Nagareyama Honcho Edo Corridor

Handmade papercutting lanterns illuminate the evening streets

In the evening, the soft lights of handmade papercutting lanterns illuminate the space under the eaves and the alleys. Local residents began creating them as volunteers, and now over 100 lanterns have been created, each depicting the sentiments of the residents or the history of their houses. The streets of Nagareyama Honcho lit up with the lanterns are also called the “Andon (paper framed lamp) Corridor” or “Edo Corridor,” offering fun strolls in the night.

Experience climbing Mount Fuji at the Fujizuka mound in Sengen Shrine

Sengen Shrine was founded in 1644 as a tutelary shrine of the region for the worship of Mount Fuji. Behind the main shrine building, there is a Fujizuka or a mound made in the image of Mount Fuji, which is one of the largest of its kind in Chiba Prefecture. The World Heritage mountain has been an object of worship from ancient times, and in the mid-Edo period in the 1700s, visiting and worshiping Mount Fuji became a popular activity for people in pursuit of heaven and good luck. This Fujizuka in Nagareyama was created for those who cannot go climbing Mount Fuji and was made to look just like the real mountain by using the mountain’s actual volcanic rocks. It is said that those who climb the mound while chanting “Rokkon shojo, oyama wa seiten (Purification of the six senses, the sacred mountain is cloudless)” can receive the same benefits as climbing the real Mount Fuji.

Take a relaxing trip on the local Nagareyama Line

The Nagareyama Line is a single-track local line that runs from Mabashi to Nagareyama for 5.7 kilometers. The five colorful trains named Nanohana, Akagi, Wakaba, Sakura, and Ryusei are popular among locals as well as railroad fans. Nagareyama Station, the terminal station, has been selected as one of “500 Charms of the Boso Peninsula,” with institutions such as the city hall, library and cultural hall nearby as well as being the nearest station to the old-world townscape of Nagareyama Honcho.