Tobe Town

See a fault at a step in the riverbed.

Tobe Thrust Fault

Photo by As6022014 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Whetstone quarry

Porcelain was fired from whetstone scraps,and the founding kiln site lies in the same Toyama.

The whetstone quarry (砥石山) in Toyama produced Iyo whetstone. A prefectural document records that the name of the district, Togiyama (砥山), spread to the surrounding area and became Tobe. In 1777 porcelain was successfully fired from the abundant whetstone scraps. Uehara Kiln Site (上原窯跡) is said to have been set up at a magistrate's order.

Porcelain firing succeeded in 1777 (town-designated cultural property notes)
The quarry closed around 1982 (same source)
Prefecture's document records the town name spread from "Togiyama"

02 ／ Former Umeno Shokai

A trading house founded by the Umeno kiln family.Its house sold, its storehouse handled shipping.

Umeno Shokai handled the production, distribution and sale of Tobe ware. The main building, a machiya built in 1905, and the storehouse, whose roof trusses free the interior of pillars and leave a central atrium, were built for loading and unloading the ware. The storehouse was relocated in 2020. Both are registered Tangible Cultural Properties, under names that include "Tobe Mukashi no Kurashikan" (砥部むかしのくらし館).

Main building and storehouse both built in 1905 (Ehime Board of Education)
Storehouse relocated in 2020 (same source)
Registered Tangible Cultural Property (registered 2023)

03 ／ Kubota Hyoemon

He came forward as the ringleader,and his grave is in Hachikura, his gravestone in Shigemitsu.

In a water dispute of 1771, Kubota Hyoemon, a village headman of Shimo-Aso, came forward as the ringleader and was sentenced to death in Kurashiki. The dispute is recorded as the occasion for the making of Akasaka Spring (赤坂泉). A village headman's document records that a stone tower raised by the people of Kurashiki flew overnight to Entsuji temple.

Sentenced to death on the 23rd day of the 2nd month of Anei 3 (1774) (prefectural water-use resource note)
A 1803 headman's document records the stone tower (town-designated cultural property notes)
The grave and gravestone are town-designated historic sites

Living here

21 km north to south, from basin to mountains.

about 20,000 people
Rural district town

A long, narrow town, 9 km east to west and 21 km north to south. The north is basin-like land along the Tobe River, facing Matsuyama across the Shigenobu River. The land rises to the south into mountains such as Kitagamori (1,010 m); snow is also seen in the southern mountains in winter. The town's own site says it grew as a bedroom community of the prefectural capital, Matsuyama.

People living here: 20,480people
Area: 101.59km²
Households: 8,477households
Rent (average for rentals): 36,302yen
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 16 clinics

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

Population from 2005 onward (municipal boundary changed).2005-01-01 に合併。2005年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —3 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.

Tobe Town in Japan33.749°N 132.792°E

Territory of Tobe Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

20.9km

伊予市, 松山市, 内子町, 久万高原町, 松前町

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

Tobe Town isthis kind of town.

01The Tobe Thrust Fault, in the Tobe River at Iwayaguchi and Ominami, is an outcrop of a reverse fault on the Median Tectonic Line, designated a national Natural Monument in 1938. The fault can be seen where the riverbed drops several meters and water pours down like a waterfall; about 200 m around it is kept as the free Tsukiage Fault Park.
02A national traditional craft, Tobe ware is made here. The whetstone quarry in Toyama and Uehara Kiln Site are where porcelain was first fired from whetstone scraps. The former Umeno Shokai buildings, once a Tobe-ware trading house, are registered national cultural properties, and the grave and gravestone of Kubota Hyoemon, who died over a water dispute, are town-designated historic sites.
03The town lies in 伊予郡, next to Matsuyama. It has no railway station; the town's site gives the bus from Matsuyama-shi Station at about 45 minutes. The north is a basin along the Tobe River and the south is the mountains of former Hirota Village.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Tobe Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗