Three bronze statues of Ino Tadataka found in Sawara!

It was a three-day weekend, so I took a little trip to Sawara.

I had read about Ino Tadataka on Wikipedia beforehand, so I reconfirmed his footsteps in the many national treasures.

Ino Tadataka is indeed a hero of Sawara, and there were three bronze statues of him.

Sawara Station
Eating Kurogiri Soba at Koboriya Honten
Ino Tadataka Memorial Museum and Old House
Sawara Station again
Walking data

Sawara Station

I went out without looking at the timetable, and although I had to wait an hour for a train connection at Narita, I managed to arrive at Sawara.

Narita Line

The Narita line was using newer trains than I had expected.

Yes, the first thing I did when I got off the platform was to check the departure time for the Narita direction so that I wouldn’t repeat the same mistake on the way back.

Sawara station platform 0

Sawara was a station with a line 0. I wonder if the large 0 compared to the letter 1 is to emphasize the line 0.

Sawara Station Building

Since I hadn’t done any preliminary research on anything other than Ino Tadataka, I decided to get a sightseeing map first. Fortunately, there was a tourist exchange center in the station building, so I bought one there.

Sawara Sightseeing MAP and Gourmet Map

It is 20 yen. Rather than getting it for free, paying such a reasonable price will motivate you to use it properly.

By the way, the Sawara Gourmet Map is free.

After staring at the map and pamphlet for about five minutes, I decided on a general walking route and a restaurant for lunch.

First, I decided to go to Sawara (Suwa) Park and greet the bronze statue of Ino Tadataka.

Statue of Ino Tadataka in Sawara Park

It is a rather large bronze statue. Tadataka used a compass to check his direction.

The magnetic compass is strapped to a chair-like base. Just carrying it was a challenge. And he has to move 40km a day while surveying. It’s not human work.

Warehouse of floats

On the way to the city, I found a warehouse of floats!

I thought that festivals using floats were only held in the Kansai region and Chichibu, but now I see that they are also held in Sawara.

Eating Kurogiri Soba at Koboriya Honten

Koboriya Honten

On the way to the Chukei Bridge, I found Koboriya Honten, the restaurant I had planned to have lunch at!

It is a building designated as a Tangible Cultural Property of Chiba Prefecture in the Joudenken District (Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings). Since it was a good opportunity, I had to eat here even if I had to wait.

Kurokiri Soba

What I was aiming for was this Kurokiri Soba (1,050 yen).

Here’s a question. What are the ingredients used to make the black color?

(1) Squid ink
(2) Kelp
(3) Black beans

Now, the correct answer is…

(2) Kombu. If you got it right, please come to Sawara at your own expense.

I tried eating the black-sliced buckwheat noodles as is, with wasabi, or dipped in dipping sauce, but to be honest, I couldn’t really taste the kelp. However, the taste of the soba with the dipping sauce was delicious.

Ino Tadataka Memorial Museum and Old House

The Chukei Bridge with the quadrant set up.

A quadrant was set up on the main pillar of the Chukei Bridge.

Looking at this picture, I just realized that the Ono River runs almost north-south, so maybe this quadrant is aiming at the North Star!

I tried to measure the angle using image editing software. It was almost 45 degrees, so unfortunately, it was not aiming at Polaris.

A view of the Ono River from the Chukei Bridge

This is a view of the Onogawa River seen from the Chukei Bridge. It is truly the Little Tokyo. The back of the photo is the upper stream.
From here, the right side (left bank) is the way to the Ino Tadataka Memorial Museum.

Ino Tadataka Memorial Museum

This is the Ino Tadataka Memorial Museum. The entrance fee is 500 yen. No photography is allowed inside the museum.

The theme of the museum can be summed up in one word: ” Ino Tadataka discovered through his surveying that one 360th of the circumference of the earth (meridian plane) is 28.2 ri.

One ri is 3.927 km, so 3.927 x 28.2 x 360 ≒ 39,900 km. 1 km was determined as 1/40,000th of the circumference of the earth, so the error is about 0.25%. That’s almost perfect. That’s amazing.

Today, the size of the Earth is readily available on the Internet. But to get it, Tadataka Ino studied astronomy and spent years surveying all over Japan, investing his own money to get it.

It is recommended that you read the section on Ino Tadataka in Wikipedia before coming to this museum for a better understanding.

Ino Tadataka’s Former Residence

Returning to the Ono River from the memorial, I found the old house of Tadataka Ino!

The area in front of the old house, where people were wearing Suge hats, is the boarding point for the Koedo Sawara Boat Tour.

There were several other locals wearing Suge hats. Do they sell them in Sawara? I’d like to get one, as they seem to be getting harder to come by.

Inside the former residence of Ino Tadataka

The interior of the old house is a Japanese house with an earthen floor.

Official flags and quadrants

There were also official flags and quadrants.

Statue of Ino Tadataka in the grounds of his former home

I found a second bronze statue of Tadataka!

He is wearing a traveling outfit, after all. He is wearing sandals.

Stream in the grounds of the former residence of Ino Tadataka

There was a stream running through the grounds of the old house.

So they were able to load and unload on the property. I bet.

Family precepts

I found a book of family precepts.

The second one, “If someone younger than you gives you a lesson or an opinion, be sure to share it with them and follow it closely,” is exactly the attitude of Tadataka, who was taught by his younger teacher, Yoshitoki Takahashi.

View from near the surface of the Ono River

I didn’t go on the boat tour, but this is what I saw from down the stone stairs called “dashi” for unloading cargo.

Kaiun Bridge

At the northern end of the Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings was the Kaiun Bridge. I heard that stroking the carp on the main pillar would bring good luck, so I stroked it. Sorry for the out of focus.