Nagano City Local Quiz Practice: Questions and Explanations

Correct answerAn absolute hidden Buddha no one ever sees directly

Zenkoji's principal image is an absolute hidden Buddha that no one, not even the head priest, has ever been recorded as seeing. It rests deep within the main hall, and the closest worshippers can get is a stand-in image made in its likeness, which itself is displayed only once every seven years.

Source:善光寺「紹介・歴史」

Correct answerFive

Togakushi Shrine is the collective name for five shrines at the foot of Mt. Togakushi, and visitors move from shrine to shrine while looking up at the mountain. Each of the five keeps its own hall, and a cedar-lined approach connects the lower shrines to the innermost one. The complex has long been a center of mountain worship intertwined with Shugendo practice, and walking the full five-shrine route remains a popular pilgrimage today.

Source:戸隠神社「戸隠神社の歴史」

Correct answerAC Nagano Parceiro

The J.League club based in Nagano City is AC Nagano Parceiro. It designates 16 municipalities across the prefecture, including Nagano City, as its home towns. The club traces back to Nagano Elsa Football Club, founded in 1990, and took its current name in 2007. "Parceiro" is Portuguese for "partner," reflecting the club's aim to grow together with its community.

Source:AC長野パルセイロ

Correct answerTsuruya

Tsuruya is a supermarket chain beloved across Nagano Prefecture. It opened its Tokuma store in 1995, its first location in the Hokushin region, which includes Nagano City. The company traces its roots to 1892, when it started in Komoro City as a marine fertilizer trader, and has since grown into one of the prefecture's leading supermarket chains with dozens of stores.

Source:Tsuruya (supermarket) - Wikipedia

Correct answerBocchi-mori

Togakushi soba is known for bocchi-mori bundles shaped like horseshoes. The tradition also preserves the ipponbo marunobashi technique of rolling the dough into a round sheet with a single pin. The name bocchi is often said to come from its resemblance to cone-shaped stacks of harvested rice stalks, and the noodles are typically served in small round bamboo trays.

Source:長野市「FEEL NAGANO NIGHT」

Correct answerHokuriku Shinkansen

JR Nagano Station is served by the Hokuriku Shinkansen. The station also handles Shinonoi, Shinetsu, Iiyama, and Shinano Railway services. The Takasaki–Nagano section of the Hokuriku Shinkansen opened in 1997, timed to be ready for the Winter Olympics held in the city the following year, and today the fastest trains reach Tokyo Station in about eighty minutes.

Source:JR東日本「長野駅」

Correct answerBunbu School

Bunbu School was the Matsushiro domain school. It combined a literature hall with halls for swordsmanship, jujutsu, archery, and spearmanship. Built to strengthen education for the children of domain retainers, its surviving buildings are now a National Historic Site and are considered nationally valuable as domain-school architecture that still preserves its Edo-period form.

Source:真田宝物館「文武学校」

Correct answerApple

Nagano City's official city flower is the apple. It was designated in 1987 to mark the 90th anniversary of city status. The Nagano Basin's inland climate, with its wide swing between day and night temperatures, has long supported thriving apple orchards, and choosing the apple as the city flower reflects an industry deeply woven into local life.

Source:Nagano City "City Symbols"

Correct answerShinano River

The Chikuma River becomes the Shinano River once it crosses into Niigata Prefecture. The combined course of the Chikuma and Shinano rivers is Japan's longest. Its source lies near Mt. Kobushigatake, close to where Saitama, Nagano, and Yamanashi meet, and the full course runs roughly 367 kilometers, winding north past the edge of Nagano City's built-up area.

Source:MLIT Chikuma River Office "What Is the Chikuma River Basin Like?"

Correct answerOyaki

Oyaki is a home-cooked staple deeply woven into daily life in Nagano City, with fillings and wrapping styles that differ from household to household. Families often make extra batches to keep on hand through the winter. Common fillings include nozawana pickled greens, sweet red bean paste, mushrooms, and dried radish, and cooking methods range from traditional baking in hearth ashes to home kitchens that steam and pan-fry the dough.

Source:長野市「長野市の粉もの文化」

Correct answerEvery seven years

Zenkoji's Gokaicho is held every seven years, in Ox and Sheep years. The stand-in principal image is put on display in the Main Hall, drawing worshippers from across Japan. The event typically runs for about two months each spring, and touching a pillar erected in front of the hall is said to create a spiritual bond with the stand-in image, drawing especially large crowds during that period.

Source:Zenkoji Gokaicho "Frequently Asked Questions"

Correct answerOkaidan Meguri

This practice is called Okaidan Meguri. Touching the "Key to Paradise" partway along the pitch-dark corridor is said to create a bond leading to rebirth in paradise. The corridor passes directly beneath the spot where the principal image is enshrined, and unlike the Gokaicho, it can be experienced year-round, making it one of the standard rituals for any Zenkoji visit.

Source:Zenkoji "Visiting the Temple"

Correct answerHonda Yoshimitsu

Zenkoji is said to have been named after Honda Yoshimitsu. A Shinano local's personal name has been handed down directly as the temple's name. According to tradition, Yoshimitsu carried the principal image back to this site and enshrined it there, and a temple hall was later built where his home had stood, leaving his name attached to the temple ever since.

Source:善光寺「紹介・歴史」

Correct answerZuishinmon

The Zuishinmon stands partway along the Okusha approach. Beyond it continues a cedar avenue more than 400 years old. With its thatched roof, the gate is regarded as the boundary between the secular world and sacred ground, and the cedar avenue beyond it is also known as a popular spot for autumn foliage, drawing both worshippers and photographers.

Source:Togakushi Shrine "History of Togakushi Shrine"

Correct answerBig Three soba noodles

Togakushi soba is considered one of Japan's Big Three soba noodles, alongside wanko soba (Iwate) and Izumo soba (Shimane). It is Togakushi's signature local dish, known nationwide. Its roots are often traced to the mountain ascetic practices centered on Mt. Togakushi, and the well-drained highland climate also proved well suited to growing buckwheat. Today the Togakushi area is still lined with numerous soba restaurants.

Source:SHUN GATE "Togakushi Soba: Local Pride Among Japan's Three Great Soba Noodles"

Correct answerSakuma Shozan

This person is Sakuma Shozan. He was appointed by the eighth domain lord, Sanada Yukitsura, and worked on coastal defense and Western military studies. He studied broadly, from Confucian learning to Dutch studies and military science, and later influenced many figures of the late Edo period, including Katsu Kaishu and Yoshida Shoin. He was assassinated in Kyoto in 1864.

Source:Sanada Treasures Museum "About the Sanada Family"

Correct answerAn inland climate with a wide swing between summer and winter

Nagano City has an inland climate with a wide seasonal swing — summer days can top 30°C while winter temperatures drop below freezing. Annual precipitation, at around 965 mm, is also low by national standards. This dry climate and wide temperature range are often cited as well suited to fruit orchards such as apples, as well as to drying buckwheat grain in the open air.

Source:Japan Meteorological Agency "Climate normals (Nagano)"

Correct answerMatsushiro Zoyama Underground Tunnels

This tunnel complex is the Matsushiro Zoyama Underground Tunnels (Matsushiro Imperial Headquarters). Part of it has been open to the public since 1989, with free admission. It was dug near the end of the Pacific War as a planned relocation site for government offices and imperial headquarters in case of a mainland battle, reaching a total length of about ten kilometers. Construction was still unfinished when the war ended, and it was never put to its intended use.

Source:Nagano City "Guide to the Matsushiro Zoyama Underground Tunnels"

Correct answerMinami Nagano Sports Park

The opening and closing ceremonies were held at the stadium in Minami Nagano Sports Park. Its exterior is noted for evoking cherry blossom petals. The stadium now also serves as the home ground of AC Nagano Parceiro, continuing its role as a stage for the city's sporting life since the Olympic era.

Source:JOC "Venues: Zone A (Nagano City)"

Correct answerSnowlets

The official mascots were called the Snowlets. They comprised four owl-based characters, individually named Sukky, Nokky, Lekky, and Tsukky, each given a different color. Owls were chosen partly as a symbol of wisdom, and the design is also said to reflect the era's growing global attention to protecting endangered species.

Source:JOC "Mascot Introduction"

Correct answerYudanaka Station

The Snow Monkey connects Nagano Station with Yudanaka Station. Named after the snow monkeys that bathe in hot springs at Jigokudani Monkey Park, it runs using refurbished former JR limited-express cars. The rolling stock is JR East's retired 253 series, originally built for the first-generation Narita Express, and has run as Nagano Electric Railway's Series 2100 since 2011, still keeping its former green-car private compartments, which remain popular with rail enthusiasts.

Source:Nagano Electric Railway "SNOW MONKEY RESORT"

Correct answerNagano Ebisuko Fireworks Festival

This fireworks display is the Nagano Ebisuko Fireworks Festival. It began in 1899 with the aim of promoting the development of Nagano City's commerce and industry. Held every November, it is one of the few large-scale autumn fireworks festivals in Japan, and because only fireworks makers who pass a strict selection process may take part, it has also earned the nickname "success fireworks."

Source:Nagano City "The Nagano Ebisuko Fireworks Festival That Keeps Captivating Fireworks Fans Nationwide"

Correct answer100-Year Food

Nagano City's flour-based food culture was certified as a "100-Year Food" by the Agency for Cultural Affairs in February 2026. To mark the certification, a spring food festival is held at Zenkoji Flower Corridor, and an autumn event runs alongside the Omotesando Autumn Festival. The recognition covers a cluster of local wheat- and buckwheat-based dishes, including soba, oyaki, nira senbei, and obukko, that have long supplemented rice in local diets.

Source:Nagano City "Nagano City's Flour-Based Food Culture — Certified as an Agency for Cultural Affairs '100-Year Food'"

Correct answerMt. Togakushi / Chikuma River / Sai River / Mt. Iizuna

Mt. Togakushi, the Chikuma River, the Sai River, and Mt. Iizuna all lie within or flow through Nagano City; Mt. Fuji and Lake Biwa do not. Mt. Togakushi rises to 1,904 meters and Mt. Iizuna to 1,917 meters, both counted among the "Five Peaks of Hokushin" along with Mt. Kurohime and Mt. Myoko, and the Nagano Basin spreads across terrain ringed by these peaks where the two rivers converge.

Source:MLIT Chikuma River Office "What Is the Chikuma River Basin Like?"

Correct answerOkusha / Kuzuryusha / Chusha / Hinomikosha / Hokosha

The five are Okusha, Kuzuryusha, Chusha, Hinomikosha, and Hokosha. Together they form the sacred landscape at the foot of Mt. Togakushi. Chusha is the central shrine, ringed by lodges and souvenir shops, while Okusha sits quietly deep in the forest directly beneath the Togakushi mountain ridge. Each enshrines a different deity, and worshippers have long treated the whole mountain as sacred ground by visiting the shrines in turn.

Source:戸隠神社「戸隠神社の歴史」

Correct answer2002–2007

The Sanmon's Heisei restoration ran from October 2002 to December 2007. It addressed foundation damage linked to major earthquakes and general deterioration. It was the first large-scale repair since the gate's construction in the mid-Edo period, and after nearly six years of work, visits to the gate's upper level resumed the following year.

Source:善光寺「主要施設」

Correct answer1999

The Zenkoji History Museum was added in 1999. It displays temple objects such as former main-hall ema (votive plaques) and perpetual-kaicho (standing exhibition) plaques. Built into the ground floor of Nihon Chureiden, it offers a rare chance to see temple treasures up close that are not normally on public display.

Source:善光寺「主要施設」

Correct answerHoyo Enshin

Hoyo Enshin gathered donations to erect the Nurebotoke. The statue, a well-known Jizo figure on the temple grounds, was erected in 1722. Standing in the open with no roof to shelter it, it is said to have earned the nickname "Wet Buddha" for being constantly exposed to rain and wind, and it remains a beloved figure among worshippers today.

Source:善光寺「その他施設」

Correct answerKenkoji

The syncretic temple Kenkoji was established at Togakushi. Togakushi belief blended with Shugendo and flourished as a mountain training center. With the Shinto-Buddhist separation of the early Meiji era, its status as a Buddhist temple was dissolved, and it was reorganized into the shrine known today as Togakushi Shrine.

Source:戸隠神社「戸隠神社の歴史」

Correct answerKawanabe Kyosai

The dragon ceiling at Chusha is by Kawanabe Kyosai. It was restored in 2003 and is displayed on the shrine ceiling. Kyosai was an artist active from the late Edo period into the Meiji era, known for a wide range of styles from satirical caricatures to Buddhist paintings, and visitors can view this ceiling work by looking up from inside the hall.

Source:戸隠神社「戸隠神社の歴史」

Correct answerFive

Five Battles of Kawanakajima are traditionally counted. The museum presents them as confrontations spanning 1553 to 1564. Most of these encounters remained limited skirmishes without a decisive outcome, and the way the two rival lords repeatedly faced off on the same ground over more than a decade is what defines this drawn-out standoff.

Source:長野市立博物館「2階展示室」

Correct answer35 years

Sanada Nobuyuki served as lord of Matsushiro for 35 years. He held the post from 1622 to 1656 and established the early modern domain. His father was Sanada Masayuki, and his younger brother was Sanada Nobushige, known as Yukimura, who fought at the Siege of Osaka; at the Battle of Sekigahara, Nobuyuki alone sided with the Tokugawa forces, a choice that preserved the family's standing.

Source:真田宝物館「真田家とは」

Correct answer1742

The Dog-Year Flood occurred in 1742, a year of the Dog in the traditional zodiac, from which the disaster takes its name. Afterward, the river channel was shifted away from the castle to protect the town. The flooding extended across the wider Shinano region and is still remembered today as one of the era's most severe natural disasters.

Source:真田宝物館「真田家とは」

Correct answer1847 Zenkoji Earthquake / Matsushiro earthquake swarm in the Showa 40s / General deterioration

The restoration addressed the Zenkoji Earthquake, Matsushiro earthquake swarm, and deterioration. The gate underwent its first major restoration from 2002 to 2007. The work corrected damage accumulated over the decades, such as a tilted foundation, and involved a full dismantling-and-rebuilding method, during which the cultural properties housed inside were also reportedly inspected.

Source:善光寺「主要施設」

Correct answerMatsushiro domain / Ueda domain / Suzaka domain / Iiyama domain / Shogunal land / Hatamoto holdings

The city area included lands of the Matsushiro, Ueda, Suzaka, and Iiyama domains, shogunal lands, and hatamoto holdings. Villages appointed headmen and managed local affairs through written records. Shinano Province was never unified under a single large domain, and this patchwork of small domains and shogunal lands intermixed in complex fashion, with the area of today's Nagano City serving as a microcosm of that pattern.

Source:長野市立博物館「2階展示室」

Correct answerVolcanic activity / Earthquakes / Floods / Landslides

Volcanism, earthquakes, floods, and landslides have reshaped the Nagano Basin. Subsurface energy also provides hot-spring resources. At the same time, sediment carried by these same forces has left fertile soil across the basin, forming the foundation that supports agriculture, including the orchards for which the area is known.

Source:長野市立博物館「1階展示室」

Correct answerOkusha—Ame-no-Tajikarao / Chusha—Ame-no-Yagokoro-Omoikane / Hokosha—Ame-no-Uwaharu / Kuzuryusha—Kuzuryu Okami / Hinomikosha—Ame-no-Uzume

The five shrines center on Ame-no-Tajikarao, Ame-no-Yagokoro-Omoikane, Ame-no-Uwaharu, Kuzuryu Okami, and Ame-no-Uzume. Deities of the rock-cave myth and the local land deity form one sacred complex. Among them, Kuzuryu Okami, associated with water and rain, has long drawn devotion from local farmers as a deity rooted in this specific land, distinct from the other four, who belong to the wider mythological cycle.

Source:戸隠神社「戸隠神社の歴史」

Correct answerJR Nagano Station → Zenkojishita Station → Nagano Electric Railway Nagano Station

JR Nagano Station opened first (1888), followed by Zenkojishita (1926) and then Nagano Electric Railway's Nagano Station (1928). These openings progressively connected the temple town to wider rail networks. JR Nagano Station began as part of a line built toward Naoetsu, and as private railways joined in over the following decades, the temple town gradually grew into a modern city where walking routes and rail lines coexisted.

Source:長野市「長野市立地適正化計画（公共交通の変遷）」

Correct answerEarly fifth to eighth centuries

The Omuro Kofun Group was built from the early fifth through the eighth century. About 500 tombs, including distinctive burial-chamber styles, cluster in a compact area. Spread across ridges and valleys extending from Mt. Kimyo, the group draws national attention for both its scale and its unusual construction, and part of the site has been designated a National Historic Site.

Source:長野市「大室古墳群保存整備事業報告書」

Correct answer14–15 m

The central road was improved under a plan for a width of about 14.5 meters. It became a modern urban axis linking Zenkoji with the railway station, supporting the growth of the built-up area in the 1920s. Some sections had reportedly been as narrow as about four meters before the work, and the widening was carried out as a Taisho-era urban plan to accommodate growing foot and cart traffic.

Source:長野市公文書館「魅てみよう!!100年前の長野市」