Toyama Dam

Sakurayama Shrine

It was founded in 1749. The shrine building is located on the site of the Sannomaru ruins of Morioka Castle, and was worshiped as the guardian deity of the Nanbu domain. In 1926, a sword made by Kuninaga in the early Nanbokucho period was donated to Sakurayama Shrine by Nanbu Rijun, and is designated as an important cultural property of the country. The annual festival is held from May 25th to 27th, and includes a parade of warriors and offerings of traditional performing arts.

Takuboku Bokyo Hill

To commemorate the souls of the Takuboku couple, a statue of Takuboku Bokyo was erected on the top of the rocky mountain, Takuboku Bokyo Hill, overlooking the local mountains and rivers. The statue faces his hometown, Mt. Himekami, and is engraved with one of Takuboku's favorite poems, ``In autumn, I listen to the insects that fill the three fields at the foot of Mt. Iwate.'' Nearby, a ``couple poem monument'' of a poet and his wife was erected, one of a kind in Japan, and Takuboku's ``When I see the mountains of my hometown far to the north through the train window, I straighten my neck,'' and his wife Setsuko's ``Hikari.'' Two poems are engraved on it: ``From the faint sound of crickets in the evening, the arrival of autumn, and the embrace of my heart.'' The two of them, both young and only in their 20s, fell ill due to poverty and passed away one after another, and now they are gazing at the mountains and rivers of their hometown in the form of songs.

Homespun Michinoku Akanekai

You can see the homespun process, which is all done by hand, from dyeing to weaving, and a series of panels introduce the manufacturing process. Homespun, which was popularized in Iwate by British missionaries at the beginning of the Meiji period, is a woolen fabric made from dyed wool and woven from hand-spun thread. While mass production is often done by machines, Michinoku Akane-kai is particular about creating original handmade products, in which each warp and weft of spun wool is woven by hand.