HOME > Japan’s Local Treasures > Encounter with Japanese History in Kawachinagano, Osaka
A city where you can step back into Japan’s Middle Ages
Kinki District Transport Bureau
Kawachinagano is located in the southeastern part of Osaka Prefecture. The city has long been a key transportation hub where many roads intersect, including the Koya Kaido that connects Kyoto and the great temple complex of Koya-san. For this reason, it rivals Kyoto and Nara as home to a wealth of cultural assets—temples, shrines, Buddhist statues, paintings, National Treasures, and Important Cultural Properties. The city is recognized as a Japan Heritage site for its preservation of historical objects dating back a thousand years to Japan’s Middle Ages.
Special exhibitions of National Treasures are held here in the spring and fall, when you can enjoy the area’s beautiful cherry blossoms or autumn leaves along with the exhibitions.
You can also partake of regional cuisine at a creative vegetarian restaurant located in a traditional temple, or a sake brewery restaurant that offers dishes made with local sake and sake lees. And you can enjoy a relaxing stay at a hot spring inn that is registered as a National Tangible Cultural Property.
Approximately 70 percent of Kawachinagano is forest, and the city boasts its own brand of “Osaka Kawachi Wood.” One popular tourist spot is the General Forestry Center (Kinkonkan), where you can make your own cutlery from Osaka Kawachi Wood—a perfect memento of your trip.
How to get there
By train: From Shin-Osaka Station, take the Osaka Metro Midosuji Line to Namba Station (about 15 minutes) and transfer to the Nankai Koya Line. It takes about 30 minutes from Namba to Kawachinagano Station.
By plane: From Kansai International Airport, take the Nankai Airport Limousine Bus to Kawachinagano Station (about 1 hour 30 minutes).
Kawachinagano-shi, Osaka-fu
