed prior, was discovered and confirmed as the true point of intersection of the three prefectures.

The Hanawa Hokiichi Memorial Museum commemorates Hanawa Hokiichi, a blind scholar of Japanese studies (kokugaku) in the mid-Edo period. Apart from the famous collective title Gunsho Ruijyū and its raw lumber, there are approximately 200 archives on display inside the building. You can see a hand-stitched purse from his mother, a treasured possession he held dear throughout his life, and many other personal articles. The exhibition room also has a section for videos and audio tours.

This is a museum for classic Rolls Royce and Bentley automobiles which displays among others, Jirō Shirasu's beloved Bentley, and the Rolls Royce of the former prime minister, Shigeru Yoshida. Watch the opening and closing of the doors, listen to the sound of the engines, and see the cars in motion, feeling the power of these formerly active classic automobiles, in the present day.

The Ogose plum grove dates back to the separation of Umezono Shrine from Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine. Named after Heian period scholar, poet, and politician, Sugawara no Michizane, this grove of trees is recognized as one of the three major plum groves in Kanto. The park covers an area of around 2 hectares and is home to about 1,000 plum trees such as Shirakaga, Kobai, Koseno-ume, and most notably an ancient plum tree called Kaisetsu, estimated to be 650 years old. The Mini SL steam locomotive train running through the park is also rare within Japan. Around 20,000 plum trees, including the surrounding area, are in full bloom during peak season.

Our building is located on the historical site of the Kamakura period samurai palace “Sugaya-yakata” which transitioned to the castle “Sugaya-jō" during the Sengoku period. Opened in April of 1976 as the Saitama Prefectural Historical Data Museum, the museum was later relaunched on April 1st, 2006 for reorganization and maintenance of the prefectural museum facility. Focus was given to the collection, storage, and conducting of research on archaeological materials related to the Sugaya-yakata sites and medieval historical sites such as medieval castle buildings, and to utilize these materials for the development of education, learning, and culture. At that time, the name of the museum was changed to its current name. (For more information regarding the facility, please refer to the URL below.)

12 million cosmos flowers bloom on the 8.8 hectare fields along the Arakawa riverbank. Surrounded by a sea of cosmos flowers, you can enjoy an impressive view of the Chichibu mountain range and Mt. Fuji. The best time to see the cosmos flower is in mid-October, but poppies can also be enjoyed in May. At the Cosmos Festival in mid-October, the area is lively with stage events, refreshment stalls, and cosmos picking events.

Reopened in April 2021 as a tourism and souvenir center! This store has a modern Japanese atmosphere that stays true to Gyoda City, which has been recognized as a Japanese Heritage site. There are a wide range of 150 different types of products available for sale from around 50 brands, including local goods such as fashionably designed tabi (split-toed socks), Minamikawara slippers made of colorful fabrics from Africa and other foreign countries, "Gyoda no gyoza" (dumplings) made from local flour, Narazuke pickles, Jumangoku Manju (steamed bun), Wataboku Milk, and more. So can also rent bicycles here, so be sure to stop by on your way to sightseeing.

Located immediately next to the Ogose Station West Exit, this facility is used by many as a rest spot and meeting place, as a rendezvous point for hiking and to purchase souvenirs and light meals (rice balls, pizza, coffee, juice). There is also a free shuttle bus to SPA O Park OGOSE that departs from in front of the facility.

It is said that Minamoto no Yorinobu, on his way to defeat Taira no Tadatsune in the Heian period (794-1185), had a dream that a god on a white fox gave him a bow and arrow, aiding his win in the battle, thus spurning him to establish this shrine out of gratitude. Yakyū Inari Shrine is designated as a prefectural cultural property for its gongen-zukuri style, with highly sophisticated carvings on the interior and exterior of the building. Known for the god of good harvest, prosperous business and the arts, and most notably as the god of victory, many baseball players visit the shrine to pray due to the shrine being named "Yakyū" (baseball). The peony gardens are at peak bloom alongside wisteria and azaleas during mid-April.

Matsuyama Castle Ruins, built at the top of the Hiki Hills, is one of the most prominent flat mountain castles in the Kitamusashi region and was designated a prefectural historic site in 1925. In 2008, it was added to the Hiki Castle Site Group, alongside the already designated Sugaya Yakata ruins (Ranzan Town), Sugiyama Castle ruins (Ranzan Town) and Ogura Castle ruins (Tokigawa Town, Ranzan Town, and Ogawa Town). The castle is surrounded by a low marshy area formed by the Ichino River, creating a natural fort.