Discover Ashikaga

Ashikaga brings together historic cultural sites, textile traditions, hiking trails and wine. The Ashikaga School and Orihime Shrine are two specific cultural sites to discover; hiking, museum collections and seasonal garden scenery offer other highlights. These different themes give your trip planning a clear direction, without requiring every visit to have the same focus.

Culture and Textile History

The Ashikaga School is considered Japan’s oldest school. In 2015, it was recognized as a Japanese Heritage site under the title “Education Heritage of Early Modern Japan – The Source of a Desire to Learn and Respect.” Its collections include around 18,000 old books, including approximately 9,800 books written in Japan. Thus, alongside the school’s history, an extensive collection is also a focal point.

The Ashikaga Textile Tradition Museum displays colorful Meisen textiles and materials on Ashikaga’s modern textile history. Textile-related experiences are available by advance reservation; check the provider’s current booking details before your visit. At Ashikaga Machinaka Yugakukan, visitors can discover and experience Ashikaga’s history, culture and nature. The facility opened in March 2003. Kimono dressing experiences, including Ashikaga Meisen, and armor dressing experiences are available by reservation. Here too, it is worth checking the latest reservation details in advance.

The protective deity of Ashikaga, a city shaped by textile production for 1,300 years, is enshrined at Ashikaga Orihime Shrine. The deity is regarded as a god of economic prosperity and matchmaking, and is widely revered by the residents of Ashikaga City. The shrine was recognized as a nationally registered tangible cultural property in June 2004. The Butsugaiken teahouse offers a distinctive architectural feature: this single-story wooden building has a gabled roof and Kyoto-style roof tiles.

Hiking Trails Around Ashikaga

The Nagusa Giant Rocks are the starting point for an approximately 14-kilometer hiking trail. Families can hike along mountain paths. Ashikaga Orihime Shrine is both the starting and ending point of a hiking trail in Tochigi Prefectural Natural Park. When planning your hike, you can choose between the approximately 14-kilometer route starting at the Nagusa Giant Rocks and the trail at Ashikaga Orihime Shrine, which begins and ends there.

Wine and Seasonal Cuisine

Coco Farm and Winery offers winery tours and wine tastings. A tour costs 500 yen; tastings cost 1,000 yen for two wines or 1,500 yen for five wines. Check current availability with the winery before visiting. The wines produced there are made exclusively from grapes grown in Japan. Coco Farm Cafe serves house wine and dishes made with seasonal ingredients. Both tastings and seasonal dishes are therefore among the possible themes of a visit.

Gardens and Landscapes

In spring, Ashikaga Flower Park has an 80-meter-long tunnel of white wisteria and more than 350 wisteria plants. The seasonal illumination “Garden of Light Flowers” runs from mid-October to mid-February; check the current operating details before your visit. On the outskirts of Ashikaga, the Kurita Museum is set in a scenic 30,000-tsubo landscape. Its garden design incorporates wild plants from mountains and fields. The Flower Park’s seasonal wisteria and the museum garden’s use of wild plants thus represent different garden themes.

Getting Around

Taiheikikan provides tourist information, a café corner and rest areas. It also lends bicycles, including electrically assisted bikes. If you plan your visits around particular themes, Ashikaga offers specific points of interest in culture and textiles, as well as hiking trails, wine and gardens.

Discover more destinations: Sano, Nasushiobara, Oyama, Nikkō, Nasu-Yumoto, Yaita, Utsunomiya, Ōtawara.

For the main travel overview: Tochigi Prefecture.