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Let's enjoy Nasu with Kaori! Welcome to Konoha Fossil Garden, where you can learn about ancient times through fossils.

Konoha Fossil Garden

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Hello, this is Kaori.
Konoha Fossil Garden is one of the main spots in Shiobara Onsen.
Shiobara is famous as a place where many plant and animal fossils have been found.
At Konoha Fossil Garden, you can see many fossils from the layer called “Shiobara Fossil Lake” at close range.
Splitting stones to look for leaf fossils feels like a treasure hunt.
▼ Virtual View (Surroundings)

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▼ Kaori's Report

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When you think of Shiobara Onsen, Konoha Fossil Garden soon comes to mind.
Shiobara is also well-known as a fossil site where many plants and animals have been unearthed.

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This is a cross-section of the layer known as the “Shiobara Fossil Lake.”
Several hundred thousand years ago, there was a crescent-shaped lake about 6 km east–west and 3 km north–south.
Plants and animals on the lake bed were covered by volcanic ash and sediment from nearby rivers and became fossils.

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When you split the stones, leaf fossils like these appear.
You cannot know where the fossils are, so you just split and see. It feels like a treasure hunt.

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Wow, there are leaf fossils in many different shapes.

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In the back area, you can also see ammonites and other fossils from Japan and overseas, not only leaf fossils.


(Kaori’s Highlights)

You might think “leaf fossils?” and underestimate them, but they are quite enjoyable.
There is something romantic about digging fossils out of the ground.
Sometimes I feel that fossils buried in the earth are calling us to find them.
It is like they use our hands to come back to the surface.
It is a very mysterious feeling.
When I think they were once living beings before they became stone, I strongly feel the long passage of time.

▼ Contact Information


[Phone] +81-287-32-2052


[Address] 472 Naka-Shiobara, Nasushiobara-shi, Tochigi


[More Info.] info Opening hours and details

▼ Map


You can check the exact location of the facility on the map below.

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