Ikeda Town

Legend says a regent taught them Noh.

Mizuumi Dengaku Nōmai

Photo by Hanahubuki (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Main hall

An uprising burned the temple complex;only the main hall survived.

In 1491 Asakura Sadakage, lord of Ichijōdani, had the local lord of Ikeda oversee the building of a full complex of halls, including a main hall, a worship hall and a three-storey pagoda, which he donated to the shrine. In 1574 the fighting of the Ikkō-ikki uprising burned it, and only the main hall was left. Built in the sangensha nagare-zukuri style with a cypress-bark roof, it blends the Japanese, Zen and Daibutsu styles of the Muromachi period. It became an Important Cultural Property in 1941.

Donated by Asakura Sadakage, 1491
Ikkō-ikki uprising, 1574
Important Cultural Property, 1941

02 ／ Noh masks

In villages where Noh has died out,the masks are still honoured.

Records say New Year okina rites were once held in five places around Ikeda. Even in villages where Noh is no longer performed, masks are enshrined at the spring festivals. At Suwaazuki Shrine (須波阿須疑神社) in Inari, the Nōmen Matsuri (能面祭) on 6 February sets Muromachi-period masks before the deity, and Hakusan Shrine (白山神社) in Shizuhara shows its old masks on 17 February. The town holds a national Noh mask competition, and the best masks are worn at the torchlit Noh in the shrine grounds.

Okina rites in five places
Mask festival, 6 February
Omen-san Matsuri, 17 February

03 ／ Shoku U-turn

Kitchen scraps are called "food resources"and go back to the fields as compost.

Ikeda calls household kitchen scraps "food resources". Put out in paper bags, they are collected three times a week by a non-profit group and mixed with cow manure and rice husks at the compost centre in Uomi to make the compost Dokonjō (土魂壌). It goes back to the fields farmed under the town's own growing rules, Yūki Genki Shōjiki Nōgyō (ゆうきげんき正直農業). Town figures put its waste per person as the lowest in the prefecture and its recycling rate as the highest.

Collected three times a week
Dokonjō compost
Least waste in the prefecture

Living here

No station; an hour by bus from Fukui.

about 2,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway in the town. The town-run My Bus (マイバス) takes about an hour from the east exit of Fukui Station, and the Fukutetsu bus about an hour from Takefu Station. Within the town, every bus can be flagged down or left anywhere along its route. The town is designated a special heavy-snowfall area, and in 1981 the snow lay 410 cm deep.

People living here: 2,423people
Area: 194.65km²
Households: 948households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 4 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.

Ikeda Town in Japan35.890°N 136.344°E

to FukuiLocal bus60min

Travel times follow 町公式「池田町へのアクセス」の「JR福井駅から池田町民協働バスマイバスで約1時間」。町の観光公式（いけだ農村観光公社「いい池田.jp」）の「公共交通機関を利用するとき」（2024-04-01 更新）も「JR福井駅から町民協働バス『マイバス』で約1時間」。町公式のマイバス時刻表（sinjikoku.pdf『令和8年4月1日からの時刻表』・Last-Modified 2026-03-19）と観光公式のバス時刻表（bus20260401.pdf・2026-04-01～）で、JR福井駅（東口）→役場正面玄関前が平日 8:20→9:20・13:30→14:28・18:40→19:39（58〜60分）、土日祝は全便予約で 8:50→9:48・12:20→13:16・17:20→18:16（56〜58分）、片道大人1,000円であることを確かめた (checked 2026-09-25). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 5 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Ikeda Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

19.2km

Fukui Prefecture: 大野市, 南越前町, 福井市, 越前市
Gifu Prefecture: 揖斐川町

Ikeda Town isthis kind of town.

01Every 15 February, people of Mizuumi perform four dengaku dances and five Noh pieces at Ukan Shrine (鵜甘神社): the Mizuumi Dengaku Nōmai, an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property
02Suwaazuki Shrine kept only its main hall when the Ikkō-ikki uprising of 1574 burned its other buildings, and villages where Noh has died out still honour their masks
03Household kitchen scraps are collected as "food resources", made into compost and returned to fields farmed under the town's own growing rules

See the town as it is now.

Facebookfukuiikeda ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Ikeda Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗