Semboku City

Lit paper balloons rise in midwinter.

Paper balloons, Kamihinokinai

01 ／ Town plan

A firebreak with an earthen rampartwas set between samurai and townspeople.

Kakunodate was built in 1620 by Ashina Yoshikatsu. A firebreak with an earthen rampart was set in the middle of the town, dividing the samurai inner town from the townspeople's outer town. City excavations (fiscal 2020-2022) found, about 0.8 m below today's road, a gravel layer of the domain-period road and part of the foot of the rampart.

Town plan of 1620
Excavations in fiscal 2020-2022
Domain-period road about 0.8 m below the surface

02 ／ Samurai house

Posts stand at every ken, none omitted,in a house thought to be mid-18th century.

The Iwahashi family house stands midway along Kakunodate's former samurai quarter. Its main building is a single-storey gabled house with a plank roof, thought to date from the mid-18th century. A guest entrance and a side entrance stand side by side at the front, and the layout clearly separates guest space from living space. It was designated an Important Cultural Property in January 2026.

Main building thought to date from the mid-18th century
Single-storey, gabled, plank roof
Important Cultural Property, January 2026

03 ／ Mineral

Its designation text records no sourceapart from Beitou in Taiwan.

Hokutolite from Tamagawa Onsen forms a crust on the bed of a stream in the upper Tamagawa, with tiny crystals clustered on its surface. The national designation text says it has no source apart from Beitou in Taiwan. It became a Natural Monument in 1922 and a Special Natural Monument in 1952. The photo shows a specimen.

Natural Monument, 1922
Special Natural Monument, 1952
No source apart from Beitou in Taiwan (designation text)

Living here

Tokyo in 2 h 47 min on the Akita Shinkansen.

about 20,000 people
Shinkansen stops here

From Tokyo Station to Tazawako Station, the fastest Akita Shinkansen Komachi that runs every day takes 2 hours 47 minutes. The Akita Shinkansen stops at both Tazawako Station and Kakunodate Station in the city. Kakunodate General Hospital, in Kakunodate, has 152 general beds (as of July 1, 2025).

People living here: 24,610people
Area: 1,093.56km²
Households: 9,252households
Rent (average for rentals): 36,417yen
Healthcare: 2 hospitals ／ 21 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —8 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.

Semboku City in Japan39.700°N 140.731°E

to TokyoAkita Shinkansen167min

Travel times follow JR東日本「駅の時刻表」（2026年10月版）の田沢湖駅（下り・平日と土曜休日）に載る秋田新幹線こまちの各列車ページで、東京発・田沢湖着を数えた（25〜28列車）。本体の決め（2026-10-08）：東京駅の秋田新幹線の時刻表で、毎日運転の定期便の最速を採る（こまち39号は平日・土休日とも「◆運転日注意」が無い） (checked 2026-10-08). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 7 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Semboku 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

49.8km

Akita Prefecture: 大仙市, 北秋田市, 鹿角市, 秋田市
Iwate Prefecture: 雫石町, 八幡平市, 西和賀町

Semboku City isthis kind of town.

01In Kamihinokinai, in Nishiki, eight hamlets make paper balloons, light them, and send them up every February 10 in a city-designated event
02Kakunodate is a castle town laid out in 1620 with a firebreak dividing the samurai inner town from the townspeople's outer town, and holds the Iwahashi family house, an Important Cultural Property
03The hokutolite of Tamagawa Onsen is a Special Natural Monument, and the city also has the Kakunodate weeping cherries, Lake Tazawa and the Kakunodate Festival yama floats

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Semboku City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗