Discover Abiko: Literature, History, and Teganuma

The Abiko area is home to literary landmarks, historic buildings, and landscapes along Lake Teganuma. If you’re looking for a hotel for a stay in Abiko, you can incorporate the area’s themes into your plans: literary history, preserved architecture, walking routes, and lakeside scenery. The examples below showcase different themes from the Abiko area.

Literary History and Taishō-Era Villas

During the Taishō era, the Abiko area was home to Shirakaba writers including Sōetsu Yanagi and Naoya Shiga, as well as journalist Sokukan Sugimura; some of their homes have been preserved to this day. The Shirakaba Literary Museum in the Abiko area preserves the activities and achievements of the Shirakaba School’s writers and shares them with future generations. The surviving homes and the museum in the Abiko area highlight different aspects of this literary history: the people and their living environments on the one hand, and the school’s activities on the other. The former Murakawa Villa offers another glimpse of the Taishō era in the Abiko area. It is the only surviving villa building from the period when Abiko flourished as a villa resort.

Historic Houses and Teganuma

On the grounds of the former Inoue House in the Abiko area, a main house and storehouses dating from the Edo period to the early Shōwa period have been preserved. The house was the home of a long-established family that took part in developing new rice fields along Teganuma during the Kyōhō era of the mid-Edo period. Family members served as village headmen for generations. In the Abiko area, the former Inoue House adds the history of a family and its role in village life to the area’s literary landmarks.

The sculpture Tensen in the Abiko area also explores the relationship between people and the lake. The Chiba Prefectural Government installed it in 1994, made of white Italian marble, to promote understanding of the cleanup of Teganuma and the role of lakes. The work weighs 13 tons and is 2.3 meters high, 1.75 meters wide, and 2.4 meters deep.

Walking Routes and Historic Sites

A walking route about 4.5 kilometers long in the Abiko area connects Naoya Shiga’s former residence with the former Murakawa Villa. It passes Teganuma Park and goes via Tenjinzaka to Tenjinyama Ryokuchi, which offers views of Lake Teganuma. In the Abiko area, Tenjinzaka is a stone-paved staircase between Sanjusō, the former residence of Sōetsu Yanagi and his wife Kaneko, and the former country house of Jigorō Kanō, now within Tenjinyama Ryokuchi.

Another walking route, about 4.3 kilometers long, starts at Abiko Station. In the Abiko area, it passes through the quiet residential neighborhood of Hakusan, by the former Kano Kōraku Garden, and via Fujimizaka and Hakusan Green Town. It then follows the spring-water path and the hillside path along Funato Forest to Nedo-Funato Green Space and near the former residence of Saneatsu Mushakōji. The approximate lengths of the two routes are similar, but their stops and paths differ. When choosing between them, the destinations may therefore matter more than the small difference in their stated lengths.

Environmental Education and Lakeside Scenery

In the Abiko area, Mizunoyakata at Teganuma Shinsui Plaza includes an environmental education area, a planetarium, and an observation deck with panoramic views of the area around Lake Teganuma. In the Okabatto and Tsufube areas, the Yatsu Museum preserves the Yatsu landforms and natural environment along the lake across 36.7 hectares. These offer different points of interest: the combination of environmental education, a planetarium, and views on the one hand, and the preservation of landforms and nature on the other.

Discover more destinations: Kisarazu, Asahi, Ichikawa, Chosei, Narita, Katsuura, Kimitsu, Tomisato

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