Kuromanta (Mount Kuromata) and the Oyu Stone Circles are in Towada-Oyu, Kazuno City, Akita Prefecture. The nearest exit is Towada IC on the Tohoku Expressway, about fifteen minutes away by car. It sits at the southern gateway to Lake Towada, which is a thirty-to-forty-minute drive away.

Touring it by public transport alone is, frankly, not easy. From JR Hanawa Line’s Kazuno-Hanawa or Towada-Minami stations, you connect by bus or taxi, and services are limited. The Kuromanta trailhead (the Hongu Shrine torii) has no large parking lot, so the realistic move is to start from the parking at the Oyu Stone Circles or the Stone Circle Museum and walk. A rental car, or a package with the transport built in, removes a lot of the guesswork.

After looking up at Kuromanta, head two kilometers on to the Oyu Stone Circles. Two rings of stone, each more than fifty meters across, make up one of Japan’s largest stone circles, registered as a World Heritage site in 2021. The adjacent Oyu Stone Circle Museum is free to enter, with excavated pottery on display and video exhibits that recreate the Jomon landscape in CG.

It would be a waste only to look. In the museum’s workshop you can try the Jomon handcrafts — making a clay tablet (doban), a magatama bead, or a stone-arrangement magnet. It takes thirty to sixty minutes. Whether with children or in the spirit of a grown-up’s research project, it is a hands-on touch that belongs to this land alone.

Kazuno is the birthplace of kiritanpo, an Akita specialty. Cooked rice is wrapped around an Akita-cedar skewer, grilled, then simmered in a broth of Hinai-jidori chicken — the kiritanpo hot pot is the first thing not to miss. The simple “miso-tsuke tanpo,” grilled with miso brushed on, is a humble favorite among locals.

The other star is the citizens’ soul food, Kazuno horumon. Pork and beef offal marinated in a sweet-savory miso-based sauce is grilled on a dome-shaped Genghis Khan pan, with tofu and cabbage laid around the rim to simmer. The custom is to finish with udon noodles, soaking up the flavor that has melted out. Beyond that, the rare Kazuno tankaku beef and Hachimantai pork are brand meats worth seeking out here.

Welling up at the foot of Kuromanta is Oyu Onsen, said to have been opened eight hundred years ago. In the Edo period it was designated a retreat spring of the Nanbu domain — a hot spring with real pedigree. Inns are scattered along the Oyu River, and it makes a base for touring Lake Towada.

For an overnight, choose by taste. An inn where you savor kaiseki and kiritanpo hot pot at leisure, or an affordable inn for an easy soak in free-flowing source water. Pick from the two cards below.

Look up at Kuromanta, touch the Jomon, then sink into a bath on the way out. Oyu Onsen is a place where you can enjoy the famed waters without staying over. From a casual wellness center, to source baths beloved by locals, to a free footbath — choose by taste and time. Here is the rundown.

For souvenirs, take what belongs to this land. Kiritanpo, miso-tsuke tanpo, Hinai-jidori broth, Kazuno horumon (some shops offer takeout or shipping). At the shops of Michi-no-Eki Oyu or the Stone Circle Museum, look for Jomon-motif goods and local sake too.

Kuromanta (Mount Kuromata) and the Oyu Stone Circles are in Towada-Oyu, Kazuno City, Akita Prefecture. The nearest exit is Towada IC on the Tohoku Expressway, about fifteen minutes away by car. It sits at the southern gateway to Lake Towada, which is a thirty-to-forty-minute drive away.

Touring it by public transport alone is, frankly, not easy. From JR Hanawa Line’s Kazuno-Hanawa or Towada-Minami stations, you connect by bus or taxi, and services are limited. The Kuromanta trailhead (the Hongu Shrine torii) has no large parking lot, so the realistic move is to start from the parking at the Oyu Stone Circles or the Stone Circle Museum and walk. A rental car, or a package with the transport built in, removes a lot of the guesswork.

After looking up at Kuromanta, head two kilometers on to the Oyu Stone Circles. Two rings of stone, each more than fifty meters across, make up one of Japan’s largest stone circles, registered as a World Heritage site in 2021. The adjacent Oyu Stone Circle Museum is free to enter, with excavated pottery on display and video exhibits that recreate the Jomon landscape in CG.

It would be a waste only to look. In the museum’s workshop you can try the Jomon handcrafts — making a clay tablet (doban), a magatama bead, or a stone-arrangement magnet. It takes thirty to sixty minutes. Whether with children or in the spirit of a grown-up’s research project, it is a hands-on touch that belongs to this land alone.

Kazuno is the birthplace of kiritanpo, an Akita specialty. Cooked rice is wrapped around an Akita-cedar skewer, grilled, then simmered in a broth of Hinai-jidori chicken — the kiritanpo hot pot is the first thing not to miss. The simple “miso-tsuke tanpo,” grilled with miso brushed on, is a humble favorite among locals.

The other star is the citizens’ soul food, Kazuno horumon. Pork and beef offal marinated in a sweet-savory miso-based sauce is grilled on a dome-shaped Genghis Khan pan, with tofu and cabbage laid around the rim to simmer. The custom is to finish with udon noodles, soaking up the flavor that has melted out. Beyond that, the rare Kazuno tankaku beef and Hachimantai pork are brand meats worth seeking out here.

Welling up at the foot of Kuromanta is Oyu Onsen, said to have been opened eight hundred years ago. In the Edo period it was designated a retreat spring of the Nanbu domain — a hot spring with real pedigree. Inns are scattered along the Oyu River, and it makes a base for touring Lake Towada.

For an overnight, choose by taste. An inn where you savor kaiseki and kiritanpo hot pot at leisure, or an affordable inn for an easy soak in free-flowing source water. Pick from the two cards below.

Look up at Kuromanta, touch the Jomon, then sink into a bath on the way out. Oyu Onsen is a place where you can enjoy the famed waters without staying over. From a casual wellness center, to source baths beloved by locals, to a free footbath — choose by taste and time. Here is the rundown.

For souvenirs, take what belongs to this land. Kiritanpo, miso-tsuke tanpo, Hinai-jidori broth, Kazuno horumon (some shops offer takeout or shipping). At the shops of Michi-no-Eki Oyu or the Stone Circle Museum, look for Jomon-motif goods and local sake too.