Togakushi, Nagano

Togakushi (戸隠村, Togakushi-mura) was a village located in the mountainous Kamiminochi District, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Part of Togakushi is located in Myōkō-Togakushi Renzan National Park, and includes Mount Takatsuma (2353m), the highest peak in the Togakushi Mountain Range one of the 100 Famous Japanese Mountains, and Mount Togakushi (1904m), one of the 200 most famous mountains in Japan (日本に百名山), and one of the 100 most famous mountains in Nagano (信州百名山). One of Japan's largest campgrounds is found in Togakushi.^[1]

The village was established on April 1, 1889 by merging Togakushi and Toyooka. On January 1, 2005, Togakushi, along with the village of Ōoka (from Sarashina District), the town of Toyono, and the village of Kinasa (all from Kamiminochi District), was merged into the expanded city of Nagano.

Togakushi was formerly known as the village of Togakure which some consider to be the birthplace of Togakure Ryu Ninpo by its founder Daisuke Nishina (Togakure).

In 2015, a branch of the Kitano Museum of Art opened in Togakushi.^[2]

Togakushi, Myoko-Togakushi renzan National Park, Togakushi Campground, and Togakushi Shrine are all accessible by local bus, with service provided by Alpico Kōtsū, from Nagano Station. To make the steep climb from the Nagano Basin (Zenkoji Daira), the plain in which Nagano City is located, to the mountains of Togakushi, from Nagano Station, the bus route travels the Asagawa Loop Line. The loop line was built in preparations for the 1998 Winter Olympics, to the Iizuna Kogen Ski Area. Along the way the bus passes the Spiral, the site of bobsleigh and luge competitions for the Winter Olympics. The last stops of the bus are in the Togakushi area.