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History
Region with Long
History, Now Developing into Highland Resort Area
Hokuto City has a very old history which started in the Jomon period (ca. 14,000
BCE to 400 BCE). The Jomon-period Kinsei archeological site in Hokuto City’s
Oizumi Town, which was excavated in May 1980, is a major historic site designated
by the national government. It is apparent from this site how the inhabitants
of this region have benefited from nature since ancient times.
This region has long prospered owing to its strategic, economic, and communications
importance. In the Heian period (794 CE to 1185 CE) Shinra Saburo Yoshimitsu,
who was the third son of Minamoto no Yoriyoshi and the founder of the Kai Clan,
built Wakamiko Castle, and his grandson Hemi no Kurogenta Kiyomitsu built Yato
Castle. Since those times this region has been known for its fine horses, and
that carries over into present-day community development through horseback riding. |
A replica of a bucket-and-pulley well-type signal
fire tower at the former site of Wakamiko Castle.
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In the Warring States period the great general Takeda Shingen fortified the
Hokuto area as a strategic focal point for invading the neighboring province
of Shinano. In particular, he built military roads called bomichi, which were
used for troop advancement and transporting supplies to Shinano. Shingen also
had a strong communication network using signal fires. That network is said to
have relayed information about the military movements of rival Uesugi Kenshin
at Kawanajima to Shingen’s Tsutsujigasaki Palace in Kofu in about two hours.
Currently there is a bucket-and-pulley signal fire tower replica at the former
site of Wakamiko Castle (now Furusato Park). |
The bomichi (military roads) made by Takeda Shingen
are now popular walking paths. |
In the Edo period (1600 to 1867) the
bakufu (military government) built the Koshu Kaido road, which had two stations
in present-day Hokuto City: Daigahara and Kyoraiishi. The former in particular
is a stage town that still looks much as it did then, and was chosen as one of
the “One Hundred Finest Routes of Japan. |
During the tumultuous Meiji period (1868 to 1912)
when Japan imported Western culture, modern Western-style architecture appeared
in Hokuto City as well. The former Tsugane School, completed in 1875, is Japan’s
oldest surviving example of imitative Western architecture. Further, this site
is the only place in Japan with existing school buildings built in the three
eras of the Meiji, Taisho (1912 to 1926), and Showa (1926 to 1989) periods. Even
now these buildings are well-known among citizens as the Sutama History Museum,
“Flavor School,” and more.
In postwar Hokuto City, international cooperation by the late Dr. Paul Rusch
and other Americans pursued the creation of model farming villages engaging in
dairy farming and highland vegetables, mainly on the southern slope of Mt. Yatsugatake.
This became a model for the revival of rural communities in cold areas throughout
Japan, from Hokkaido to Kyushu. Progress was also realized in local economic
revitalization through tourism on the Western model, and Hokuto City has developed
into a nationally well-known highland resort area. |
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