Send your heart out into the galaxy and your mind to the earth with a journey to the home of Miyazawa Kenji
With the Home of Miyazawa Kenji: Hanamaki Green Tourism, you can learn the splendor of nature and the importance of food and agriculture as well as feel the warmth of people’s hearts. See, hear, eat, feel, and sense to enjoy with all five senses.
The refreshing breeze of Hayachine
Hanamaki-Ihatov is filled with both serenity and vitality
Hanamaki, home of the world renowned Miyazawa Kenji, is located near the center of Iwate with the Ou Mountain Range to the west, the Kitakami highlands to the east, and the Kitakami River flowing through the city center. This land that Kenji named “Ihatov” produces rice primarily, but also makes many other products including millet, vegetables, fruits, livestock, and flowers. Additionally, it is one of the three great centers of Japanese sake production, home of the “Nanbu Toji” and active in making some of the most renowned wine in Japan. Thus with this environment, Hanamaki is an ideal area for “Green Tourism” and is waiting for your visit.
Access to Hanamaki
- Expressway
- Tohoku Expressway
- Kawaguchi JCT ⇔ Hanamaki-Minami IC
(Approx. 6 hours) - Aomori IC ⇔ Hanamaki-Minami IC
(Approx. 2 hours and 30 minutes) - Sendai-Miyagi IC ⇔ Hanamaki-Minami IC
(Approx. 1 hour and 50 minutes) - Hiraizumi-Maesawa IC ⇔ Hanamaki-Minami IC
(Approx. 30 minutes) - Hanamaki IC ⇔ Hanamaki-Minami IC
(Approx. 5 minutes)
- Kawaguchi JCT ⇔ Hanamaki-Minami IC
- Akita Expressway
- Akita-Chuo IC ⇔ Hanamaki-Minami IC
(Approx. 2 hours)
- Akita-Chuo IC ⇔ Hanamaki-Minami IC
- Kamaishi Expressway
- Towa IC ⇔ Hanamaki-Minami IC
(Approx. 15 minutes) - Hanamaki Airport IC ⇔ Hanamaki-Minami IC
(Approx. 5 minutes) - Miyamori IC ⇔ Hanamaki-Minami IC
(Approx. 30 minutes) - Tono IC ⇔ Hanamaki-Minami IC
(Approx. 45 minutes)
- Towa IC ⇔ Hanamaki-Minami IC
- Tohoku Expressway
- Rail
- Tohoku Shinkansen
- Tokyo Station ⇔ Shin-Hanamaki Station
(Approx. 3 hours and 10 minutes) - Sendai Station ⇔Shin-Hanamaki Station
(Approx. 1 hour) - Shin-Aomori Station ⇔Shin-Hanamaki Station
(Approx. 1 hour and 30 minutes) - Morioka Station ⇔ Shin-Hanamaki Station
(Approx. 12 minutes)
- Tokyo Station ⇔ Shin-Hanamaki Station
- Akita Shinkansen
- Akita Station ⇔ Shin-Hanamaki Station
(Approx. 2 hours)
- Akita Station ⇔ Shin-Hanamaki Station
- Tohoku Honsen
- Morioka Station ⇔Hanamaki Station
(Approx. 40 minutes)
- Morioka Station ⇔Hanamaki Station
- Hokkaido Shinkansen
- Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station ⇔ Shin-Hanamaki Station
(Approx. 2 hours and 30 minutes)
- Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station ⇔ Shin-Hanamaki Station
- Tohoku Shinkansen
- Airplane
- Sapporo (Shin-Chitose) ⇔ Iwate Hanamaki Airport
- (Approx. 1 hour)
- Nagoya (Nagoya Komaki) ⇔ Iwate Hanamaki Airport
- (Approx. 1 hour and 10 minutes)
- Osaka (Itami) ⇔ Iwate Hanamaki Airport
- (Approx. 1 hour and 20 minutes)
- Fukuoka ⇔ Iwate Hanamaki Airport
- (Approx. 2 hours)
*It’s about 10 minutes by taxi from Iwate Hanamaki Airport to Shin-Hanamaki Station
- (Approx. 2 hours)
- Sapporo (Shin-Chitose) ⇔ Iwate Hanamaki Airport
List of Available Experiences
Rice Farming
- Period available：
- Late April to late May(Planting rice)
September to October(Harvesting rice)
Recent rice cultivation has been mostly mechanized and is done by rice planters and combines. For the rice farming experience, there are some places that let visitors try out the machines, but most of them have visitors do the rice planting by hand and harvesting with a sickle.
Vegetable farming
- Period available：
- April to November
You can try sowing seeds, weeding, and harvesting in green houses and fields.
Fruit tree farming
- Period available：
- May to June (thinning flowers, thinning out the fruit)
September to November (harvesting)
Thin the flowers and fruit of apple and pear trees. You can harvest the fruit in the autumn.
Growing flowers
- Period available：
- April to October
Try planting and picking flowers including autumn bellflowers, lisianthus, and lilies.
Forestry work
- Period available：
- May to November
Visitors can try activities including pruning and thinning, which are essential for a healthy forest.
Cooking kobiri (snacks)
- Period available：
- All year
- Time：
- Approx. 1 hour and a half to 2 hours
Teaches the secrets to making local Hanamaki snacks including “kirisensho” and “wheat manju.”
Making soba
- Period available：
- All year
- Time：
- Approx. 1 hour and 30 minutes to 2 hours
Visitors get to try making soba from adding water, kneading, to cutting out the noodles in the birthplace of wanko soba.
Craft making in a farming and mountain village
- Period available：
- All year
- Time：
- Approx. 1 hour to 2 hours
Try making craft items with locally sourced materials from farming and mountain village areas of Hanamaki.
Hand craft Japanese washi paper
- Period available：
- All year
- Time：
- Approx. 1 hour
Visitors can experience rare carefully handcrafted Japanese washi paper-making techniques that are absent in mass production at the “Narushima Washi (Japanese Paper) Handcraft Center” in Towa.
Sakiori weaving
- Period available：
- All year
- Time：
- Approx. 1 hour to 2 hours
Try making coasters and bookmarks in Ishidoriya at the “Farming Denshokan” and in Towa at the “Sakiori Denshokan.”
Trial Workshop
- Period available：
- All year
- Time：
- Approx. 2 hours to 3 hours
At the “Trial Workshop” inside the Towa roadside station, visitors can try processing agricultural products including juices, jams, handmade breads and ice cream, as well vacuum-sealed pickled vegetables.
Expected education results
