Chiryu City

Tortoise said to move if read in one go

Yatsuhashi stele, Muryoju-ji

Photo by Yanajin33 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Ushida Hachimansha

From the south, the worship hall, middle hall and cover hallstand in a single line on the precinct's north-south axis.

South of the old Tokaido, Ushida Hachimansha lines up its worship hall (kagura hall), a middle hall with side corridors, and a cover hall housing the main sanctuary. An earthen wall runs north from beside the worship hall and encloses the middle and cover halls, with a courtyard of white stones between the worship hall and the middle hall. In 2024 the main sanctuary, cover hall, middle hall with corridors and worship hall became nationally registered tangible cultural properties.

Cover hall said to date from Ansei 3 (1856)
Earthen wall from Bunkyu 3 (1863)
Nationally registered on 6 March 2024

02 ／ Chiryu Shrine

The stone bridge over the sacred pondwas built in Kyoho 17 (1732).

A stone bridge built in Kyoho 17 (1732) spans the sacred pond of Chiryu Shrine. The shrine says the pond is also said to be the origin of the characters used for the Edo-period post town of Chiryu, and that many carp can still be seen. The city's folktale says the characters came from the pond, rich in carp and crucian carp.

Bridge built in Kyoho 17 (1732)
Said to be the origin of the post-town characters
A sacred pond rich in carp and crucian carp, as told

03 ／ Float bunraku and karakuri

Puppet plays on festival floats:the 1747 festival ledger of Nakamachi records them.

According to the city, Chiryu is the only place where bunraku is staged on festival floats; it began in 1747 (Nakamachi festival ledger) and is now performed on four floats. The karakuri puppets are made by townspeople and worked by strings to joruri chanting; the play "Ichi-no-Tani Kassen" needs about ten operators. It is a nationally designated Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

Four floats: Yamacho, Nakashinmachi, Honmachi, Takaramachi
"Ichi-no-Tani Kassen" needs about ten operators
Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, 1990

Living here

22 minutes from Nagoya by Meitetsu limited express.

about 70,000 people
30 min to a city centre

Chiryu Station on the Meitetsu Nagoya Line is as little as 22 minutes from Meitetsu-Nagoya by limited express, with no change of trains (timetable revised 14 March 2026, weekdays and weekends alike). The city's access page says it takes about 20 minutes from JR Nagoya Station by changing to the Meitetsu main line.

People living here: 72,193people
Area: 16.31km²
Households: 31,694households
Rent (average for rentals): 55,426yen
Healthcare: 2 hospitals ／ 36 clinics

Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Children waiting for childcare: —12 nurseries and similar
Home purchase subsidy: —
Average annual temperature: —

These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.

ACCESS

Where you can go from here.

Chiryu City in Japan35.001°N 137.051°E

to NagoyaMeitetsu limited express22min

Travel times follow 名古屋鉄道『路線別時刻表名古屋本線』のPDF（2026年3月14日改正）。平日『kai_20260314_NH_W1.pdf』（豊橋→名鉄名古屋→名鉄岐阜方向・2026-06-22 掲載）・『20260314_NH_W2_1.pdf』（逆方向）、土・休日『20260314_NH_H1_1.pdf』・『20260314_NH_H2_1.pdf』。知立の行の発時刻と名鉄名古屋の行の着（逆向きは発）時刻の差を、PDFの座標つき文字抽出で全列車について数えた (checked 2026-10-20). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 3 municipalities.

Territory of Chiryu City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

4.7km

刈谷市, 豊田市, 安城市

Chiryu City isthis kind of town.

01The Yatsuhashi stele at Muryoju-ji, with a text by the Okazaki domain Confucian scholar Akimoto Gui recounting the Narihira tale of Yatsuhashi, stands on a granite tortoise shell. Written in Kanpo 2 (1742), it is said to make the tortoise move if read in one breath. It is a city-designated cultural property
02At Ushida Hachimansha the worship hall, middle hall with corridors and cover hall housing the main sanctuary stand in a north-south line, and became nationally registered tangible cultural properties in 2024. The sacred pond of Chiryu Shrine has a stone bridge of 1732, and its carp and crucian carp are said to be the origin of the characters for the post town of Chiryu
03The Chiryu float bunraku and karakuri are an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, and can be seen at the main festival, held every other year, of the Chiryu Festival on 2 and 3 May. The old Tokaido also keeps the prefecturally designated Raigoji milestone mounds and the Chiryu pine avenue

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Chiryu City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗