Nagano side trips: Feasting on chestnuts at Obuse
It’s no secret that Nagano Prefecture (長野県 Nagano-ken) is one of my favourite prefectures in Japan. Nagano is a large and mountainous prefecture, with an inexhaustible list of places to visit. There is just so much beautiful nature, amazing fruit and produce, and fantastic hot springs!
In this first part of a two-part series where I will introduce convenient day trips to take from Nagano City with Nagano’s local railway lines, I will be introducing Obuse (小布施), a small town with a large reputation for its chestnuts (栗 kuri).
If you’re a fan of chestnuts, you cannot miss Obuse! With a land area of just 19.1 sqm, Obuse is the smallest town in Nagano Prefecture, but what it lacks in size, it makes up for with its delicious chestnuts and delightful chestnut desserts.
Obuse is about a 35-minute ride from Nagano. (Image credit: JR East / Carissa Loh)
Obuse is located just around 35 minutes from Nagano via the Nagano Electric Railway (長野電鉄 Nagano-Dentetsu), or Nagaden (長電) for short, making it a very easy day trip or half-day trip. As soon as we arrived at Obuse Station, we already spotted advertisements for local chestnut confectionery shops, on posters, and even on seats at the platform.
Chestnut tree and chestnuts. (Image credit: JR East / Carissa Loh)
Obuse is located along the banks of the Chikuma River, Japan’s longest and widest river, at an area where it meets the Matsukawa River. The acidic soil along the banks of the river is ideal for growing chestnuts. Obuse has a 600-year history of cultivating chestnuts, and their large size and deep flavour make Obuse’s chestnuts highly sought after.
Unripe chestnuts (left) and ripe chestnuts (right). (Image credit: JR East / Carissa Loh and Julia Yee)
I got the chance to visit Obuse for the first time in late September, and it was my first time getting to see real chestnut trees and real chestnuts up close. The chestnuts’ outer shells are very spiky and sharp, so be careful when picking them up. When they are green, they are unripe, but when they are brown, they are considered ripe, and will usually drop to the ground and split open. We saw so many at along the road side, and stopped to examine them up close.
Mid-September to mid-October is the harvest season for chestnuts, and all around Obuse you will see shops selling a variety of chestnut-infused dishes and desserts. I was lucky to have visited Obuse when chestnuts were in season, and I was so excited to try out all the chestnut foods! Here are my top three recommendations for chestnut foods if you’re planning to check out Obuse:
① Obusedo’s Suzaku
Obusedo is a famous confections shop from Obuse. (Image credit: JR East / Carissa Loh)
In Obuse, there are many restaurants and shops that sell chestnut foods and desserts all year round, however, there are some chestnut specialties that are only available for a limited time during the harvest season. One of these specialties is the Suzaku (朱雀) chestnut dessert by Obusedo (小布施堂 Obusedо̄), a famous chestnut confections shop.
The Suzaku is Obusedo’s autumn jewel, and visitors from all over Japan would line up at the store in Obuse just to try this exclusive dessert, which is only served during the harvest season, and only at Obusedo’s main store in Obuse.
The Suzaku. (Image credit: JR East / Carissa Loh)
The Suzaku’s full name is “Kuri no Tenshin Suzaku” (栗の点心 朱雀), which means “chestnut dessert Suzaku”. This decadent dessert is made by steaming chestnuts, removing the skin, and straining the chestnut flesh into fine strips like somen noodles. It is not a sweet dessert like cakes or pastries, but an understated and simpler tasting dessert. The Suzaku is made up of pure chestnut, with no sugar added, so it is not sweet, and goes well with tea.
Having heard stories of Suzaku for years, I needed to give it a try on my visit to Obuse. Due to COVID-19, reservations could now be made online instead of having to queue in person, so I navigated the ticketing website, and with the help of my colleagues, I was able to snag a reservation!
Different types of chestnut paste desserts. (Image credit: JR East / Carissa Loh)
If you prefer something sweet, there are also variations of mont blanc (モンブラン monburan) available. Mont blanc is a French-inspired chestnut cream cake, and is one of the most popular autumn desserts in Japan. As a chestnut confections shop, you can bet that Obusedo has its own versions of mont blanc.
The Mont Blanc Suzaku is available all year round, and is made of semifreddo ice cream and custard cream with chestnuts and chestnut paste atop sponge cake.
The Suzaku Mont Blanc is a dessert that features chestnut and cassis, two types of cream, sponge cake, and chestnut paste on a tart, and is available in autumn and spring at Obusedo’s online store, as well as its physical stores in Isetan Shinjuku and Hankyu Umeda department stores.
For something simpler, there is the Mont Blanc, which is available as takeaway and is sold all year round at Obusedo’s online store and some of its physical stores around the country.
Vending machine and tickets. (Image credit: JR East / Carissa Loh)
The reservation I made was for the timeslot, but we still had to order and pay for our desserts at the store, from a vending machine. We could choose from either the Kuri no Tenshin Suzaku (¥1,800 each), or the Mont Blanc Suzaku (¥2,000 each).
Having only heard stories of the Suzaku and being confused with all the similar-sounding names at that time, all of us got the Kuri no Tenshin Suzaku. On hindsight, we should have gotten one Mont Blanc Suzaku to compare, but that just means we have another reason to visit Obuse again!
Digging into our Suzaku dessert. (Image credit: JR East / Carissa Loh)
We were seated at the outdoor area, but the store also an indoor area. Other than the desserts, Obusedo also served a special multicourse chestnut meal during the harvest period. It was raining so there weren’t many other customers seated outdoors, but luckily, the seats we got were in a private corner with a roof. We passed our tickets to the staff, and after about 15 minutes, our desserts came.
The Suzaku. (Image credit: JR East / Carissa Loh)
The Suzaku dessert was massive, and was served with a cup of tea and a small piece of yokan (羊羹 yо̄kan), a type of Japanese confectionery. The tea was refillable, and due to the Suzaku being 80% pure chestnut (with a bit of chestnut paste at the bottom), it required regular sips of tea, and took some time to finish. Needless to say, we were very full after finishing our desserts, and ready to walk off our dessert by exploring Obuse on foot.
Obusedo Honten (小布施堂 本店)
Address: 808 Obuse, Kamitakai, Nagano 381-0293
Access: 10-minute walk from Obuse Station (小布施駅)
Opening hours: 9:00–17:00
② Chestnut okowa
Sample dishes at Chikufudo. (Image credit: JR East / Julia Yee and Carissa Loh)
Another well-loved chestnut dish is chestnut okowa (栗おこわ kuri okowa)—steamed glutinous rice with chestnuts. In Obuse, you can find various restaurants selling their versions of chestnut okowa, which makes for a great lunch. Another famous chestnut food shop in Obuse is Chikufudo (竹風堂 Chikufūdо̄) , for which we saw the advertisements for on seats at the train station.
Yamaga Teishoku set at Chikufudo. (Image credit: JR East / Carissa Loh)
It had just started raining when we arrived at Obuse, so we quickly took shelter at Chikufudo’s main store and decided to have lunch there. We got the Kuri Okowa Yamaga Teishoku (栗おこわ山家定食) set, which came with chestnut okowa, a variety of mountain vegetables, which Nagano prefecture is known for, a side of rainbow trout, pickles, miso soup, and apple juice.
Delicious chestnut okowa. (Image credit: JR East / Carissa Loh)
The star of the meal was of course the chestnut okowa. The rice was cooked with a generous amount of large chestnuts, which gave the rice a slightly sweet taste. Chikufudo also had chestnut mochi on sale, but since we visited Obuse in the afternoon, the mochi was unfortunately sold out by the time we got there.
Happy diners. (Image credit: JR East / Julia Yee)
Chikufudo’s dining area was located on the 2nd floor. On the 1st floor, there was the retail area selling chestnut snacks you can bring home, so we browsed for a while before heading out to search for our next chestnut food.
Chikufudo Obuse Honten (竹風堂 小布施本店)
Address: 973 Obuse, Kamitakai, Nagano 381-292
Access: 8-minute walk from Obuse Station (小布施駅)
Opening hours: 10:00–18:00 (last order at 17:30)
③ Light bites
Obuse has no shortage of delicious chestnut treats. (Image credit: JR East / Carissa Loh and photoAC)
Other than chestnut-infused foods and decadent chestnut desserts, Obuse also has many choices for light bites, sweet treats, snacks, and souvenirs that feature chestnuts as the star ingredient.
You can grab some to eat while you walk around and explore the town, or buy some back for your family and friends to share the taste of Obuse with them. Popular choices include chestnut-flavoured soft-served ice cream, chestnut yokan, freshly roasted chestnuts, and my personal favourite: chestnut dorayaki (どら焼き).
Dorayaki from Obusedo. (Image credit: JR East / Carissa Loh)
Dorayaki is like two pieces of mini pancakes that are usually filled with red bean paste, but at Obuse, you can find ones filled with chestnut paste. The dorayaki pancakes are sweet and fluffy, and when paired with the chestnut pastes, tastes amazing. Since they are prepared fresh, they must be consumed within 1–2 weeks, so take note if you are buying to bring back home.
Roasted chestnuts from Obuse are large. (Image credit: photoAC)
I don’t know about you, but I adore the smell of roasted chestnuts—they just smell so warm and comforting. If you are a fan of roasted chestnuts, there’s no better place to try them than at Obuse. You will not be prepared for the size of these chestnuts; they are huge!
In Singapore, you can find roasted chestnuts that are usually small and sold in paper packets, but at Obuse, most of the roasted chestnuts are sold in paper cups. You can count the number of chestnuts in the cups as they are massive—about 2–3 times the size of the roasted chestnuts sold in Singapore.
Closing
Obuse’s chestnuts were large and sweet, and I could understand why people flock to Obuse during the harvest season just to try their chestnut goodies. Although we tried a number of delicious chestnut foods during our short trip to Obuse, there are still so many more we have not tried, and I know I’ll definitely be back again to try them out.
Don't forget to visit the Hokusai Museum. (Image credit: JR East / Carissa Loh)
If you’re a fan of the Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎), the ukiyoe artist, you’ll be glad to know that there is the Hokusai Museum (北斎館 Hokusai-kan) in the centre of Obuse. Hokusai used to live in Obuse for a few years near the end of his life, and the museum has a collection of some of his works. Don’t miss this museum if you’re a fan!
Obuse is just a short 35-minute ride from Nagano Station, so do head over for a visit out on your next trip.
JR EAST PASS (Nagano, Niigata area)
The JR EAST PASS (Nagano, Niigata area) and usage area. (Image credit: JR East)
If you are thinking of visiting Obuse and other parts of Nagano Prefecture, check out the JR EAST PASS (Nagano, Niigata area), an affordable pass offering unlimited rail travel on JR East lines (including bullet trains) in the valid area for 5 consecutive days at only ¥27,000. You can also make seat reservations for bullet trains, some limited express trains and Joyful Trains online for free, up to 1 month in advance, on the JR-EAST Train Reservation.
The JR-EAST Train Reservation. (Image credit: JR East)
The JR EAST PASS (Nagano, Niigata area) can be used for automatic ticket gates, and foreign passport holders living in Japan are also eligible to use this pass.
Note that the Nagano Dentetsu is not covered by the JR EAST PASS (Nagano, Niigata area). It costs ¥680 one-way from Nagano Station to Obuse Station on Nagano Dentetsu.
Header image credit: JR East / Carissa Loh
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