Takanezawa, Tochigi

Flat paddies spread across the central plain of Takanezawa-machi, edged to the east by the low ridges of the Yamizo range and to the west by the Kinugawa river. The rice grown here — varieties marketed under names like *Shitatsuzumi* and *Tochigi no Hoshi* — reflects the town's identity as a place where agriculture is not background scenery but the actual texture of the calendar. Gold sesame, strawberries, edamame, and pears fill out that texture across the seasons, and the fields that cover roughly three-fifths of the land make the proportion unmistakable from any train window.

Hōshakuji Station, open since 1899, anchors the town's western edge, and the square in front of it now holds CREATORS DEPARTMENT, a startup support facility — an odd but not uncomfortable pairing of Meiji-era railway infrastructure and contemporary small enterprise. Not far away, the *Chottokura-kan*, built from reclaimed Ōya stone and designed by Kengo Kuma, houses a quiet piece of local history within walls that carry the grey-green weight of that volcanic tuff. The *Goryō Bokujō*, a farm relocated here in the late 1960s, occupies a distinct chapter in the town's story.

At Yasumi Shrine, the *Kami-Takanezawa Daida Mikagura* — a ritual kagura performance registered in the prefecture's festival hundred-selection — is performed with the kind of continuity that doesn't announce itself. The *Bontenmatsuri* at Kamo Shrine follows its own particular customs. These are not spectacles staged for visitors; they are the town's own accounting with time, observed most clearly by those who happen to be present.