Karuizawa's
History
Karuizawa's first inhabitants
date back almost 2500 years to a civilization of people living in the valley
at the foot of Mt. Asama. An archaeological dig located near the village
of Mozawa has unearthed pottery, cookware, human bones and remains of dwellings
dating back to 500 BC. A collection of these items and photos is held at
the Karuizawa Museum, including a large pot in good condition unearthed near
the dig-site by Dan Dennis, a TEAM missionary kid who grew up in Karuizawa.
During the 17th and 18th centuries,
Karuizawa was an important post-station stop on the Nakasendo highway that
linked Edo and Kyoto as well as roads leading to interior cities such as
Nagano, Matsumoto and Japan Sea Coast cities such as Kashiwazaki and Niigata
City.
The sleepy little town located
3,000 feet above sea level and at the base of Mt. Asama, did not claim any
fame until 1885 or 1886, when visited by Alexander Croft Shaw, an archdeacon
of the Church of England. Shaw was immediately struck by the town's peacefulness
and natural beauty, reminding him of his home town in Scotland.
Archdeacon Shaw built his villa
retreat in Karuizawa in 1888, and many expatriates wanting to escape the
summer heat in Tokyo followed him to the mountain community that claimed
perfect summer weather. Land prices were cheap and Shaw's decription of Karuizawa
brought many expatriates to the sleepy little town. Soon, summer cabins were
being built throughout the woods by foreign missionaries, consuls, business
people and even a few upper class Japanese.
"Consuls in white tropical
suits snoozed or read old copies of The Illustrated London News there, servants
glided in with trays of iced lemonade, visiting ladies carefully arranged
their lawn skirts as they sank into low rattan chairs and the Minister's
favorite labradors padded quiet as lions along the verandahs." - written
by Mary Hugh Fraser, wife of the British Minister who arrived in Tokyo in
1889 about her experiences in Karuizawa in her book The Deer Cry Pavilion:
A Story of Westerners in Japan 1868 - 1905.
Karuizawa also lays claim to
the first western style hotel built in Japan - The Mampei Hotel, built in
1894 and still open for business today. Room prices today range from 23000
- 70000 yen and the hotel is still considered one of Japan's best. The Mikasa
Hotel or Mikasa House as it became known (shown above) was the second western
style hotel to be built in Japan. Construction was complete in 1906 and the
hotel today has been designated as an Important Cultural Property and is
open to visitors as a museum.
By the 1930's, missionaries
made up the largest population of foreigners in Karuizawa. Many were forced
to leave Japan with the onset of World War II, and during this time, many
cabins in Karuizawa were used to shelter expatriates who remained in Japan
during the war.
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