Mihama Town

Jump into a winter canal, tear the rope.

Hiruga Tug of War

Photo by TR15336300101 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Farm tools

A fishing village made threshers that strip rice grain,and peddled them across Japan.

A senbakoki (千歯扱き) is a thresher: the ears of rice are caught on a row of iron teeth and pulled through to strip off the grain. From the late Edo period to the Taishō era it was Hayase's (早瀬) specialty, first made by Terakawa Shōbei (寺川庄兵衛) under the shop name Hokkokuya (北国屋). Sold as "Jakushū Hayase senba" (若州早瀬せんば), largely by peddlers, it reached buyers as far as Tōhoku. The town believes the Kitamae ships were essential both for buying iron and for shipping the tools out.

Late Edo to Taishō
Jakushū Hayase senba
Sold as far as Tōhoku

02 ／ Lake

Once a freshwater lake,now seawater, 38.5 m deep.

Of the Five Lakes of Mikata (三方五湖), Lake Hiruga (日向湖) and Lake Kugushi (久々子湖) lie in Mihama. According to the prefecture, before the early Edo period all the lakes except Kugushi held fresh water, but Lake Hiruga is now a seawater lake. A canal opened in the Edo period links it to Wakasa Bay, and the Saga Tunnel (嵯峨隧道) links it to Lake Suigetsu. At 38.5 m it is the deepest of the five, and yellowtail and sea bream are kept in pens there.

Once a freshwater lake
Now a seawater lake
38.5 m deep

03 ／ Buddhist painting

Aizen Myōō figures about 1 cm tall,painted 20 to a row in 25 rows.

This Kamakura-period Buddhist painting belongs to Shōren-ji (青蓮寺) in Sagaki. On silk 55.2 cm tall, Aizen Myōō figures about 1 cm high are painted 20 to a row in 25 rows, 500 in all. Making great numbers of Buddhist images was popular in the Insei period, but the prefecture says painted examples are very rare, and the town calls it unlike any other. It is said that Awaya Katsuhisa, lord of Kuniyoshi Castle, brought it back from Ichijōdani.

55.2 cm tall
20 figures × 25 rows
Prefectural designation, 2012

Living here

Four villages became one town in 1954.

about 9,000 people
Rural district town

The town was formed in February 1954 when the four villages of Minami-Saigō, Kita-Saigō, Mimi and Santō merged. Follow the Mimi River south and you reach Shinjō, in the hills on the Shiga border. On the coast lie the fishing villages of Hiruga and Hayase, and on the Tsuruga Peninsula to the east, Sugahama and Nyū. The gateway is Mihama Station on the JR Obama Line, a 10-minute walk from the town hall.

People living here: 9,179people
Area: 152.38km²
Households: 3,745households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 10 clinics

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

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 3 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Mihama Town in Japan35.601°N 135.941°E

Territory of Mihama Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

27.0km

Fukui Prefecture: 敦賀市, 若狭町
Shiga Prefecture: 高島市

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

Mihama Town isthis kind of town.

01Every January, young men of Hiruga jump into the canal joining Lake Hiruga and Wakasa Bay and pull a 30 cm-thick straw rope until it breaks: the Hiruga Tug of War, a nationally selected folk custom
02From the late Edo period to the Taishō era, senbakoki threshers made in Hayase were sold across Japan as "Jakushū Hayase senba"
03Lake Hiruga, the deepest of the Five Lakes of Mikata and now seawater, and Shōren-ji, which keeps a Kamakura-period painting of 500 Aizen Myōō figures on a single scroll

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Mihama Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗