Soba field near Togura Kamiyamada Onsen
長野県を代表できる風情：そば畑の白い花。一茶の言う通り：
信濃では
月と仏と
オラがそば
This picture catches the essence of Nagano: a soba field with its white flowers. As the haiku poet Issa wrote:
Shinano de ha
Tsuki to Hotoke to
Ora ga soba
As for Shinano,
The Moon and the Buddha and
For me, the soba.
(Shinano = the old name for Nagano)
(Moon refers to the moon at Obasute that reflects in the Ta-Goto-no-Tsuki rice paddies.)
(Buddha refers to Zenkoji Temple in Nagano City.)
