Nichien Momiji Line (日塩もみじライン)

The Nichien Momiji Line is a 27.5 km mountain road in Tochigi between Fujiwara, at the Kinugawa Onsen end of Nikko, and Naka-Shiobara in Nasushiobara. It is part of Tochigi Route 19, the Fujiwara Shiobara Line, and climbs about 780 m from the Route 121 junction at Fujiwara to a high point of about 1,271 m.

In Initial D it is the Momiji Line, home course of Seven Star Leaf and the scene of Project D's first battle in Tochigi, shown in Fourth Stage. The team's downhill driver Toru Suetsugu runs an Eunos Roadster and uphill driver Atsuro Kawai an R34 Skyline 25GT Turbo. The story's course is the lower section near the Kinugawa end. It debuted in the Initial D Special Stage console game and reached the arcades in Arcade Stage 8 Infinity.

The first road here opened in 1938 to link the Kinugawa and Shiobara hot spring towns. It was rebuilt and opened as a toll road on 1 October 1972, and the maples planted along it gave it the name Momiji Line.

• The road climbs from the Route 121 junction at Fujiwara, near Kinugawa Onsen, to its high point and down to Route 400 at the Momiji Line entrance in Shiobara.
• Every sharp bend tighter than a 20 m radius carries a number. The last, number 45, is Omagari, the big bend.
• Maples line the road the whole way and the leaves peak from late October to early November.
• Two waterfalls sit on the route, Shirataki and Taikooroshi Falls, and the chain fitting bay partway down looks out over Kawaji Dam.
• Fans stop at the roadside gutter where the story has Takumi's AE86 slip past on the inside. Toru tries the same gutter trick later in the battle and fails.
• Two ski resorts sit along the road, and near the Shiobara end a steaming volcanic crater rises above Shinyu Onsen.
• Best way to experience it: in your own car or a hire car.

• The ¥620 car toll that older guides still list has ended. The road is now run by Tochigi Prefecture's Nikko Civil Engineering Office on the Nikko side and Otawara Civil Engineering Office on the Nasushiobara side.
• The road stays open through winter and is cleared with rotary snow ploughs, but snow can still shut it.
• Shirataki and Fujimidai have car parks on the road, and Nikko City runs a public toilet with an accessible cubicle at the Shirataki park.
• Autumn colour brings crowds of visitors to the road.
• Kinugawa Onsen, on the Tobu Railway, is the town at the southern end, and Shiobara Onsen at the northern end.

• Last verified: 3 November 2026