Noshiro City

A direction stone on the sky-watch hill.

Hiyoriyama direction stone

01 ／ Nagomehagi of Asanai

Hearth marks on the shinsare called "nagome" in Asanai.

In winter, the fire marks that form on shins and thighs beside the hearth are called nagome in Asanai, and were taken as proof of playing instead of working. A demon who comes to peel them off is Nagomehagi; today he wears a banraku mask and makes the rounds of the hamlet on New Year's Eve night.

Dec. 24, 1981: national record-keeping selection (intangible folk cultural property)
Dec. 31: makes the rounds of the hamlet on New Year's Eve night
A banraku mask is worn in place of a demon mask

02 ／ Kurita Sadanojo and Kaze no Matsubara

In 1797, Kurita Sadanojo set aboutplanting the coastal sand-control forest.

The city's chronology says a shipping wholesaler planted black pines at his own expense in 1711, and in 1797 Kurita Sadanojo, a district sand-control inspector, began planting the coastal sand-control forest. From 1822 another official also took charge of building it, and by 1833 he had finished planting 760,000 trees.

1797: Kurita Sadanojo began planting the coastal sand-control forest
1822: another official also took charge of building the forest
1833: that official finished planting 760,000 trees

03 ／ Hiyama Ando clan castle ruins

A hill castle with ridge-cutting ditches,the sea in view from its tower mound.

Hiyama Castle is a mountain castle that uses the whole horseshoe-shaped ridge as a natural stronghold. From the main enclosure, about 146 m above sea level, the second and third enclosures run on, and from the tower mound at the tip of the third one can see from the Noshiro plain to the Sea of Japan. Ridge tips are divided by ditches, and an enclosure at the east end of the old-castle district has a masugata gateway.

Mar. 21, 1980: designated a National Historic Site
Four sites make up the designation, including Hiyama Castle
A masugata gateway in an enclosure at the east end of the old-castle district

Living here

Geese cross to an irrigation pond each autumn.

about 50,000 people

Otomonuma was made in the Edo period as a reservoir for irrigation. It is a staging post for geese in autumn and spring; in the city's records, the weekly maximum of greater white-fronted geese was 200,000 in spring 2025 and 35,000 in autumn.

People living here: 49,968people
Area: 426.95km²
Households: 21,191households
Rent (average for rentals): 32,653yen
Healthcare: 5 hospitals ／ 49 clinics

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

Population from 2010 onward (municipal boundary changed).2006-03-21 に新設合併（二ツ井町）。2010年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —16 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.

Shape

Borders 5 municipalities.

Noshiro City in Japan40.212°N 140.027°E

Territory of Noshiro City

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

36.3km

三種町, 八峰町, 藤里町, 北秋田市, 上小阿仁村

Travel times per leg are not published by the municipality, so they are not shown.

Noshiro City isthis kind of town.

01Hiyoriyama is where sailors of the Kitamae-bune era checked the day's sky, and a direction stone sits near the top. It became a prefectural historic site on March 21, 2025. The city explains that it is said to have been set up in the Bunka era (1804-17) and is regarded as the second oldest direction stone, after the one in Wajima, Ishikawa.
02Noshiro, certified in 2018 as a Japan Heritage Kitamae-bune port, merged with the town of Futatsui in 2006. At Oiwake in Hiyama stands a pine-lined stretch of the old Ushu Highway, developed by the Satake domain in 1681 (Tenna 1) and now a prefectural historic site.
03Kaze no Matsubara is a sand-control forest where pines have been planted along the coast since the Edo period. The city also has the Sugisawadai site, a settlement from the early to middle Jomon period and a National Historic Site.

See the town as it is now.

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Source: Wikidata (P2002, P2003, P2013, P2397)

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Noshiro City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗