Nagahama

Nagahama is a lovely small town on the north-eastern bank of Lake Biwa, that tends to be overshadowed by its famous neighbor Hikone (and its castle 🏯). However, it is easy to spend a full day wandering in the Kurokabe merchant district and admiring the view on Lake Biwa from the reconstruction of its 16th century castle.

Nagahama’s city center is spreading around the eponymous JR station, and all places of interest are located within walking distance.

Kurokabe Square, the traditional merchant district

Established during the Meiji Era (1868 – 1912), Kurokabe district is found at the north-east of the station, beyond the castle moats converted into waterways, and along the former Hokkoku Kaido road, an important secondary way that connected to the Sea of Japan. The area’s name means "black walls" and refer to its buildings: traditional low 2-story houses whose walls are made of dark wood. They are home to various crafts shops and restaurants serving the local delicacies: Omi wagyu beef; Lake Biwa salmon cooked to top a donburi or raw when served in a carpaccio, and mackerel tempura fritters.

This part of town is renowned for its glass-making craftsmanship, developed since the early 20th century and exhibited at the Kurokabe Garasu Kan, "Kurokabe’s glass pavilion," a 1900 building of Western inspiration, initially built for the Kurokabe Bank. After WWII, it was home to a Catholic church before being dedicated to glass craftsmanship in 1989. It displays Edo kiriko engraved glasses, and glass jewelry, glass figurines and miniatures, or glass pens for calligraphy.

Walking east, the covered Ootemon-dori shotengai shopping street, whose pediment is ornamented with characters of the kabuki theater, has various cafes and shops for traditional goods, such as arare biscuits or ceramics. Treading this street will lead to:

• Kaiyodo Figure Museum Kurokabe, a museum dedicated to all kinds of collectible figurines, and especially to those derived from manga and anime, and the counterpart of Osaka Castle’s Figurine Museum;
• Nagahama Hikiyama Hakubutsukan, where the wonderful floats of the Hikiyama spring festival are on display all year long.

A strange, 8 meters-tall structure, reminding of a windmill, is standing a little bit further on a vaguely maintained plot of land: it is the Giant Vertical Kaleidoscope (竪型万華鏡 Tategata mangekyo). Then, Daitsu-ji temple, dating of the Edo Period, is made noticeable by its monumental Sanmon gate, the reuse of several parts of Fushimi Castle in its construction and by its artworks from the Azuchi-Momoyama period on display in its pavilions.

Nagahama – Hikiyama Festival

The city’s greatest event is the Hikiyama Festival, enlisted in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2016. Every year, from April 9 to April 17, Nagahama is in a festive mood and processions of mikoshi portable shrines and floats traverse the city departing from Hachiman-gu shrine.

The name of the festival refers to the huge floats that parade for 2 days: the hikiyama. With their extravagant decoration, they are built as traveling stages for the kodomo kabuki: the children’s kabuki theater. All the actors are indeed boys of the city, aged 5 to 12 years old, who have spent time and efforts rehearsing their roles for the festival.

The tradition of the festival is said to have begun with Hideyoshi Hashiba, future Toyotomi and 2nd unifier of Japan, when he settled in Nagahama and had his castle built in 1574. He first established a military parade, called "Tachi Watari" that still takes place nowadays during the festival. The hikiyama floats appeared a few years later to celebrate the birth of his first son. Throughout the Edo period (1603 – 1868), the decoration of the floats became increasingly extravagant, reflecting the prosperity of the city whose base was laid out by Hideyoshi.

Hikiyama Festival’s counterpoint, the Hoko Matsuri (豊公祭り) festival on the 1rst and 2nd Sundays of October, is an homage to Hideyoshi Toyotomi deified under the name of Hokoku-Daimyojin. A 16th-17h centuries warriors parade then travels from Hokoku-jinja shrine to Hachiman-gu shrine in the city center.

Lake Biwa lakeside: a contemplative atmosphere

Hideyoshi Toyotomi is indeed considered the founder and the benefactor of the city, that he named Nagahama as a tribute to his predecessor Nobunaga Oda. He is celebrated almost everywhere and especially at the location of his former castle.

On the shore of Lake Biwa in the west of the station, Nagahama Castle Park displays the concrete replica of Hideyoshi’s former fortress, built in 1983. The original keep was built in 1574 - 1577 and destroyed in 1615, with part of its materials reused at Hikone Castle. Far from being a must-see, the keep nonetheless offers a beautiful view on Lake Biwa from its uppermost floor. A small historical museum and the usual cherry trees 🌸, that bloom in spring, complete the visit.

Walking back to the station, Nagahama Tetsudo Square remembers the early days of Japanese railways and preserves the city’s first station building, erected in 1882 and the oldest in Japan. It is now a small railway museum (Nagahama Railway Museum). Right next to it, the Kei-un Kan imperial villa was built at the occasion of one of emperor Meiji’s travels, so that he could have a place to stay and rest for a few hours. A remarkable exhibition of plum bonsais, the Bonbaiten, is staged here every year in February.

In the same area, Nagahama is also home to the museum of the Japanese motor maker Yanmar, as well as a port from which ferries depart for 30 minutes cruises to the mystical Chikubushima island.

The city celebrated its 450th anniversary in 2024 and may gain a larger popularity in 2026 when the NHK drama "Toyotomi Kyodai" (豊臣兄弟, "Toyotomi Brothers"), centered on Hideyoshi’s life, will be broadcast.

Nagahama is a destination that Japanese visitors particularly love and that may potentially please amateurs of slow-tourism. Slightly off the beaten tracks, its cultural and gastronomical assets, its old-fashioned cityscape and its shopping possibilities offer an authentic alternative when planning a day-trip from Kyoto.