Higashinaruse Village

Red by name, blue on clear days.

Lake Sukawa, the Vermilion Pond

Photo by Tomofumi Sato (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Copper plate

A copper plate of wishes for a new-field project,carved in classical Chinese, is kept at the shrine.

In the Edo period, a samurai of the Akita domain and the villagers of Iwaigawa set out to open new fields. The copper plate records wishes for lasting fortune in arms, prosperous descendants and peace for the villagers, engraved in classical Chinese down to the date and names. The village says nothing like it is known elsewhere in the prefecture. It reportedly escaped the 1942 metal collection order because it was apparently not hung in the main hall of Iwaigawa Shrine.

First village-designated tangible cultural property, 2023
Date and names engraved in classical Chinese
Metal collection order, 1942

02 ／ Stone axes

Four stone axes, the longest 60 cm,were found in a farm road ditch.

In October 1965, digging out a ditch during farm road work at Uwahaba, workers found four polished stone axes 50 cm below the surface. All are said to have been lying with their blades pointing west. The largest is 60.2 cm long and weighs 4.4 kg. They are an Important Cultural Property, held by the Akita Prefectural Museum in Akita City.

Found during farm road work, 1965
Largest: 60.2 cm long, 4.4 kg
Important Cultural Property, 1988

03 ／ Old road

The provincial map made in early Edoshows only the Semboku Kaidō on this stretch.

The Semboku Kaidō runs from the site of the Tegura guard post to Orose in Ōshū, Iwate, about 24 km in all by the village's tourism site. The Agency for Cultural Affairs says a guard post stood at Tegura, and samurai came from Yokote Castle. On the Akita side it was also called the Sendai Road and the Mizusawa Road. It was chosen as one of the Historic Roads of Japan in 2019.

About 24 km long
Guard post at Tegura
Historic Roads of Japan, 2019

Living here

Twenty-five minutes by bus from Jūmonji Station, in the hills.

about 3,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway station in the village. Its tourism site tells visitors to change at JR Jūmonji Station (Ōu Main Line) to the Ugo Kotsu bus (Iwaigawa Line). From the stop in front of Jūmonji Station to Higashinaruse Village Office takes 25 minutes, with two buses on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays in the timetable revised in April 2026. About 93% of the area is mountain forest and open land, and winter snow lies 2 m deep, sometimes 3 to 4 m, in a special heavy-snowfall area.

People living here: 2,704people
Area: 203.69km²
Households: 1,158households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 3 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —1 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.

Higashinaruse Village in Japan39.179°N 140.649°E

to JūmonjiLocal bus25min

Travel times follow 羽後交通の路線バス『岩井川線』の時刻表（令和8年4月1日改正。PDF の Last-Modified は 2026-03-23）の『十文字駅前発』→『東成瀬役場前発』の列で、5本とも25分（8:50→9:15・11:25→11:50・16:00→16:25・17:25→17:50・18:30→18:55）。逆向きの役場前→十文字駅前は21分（6:23→6:44・7:09→7:30・9:54→10:15・12:29→12:50）。村の観光公式『東成瀬村について』の『新幹線・電車・バスの場合』（秋田新幹線こまち→大曲駅〈奥羽本線へ乗換〉→十文字駅〈羽後交通路線バス（岩井川線）へ乗換〉→東成瀬村）と一致 (checked 2026-10-08). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 6 municipalities across 2 prefectures.

Territory of Higashinaruse Village

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)Lakes: National Land Numerical Information (Lake Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari. Prepared with the approval of the Director-General of the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, using its Digital Map 25000 (Spatial Data Framework) and Digital Map 25000 (Place Names and Public Facilities). (承認番号平27情使、第585号)

North to south

28.0km

Akita Prefecture: 横手市, 湯沢市
Iwate Prefecture: 奥州市, 一関市, 西和賀町
Miyagi Prefecture: 栗原市

Higashinaruse Village isthis kind of town.

01Lake Sukawa is also called the Vermilion Pond; the Forestry Agency says the name comes from the lake bed's reddish-brown iron oxide, and its magazine describes the surface shining lapis-blue on a fine day
02A copper plate kept at Iwaigawa Shrine is the village's first designated tangible cultural property, and four large polished stone axes found at the Uwahaba site are an Important Cultural Property held by the prefectural museum
03The Semboku Kaidō runs from the Tegura guard post site toward Ōshū in Iwate and is one of the Historic Roads of Japan; the village has no railway station, and Jūmonji Station is 25 minutes away by bus

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Higashinaruse Village official site ↗Wikipedia ↗