Tochigi

Tochigi occupies the old province of Shimotsuke, a landlocked territory that rises from the northern edge of the Kanto Plain to the volcanic ranges on the Fukushima and Gunma borders. The south is flat and agricultural, with Utsunomiya, Oyama, Tochigi and Ashikaga; the north is mountainous and forested, crowned by the peaks of Nikko and Nasu.

Nikko is the prefecture's world-famous destination. The lavishly decorated Toshogu, mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, together with the Futarasan Shrine and Rinnoji temple, forms a UNESCO World Heritage site, and above the town lie Lake Chuzenji, the Kegon Falls, the Senjogahara marsh and the hot springs of Yumoto. Further north, Nasu is a highland resort with an imperial villa, dairy farms and onsen, and the valleys of Kinugawa, Kawaji and Shiobara are among Kanto's classic hot-spring destinations.

The prefecture's economy combines strong manufacturing – cars, machinery, optics and consumer goods along the Tohoku Expressway – with agriculture: Tochigi is Japan's leading producer of strawberries and of kanpyo, dried gourd strips. Utsunomiya, one stop on the Shinkansen from Tokyo's northern suburbs, is known throughout Japan for its gyoza.

The prefecture is named after the town of Tochigi (now Tochigi City), where its first government office stood. The origin of the town's name is uncertain: explanations include horse-chestnut trees (tochi no ki), which are the prefectural tree, and the ten crossed roof finials (chigi) of a local shrine. Tochigi Prefecture was set up in 1871 for the south-west of Shimotsuke and merged with Utsunomiya Prefecture in 1873, uniting the whole province. In 1884 the seat was moved to Utsunomiya, but the prefecture kept its name.

Tochigi has no coastline. Its southern third is part of the Kanto Plain, drained by the Kinu, Kinugawa's lower course, and the Watarase and Omoi rivers flowing south to the Tone. Uplands cross the centre, including the Yamizo mountains in the east and the Ashio mountains in the west. The north belongs to the volcanic front of eastern Japan: the Nikko volcanoes, with Mount Nantai and Nikko-Shirane (2,578 m), the highest peak in Kanto and northern Japan; and the Nasu volcanoes, with the still-active Chausu-dake. Between them lie the plateaus of Nasu and Shiobara. Much of the mountain area is protected in Nikko National Park.

The south has an inland Pacific climate: hot, humid summers with frequent afternoon thunderstorms – Utsunomiya is nicknamed the 'city of thunder' – and dry, cold, sunny winters. The mountains of Nikko and Nasu are much cooler, which made them summer retreats for diplomats and the imperial family; at Lake Chuzenji and Yumoto winters are long and snowy.

Shimotsuke was an important frontier province of the early state. Shimotsuke Yakushiji was one of only three temples in Japan with an ordination platform, and the Ashikaga School in the south-west became the most renowned seat of learning in medieval eastern Japan. The Ashikaga clan, founders of the second shogunate, took their name from their home estate here, while the Utsunomiya clan ruled the centre for centuries.

The Tokugawa transformed the province. After Ieyasu's death in 1616 he was deified and enshrined at Nikko, and his grandson Iemitsu rebuilt the Toshogu in its present splendour in 1636. Pilgrimage roads such as the Nikko Kaido and the Reiheishi Kaido linked Edo and Kyoto with the shrine. In 1868 Utsunomiya Castle was fought over in the Boshin War.

In the Meiji period the Ashio copper mine became a symbol of industrial growth and of Japan's first great pollution disaster: poisoned water from Ashio devastated the farmland of the Watarase valley, and the Diet member Tanaka Shozo made the victims' cause a national issue. In the twentieth century the prefecture developed as a manufacturing centre and a resort region for Tokyo; Nikko's shrines and temples were inscribed as World Heritage in 1999.

Tochigi's cultural landmarks span Buddhist and Shinto sites at Nikko, the scholarly tradition of Ashikaga and the folk-craft movement at Mashiko, where the potter Hamada Shoji settled in 1924. Two of its float festivals, at Karasuyama and Kanuma, are part of UNESCO's inscription of Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals.

Tochigi food ranges from Utsunomiya's famous gyoza and the ramen of Sano to Nikko's yuba and the rustic winter dish shimotsukare. Farm produce – strawberries, kanpyo, milk from Nasu, wagyu – is central to the prefecture's identity.

Manufacturing accounts for an unusually high share of Tochigi's output. Industrial parks along the Tohoku Expressway and Shinkansen host car and motorcycle research, automotive assembly, precision machinery, optics, pharmaceuticals and food processing. Agriculture remains important – strawberries, rice, kanpyo, pork and dairy, with the Nasu highlands one of the largest milk-producing areas on Honshu – and tourism centred on Nikko, Kinugawa and Nasu brings in visitors year-round.