Japan Heritage story
Nasunogahara: the future that Meiji nobles dreamed of
明治貴族が描いた未来
Until about 140 years ago, Nasunogahara in northern Tochigi was a dry wilderness. Meiji-era nobles poured their fortunes into vast Western-style farms here, and their villas still stand among the pastures below the Nasu mountains.
Key facts
- Theme
- Sea and waterside, Food and sake
- Era
- Meiji
- Region
- Kanto
- Official name in Japanese
- 明治貴族が描いた未来
- Official subtitle in Japanese
- 〜那須野が原開拓浪漫譚〜
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 栃木県（那須塩原市, 矢板市, 大田原市, 那須町）
The story
Nasunogahara, Japan's largest alluvial fan at about 40,000 ha, lies only 150 km from Tokyo, yet until the early Meiji era nobody could live here. Its rivers sink into thick gravel and run dry for about 10 km. The Meiji government saw this flat land as a place to develop, and from 1880 into the 1890s the new nobility, the kazoku, opened huge farms with Western machinery, livestock and forestry. By 1884 they were already making wine.
Water came with the Nasu canal, dug in 1885 from the Naka River and split into four channels, each leading to a nobles' farm. Prime minister Matsukata Masayoshi's Senbonmatsu farm reached 1,600 ha. After the war, settlers cleared the remaining hills, and today the area is the largest milk producer in Honshu.
What to see
- Former Aoki villa: a white Western-style villa built by foreign minister Aoki Shuzo, with a lookout tower and slate-clad walls.Google Maps 旧青木家那須別邸 (opens in a new tab)
- Senbonmatsu Bokujo: still 800 ha of pasture and woods, with Matsukata's villa faced in Oya stone.Google Maps 千本松牧場 (opens in a new tab)
- Nasu canal intake: where water from the Naka River enters the plain.Google Maps 那須疏水取水口 (opens in a new tab)
Plan your trip with the Tochigi prefecture guide and see more history and heritage.
Good to know
- Drive the roads across the plain for wide views of pasture with the Nasu mountains behind.
- Try the local dairy: the area is Honshu's top milk producer.
- Walk down to the dry riverbed of the Sabi River to see how barren the land once was.
Questions travellers ask
Who developed Nasunogahara?
Meiji-era nobles, including statesmen like Matsukata Masayoshi and Aoki Shuzo, who invested their own fortunes in large Western-style farms.
Why was Nasunogahara a wilderness?
It is a huge alluvial fan of gravel where rivers sink underground and run dry, so there was almost no water.
Where it comes from
More heritage stories from the same area
Local foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.