Chikuma

Chikuma is a city in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, in the Chikuma River valley south of Nagano city, at the junction of the Joshin-etsu and Nagano Expressways. The modern city was founded on 1 September 2003 by merging the former city of Koshoku with the towns of Kamiyamada and Togura. The area was part of ancient Shinano Province, has many burial tumuli including the keyhole-shaped Mori Shogunzuka Kofun, appears in poems of the Man-yoshu, and in the Edo period lay in Matsushiro Domain and on pilgrimage routes to Zenko-ji. The economy rests on knitted goods, food processing, light machinery and horticulture, above all apricots. Attractions include Anzu no Sato, the Togura Kamiyamada hot springs and the Obasute rice terraces, a Designated Cultural Landscape of Japan.