This time, we will take you on a relaxing trip around the Kaetsu region of Niigata Prefecture. We will introduce a trip that will refresh your mind and body using public transportation and rental bicycles.
Ai Nishimura
Administrator of the blog "My Diary," which began in 2004. A writer who has traveled to all 47 prefectures and loves local culture and history.
Author of Shimane's "Geography, Place Names, and Maps" Mysteries (Jitsugyo no Nihonsha), My Town is the "Number One in Japan" Dictionary (PHP Institute), and Prefectures Explained in Neko Neko Japanese History (Jitsugyo no Nihonsha). Official blogger for Suntory Gourmet Guide, official top user for Retty, and official platinum blogger for Excite.
First day
- Arrived at Niigata Station. Rent a bicycle and head to Bandai Bridge.
- Arriving at Hakusan Shrine. Calm your mind and pray for a safe journey.
- Stroll around Hakusan Park
- Soup and bread lunch at Furumachi cafe "Palm"
- Take the free shuttle bus to Murasugi Onsen in Gozu Onsen Town, then stop by Lake Hyoko to watch the swans.
- Rent a bicycle to "Yasuda Kawara Road" and "Yasuda Yogurt"
- Enjoy hot springs and meals at Murasugi Onsen Choseikan
Second day
9:00 Enjoy a morning walk in Gozu Onsen
Thanks to the hot springs, I slept soundly and woke up refreshed. After breakfast, I took a walk around the inn's garden and the hot spring town.
The garden of Choseikan, which boasts a vast area of 13,000m2, is a purely Japanese garden that offers a variety of delights, such as azaleas in the spring, bamboo lanterns in the summer, autumn leaves in the fall, and snowy scenery in the winter. What's more, this garden also offers a "radon bath" using the compounds rising from the hot springs. Taking a deep breath in the silence of the morning will help you start your day feeling refreshed.
There are three hot spring towns in Gozu Onsenkyo: Deyu Onsen, Imaita Onsen, and Murasugi Onsen, where I stayed.
First, we went to Terayu in Deyu Onsen.
Gozu Onsen is a hot spring area located at the western foot of Mt. Gozu, and Deyu Onsen is said to be the earliest hot spring to be discovered. Mt. Gozu is a sacred mountain for mountain worship, and is home to Kaho-ji Temple, which was established by ascetic monks.
The main bath in the temple grounds is a public bath called "Terayu". Because it is a small bathroom, steam is trapped inside, which is thought to be why the radon effect is so strong. The hot spring water also bubbles up directly from under the bathtub, and there is an abundance of it. It is said that not only locals but also fans of this hot spring from all over Japan visit the bath.
It would be nice to take a walk and explore the surrounding hot spring towns to fully enjoy the Gozu Onsen area. There is also the source of Murasugi Onsen and an outdoor bath, and if you have time, it would be nice to take a foot bath.
The next morning, I woke up refreshed. Perhaps this was also thanks to the hot spring at the inn. I strolled through the gardens of Choseikan in the clean morning air. There was little snow this year, so the snow fishing was a bit lonely. However, the carp in the pond were vivid and the garden was well-maintained.
The demons from "Murahide Oni Tile Workshop" that I saw yesterday were also on display. Their expressions are so expressive that they make you smile.
One of the detached buildings at Choseikan, Shoto-tei, is a purely Japanese-style building built in the Meiji period. This building can be rented exclusively for your use, and is spacious, spanning two floors.
The bath at Choseikan. The water is from Murasugi Onsen, a hot spring with a history of 700 years. It is colorless, transparent, and odorless, so it feels like normal hot water when you're in it, but after you get out, you gradually warm up and feel like you're in good shape for the next morning.
The open-air bath surrounded by rocks is also a great attraction. I took a deep breath... a deep breath... and took in the radon steam as I entered.
We took a stroll around Gozu Onsenkyo. First, we went to Kaho-ji Temple in Deyu Onsen. It is a historic temple with a long history and is said to have had a great influence during the Kamakura period.
The Kaho-ji Public Baths in the grounds of Kaho-ji Temple are said to have been discovered by Kobo Daishi, and are also a historic hot spring. Although small, it is very charming, with hot water bubbling up from under the bathtub.
This is the outdoor bath of Murasugi Onsen, "Yakushi-no-yu." It was very busy from the morning.
There is also a foot bath at the back.
We were shown one of the hot springs. The amount of water flowing out was amazing! We could feel the blessings of nature that have continued for hundreds of years.
| Deyu Onsen | ||
|---|---|---|
| address | ： | Agano City, Niigata Prefecture |
| business hours | ： | 6:00～18:30 |
| Closed Day | ： | none |
| Bathing fee | ： | 200 yen |
11:00 Leave Murasugi Onsen and arrive at the salmon town of Murakami
We were picked up from Choseikan to the nearest station, Mizuhara Station, and then headed to Murakami by train.
Murakami, in the northern part of Niigata, has a food culture of salted salmon and a town house culture that has continued since the days when it was a castle town.
First, we visited "Sennen Salmon Kikkawa." The many salmon hanging from the ceiling are a sight to behold! On this day, many people came to see the exhibit.
Shiohiki salmon is made only with salmon and salt. No preservatives or additives are used. The salmon's innards are removed, it is soaked in salt, the salt is washed off and it is then left to dry for a few weeks. The humid wind and unique climate of Murakami allow it to ferment and mature well, concentrating the flavor. It is a traditional Murakami food made in each household using only fresh male salmon caught in the fall. It was originally created as a long-term storage item in the days before refrigerators and was a valuable source of protein for people at the time. It is now handed down as a traditional method.
The people of Murakami cook this salted salmon without leaving any bones or skin behind. Along with the method of making salted salmon, a wide variety of salmon cooking methods have also been handed down, showing how much care they take of salmon.
Furthermore, when preparing salted salmon, they cut the belly open using a method called "stopping the belly," where a part of the belly is stuck together to prevent the whole thing from opening. This requires time and skill, but it is done to prevent the precious salmon from having to commit seppuku. Also, when hanging the salmon to dry, they hang it by its tail, as "hanging by the neck is bad luck," and so they have maintained Murakami's unique style.
It was an opportunity to feel the gratitude towards salmon of the Murakami people, who never forget to respect even the fish, and the pride of the people who have supported the development of salmon culture that continues to this day.
We arrived at Murakami Station, with its yellow station building. The building has a nostalgic feel to it.
Inside the station, I could see Murakami's specialty, "Salted Salmon." It was made at a nearby elementary school. It's good to be exposed to this culture from an early age.
First, we went to see the salted salmon at "Sennen Salmon Kikkawa."
The salmon hanging from the ceiling is a spectacular sight! This is "Shiohiki Salmon".
The salted salmon is hung to dry. It is not dried all at once to become "dried fish." In Murakami, where the cool wind with just the right amount of humidity blows, the salmon dries slowly and steadily while also maturing, enhancing its flavor.
At "Sennensake Kikkawa," you can purchase salted salmon products that have been carefully crafted. The store is also lovely, so I definitely recommend stopping by.
| Thousand-year-old salmon Kikkawa | ||
|---|---|---|
| address | ： | 1-20 Omachi, Murakami City, Niigata Prefecture |
| phone | ： | 0254-53-2213 |
| business hours | ： | 9:00～18:00 |
| Closed Day | ： | New Year's Day only |
| web | ： | https://www.murakamisake.com/ |
12:30 Enjoy a Japanese course meal of local cuisine in Shintaku
We visited Shintaku, one of the long-established restaurants in Murakami.
The restaurant serves dishes that incorporate ingredients from Niigata into the traditions of Kyoto cuisine. The dishes, which incorporate seasonal ingredients and events and customs that correspond to the calendar, are so profound that they give a sense of Murakami's food culture and even the way people live.
The last dish of the meal was salted salmon that had been slowly and carefully cooked. In Niigata, a rice-producing region, salted salmon eaten with freshly cooked rice cooked in a clay pot is something special! When I put the moist salmon into my mouth, I felt a rich flavor that seemed to grow with each bite.
We will have lunch at the historic restaurant "Shin-Taku."
Lunch courses start at 3,000 yen. The course menu includes dishes made with seasonal and daily ingredients. The day started with inari sushi, which coincides with the festival of Hatsuuma, and bran-brown sardines, a traditional Niigata dish.
The hassun dish was topped with milt, black beans, and a thick omelet. It also contained salmon rice sushi and sake-marinated Murakami salmon.
Sea bream with kombu seaweed and grilled ishimochi. The way the sashimi is cut varies depending on the condition of the fish that day.
The meal ends with clay pot rice and Shintaku's special salted salmon, which is slowly cooked right in front of you.
"White rice and salmon" is a very simple meal, but it tastes supreme. The salted salmon had a natural fermented flavor, and the rice was delicious. It was a lunch that allowed me to fully experience the power of Echigo cuisine.
The dishes are not overly complicated and simply convey the best flavor of the ingredients. There are dishes in Murakami that are worth visiting, but are not too expensive and are a fun place to dine.
| Shintaku | ||
|---|---|---|
| address | ： | 3-38 Komachi, Murakami City, Niigata Prefecture |
| phone | ： | 0254-53-2107 |
| business hours | ： | Lunch/11:30-13:30 (LO) Dinner/17:00-20:00 (LO) |
| Closed Day | ： | Wednesday |
| web | ： | http://sintaku.sakura.ne.jp/ |
14:00 Visiting Machiya town houses and walking around Murakami
The town of Murakami is dotted with many "machiya" (traditional Japanese town houses), remnants of the castle town days. Around 20 years ago, efforts began to develop the town into a tourist destination, making use of these town houses. Today, it has become a major tourist destination, attracting as many as 300,000 people a year, who enjoy strolling through the town houses.
Before taking on their current form, Murakami's town houses had their exteriors modernized over time, losing their old-fashioned charm. However, step inside and you'll find the old-fashioned Shinto altar, Buddhist altar, hearth, high ceiling with thick, large beams, box staircase, and rows of Tsuishu (lacquerware crafts), a specialty of Murakami. The beauty of Murakami lies in the interior of the houses, the treasured dolls, and the things stored away in the back.
So 20 years ago, local residents started organizing "machiya tours" to open up living spaces to the public. In the spring, the houses display their dolls in the "Machiya Doll Tour," and in the fall, the houses display their stored folding screens in the "Machiya Folding Screen Festival," inviting many tourists deep inside the houses.
We walked around the town for about two hours, visiting houses that let us tour the townhouses, and everyone gave us detailed explanations. We could see Murakami's unique house shape, such as the "doma street" that connects the inside of the house with a single corridor, as well as beautiful lacquer desks and tea ceremony utensils, and we were able to experience for ourselves just how rich and mature Murakami was as a castle town.
After lunch, we walked around Murakami for two hours before heading back. On the way back from Shin-Taku, we came across a street lined with black walls, called "Kurobei Street."
The "Team Kurobei Project" is an ongoing project in which residents come together to repair the concrete and block walls and restore the old-fashioned streetscape. Donations are collected from residents, and the project is gradually being expanded, transforming the castle town of Murakami into a streetscape full of emotion.
The area around Kurobei Street was once a temple town. Here you will find Jonenji Temple, which is designated as an Important Cultural Property of Japan. It is a rare temple with a white-walled storehouse and a large gabled roof on the front.
In the town of Murakami, shops open up their living spaces at the back for tourists to see, and offer "townhouse tours." In addition to traditional designs, you can also see rooms displaying Murakami lifestyles and Murakami crafts that have been stored in each home.
Every shop welcomes you warmly and provides a detailed explanation.
Kokonoe-en is a tea shop with a sophisticated exterior. Not only did we get to see the tea, but we were also served tea. Murakami is the northernmost commercial tea producing area, and is famous for Murakami tea.
All the houses are in the typical Machiya style, with a narrow frontage and a long back space known as the "eel's sleeping space," and a corridor called the "doma street" that continues to the back. The current residence is located at the back of the house, continuing on from the doma street.
The room where customers are received is called the "Cha-no-ma" and is equipped with a high atrium, a box staircase, an irori hearth, a Buddhist altar, a Shinto altar, etc. The reason the Buddhist altar and the Shinto altar are closest to the store is that the town houses in Murakami are connected to each other with almost no gaps between them, so that they can be quickly taken out in the event of a fire.
By having tourists tour the town houses and view the living rooms, the value of each home, which was previously just a part of everyday life, is being evaluated by an outsider's perspective, and as a result, the townspeople have started to feel proud of Murakami. With citizens so actively participating in local activities, Murakami is one town whose future development is sure to be exciting.
| Murakami Machiya Tour | ||
|---|---|---|
| web | ： | https://www.murakamisake.com/salmon-top/about-murakami/ |
A trip to Niigata that allowed me to reset my mind and body.
It was a two-day, one-night trip, but I was able to soothe my mind at Hakusan Shrine and the leisurely cafe Palm, soothe my body from the delicious food and medicinal hot springs at Murasugi Onsen Choseikan, and learn a lot from Murakami's Sennen Sake Kikkawa and townscape. Niigata prefecture is long and narrow, and it also has remote islands, so each region has its own unique characteristics, with different cultures, climates, and even dialects. This time I chose to travel to the Kaetsu region, but there are many other areas of the prefecture that are full of charm.
With the publication of the "Niigata Edition of the Michelin Guide," Niigata is sure to attract attention as a gourmet city in the future. Niigata is a city with both sea and mountains, and a deep history and culture. Why not go and explore some of Niigata's lesser known spots?
The contents published are accurate at the time of publication and are subject to change.
