Designated a national historic site, Matsugaoka Kaikonjo is where some 3,000 samurai developed silk worm cultivation in 1872 as Japan raced to become a modern nation. They cultivated 311 hectares of mulberry trees and built ten buildings used as silkworm nurseries, five of which survive today. To commemorate its 50th anniversary, somei yoshino were planted here in 1921. The 50 trees today provide a charming companion to the historic buildings of a bygone era.