Shirakawa city [白河]
Tourist Attractions in Shirakawa city
Shirakawa city is located at the south part of Fukushima Prefecture.
It is about 80 km south of Fukushima city, and is in a basin.
There is the border between Fukushima and Tochigi Prefectures within 8 km southwest of the center of the city.
And there is Nikko city in Tochigi Prefecture about 70 km southweat of Shirakawa.
And the position of Shirakawa is placed almost in the middle between Tokyo and Sendai which is the largest city in Tohoku Region.
Since the ancient time, Shirakawa had been an important place because here had been the main entrance to Tohoku Region.
Therefore, Shirakawa Barrier had been set up here until the 19th century.
A castle was built in the 14th century, then this city was governed as the center of this area.
Especially, Matsudaira Sadanobu (1759-1829) was known as a great lord of Shirakawa.
He was a grandson of Shogun, and conducted reformation of domain duties for the people after the great famine.
And he promoted to cultivate buckwheat ("soba" in Japanese) as an emergency crop at the famine.
Now, soba noodle is a popular food in Shirakawa.
There are some sightseeing spots related to above history in Shirakawa city.
How to get here
By Tohoku-Shinkansen, to Shin-Shirakawa, about 1.5 hours from Tokyo, 25 minutes from Fukushima, 12 minutes from Kooriyama.
JR Shirakawa station is around the center of the city.
Change to JR Tohoku Line, and the next station is Shirakawa.
About 3 minutes.
