Hirokawa Town

A stone figure, its face gone blank.

Sekijinsan Kofun, armored figure

Photo by 小池隆 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Kokadani Kofun (弘化谷古墳)

During work to make a vineyard,a wall painting in a stone chamber was found.

A large round mound about 39 m in diameter. On the back wall of the stone chamber, triangles, circles and double-legged ring motifs are painted in dark red and other colors over a thin red ground, and a quiver is incised in outline. The double-legged ring motif is also seen at Ozuka Kofun (王塚古墳) in Keisen. A replica of the painting is on the ground floor of the kofun museum.

Round mound, about 39 m in diameter
National Historic Site (designated 1977)
A replica of the painting is shown at the kofun museum

02 ／ The Chōgiri (丁切) of Masunaga Gion Shrine

A gate-like structure raised for the Gion festivalis assembled without a single nail.

A gate-like structure raised during the Gion festival of the Masunaga district, hung with decorative lanterns. Chōgiri (丁切), which has a variant spelling (町切), was once seen across the town but now remains only in Masunaga. It is Hirokawa Town Designated Cultural Property No. 1.

Town Cultural Property No. 1 (Intangible Folk Cultural Property)
Assembled without a single nail
Now remains only in Masunaga

03 ／ The House-Shaped Stone Coffin of Sekijinsan Kofun

In a coffin of the same stone as Yame stone lanterns,a chokkomon pattern is carved in low relief.

石人山古墳家型石棺.JPG — Photo by 小池隆 (CC BY 4.0)

A house-shaped stone coffin in the center of the rear mound. Four slabs stand upright, with a lid stone set on top as the roof. Made of Aso welded tuff, it has chokkomon (直弧文) and concentric-circle patterns carved in low relief on the roof. They are thought to have been meant to ward off evil.

Made of Aso welded tuff
Four slabs with a lid stone on top
Chokkomon and concentric-circle patterns

Living here

A town in a basin ringed by the Mino mountains.

about 20,000 people
Rural district town

Hirokawa lies in Yame District in southern Fukuoka. In the basin known as Hirokawa Valley, ringed by the Mino mountain range, the Hirokawa River forms a long narrow plain. Farming is strong in strawberries, grapes, pears, peaches and tea, and home industries such as Kurume kasuri (久留米絣) and bamboo work also grew up here. The Kyushu Expressway runs through the middle of the town, with the Hirokawa Interchange.

People living here: 19,969people
Area: 37.94km²
Households: 7,486households
Rent (average for rentals): 46,430yen
Healthcare: 4 hospitals ／ 14 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —5 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.

Hirokawa Town in Japan33.242°N 130.552°E

Territory of Hirokawa Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

6.2km

久留米市, 八女市, 筑後市

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

Hirokawa Town isthis kind of town.

01Sekijinsan Kofun in Hirokawa, Yame District, is a keyhole-shaped mound and one of the tombs of the Yame Kofun Cluster, a national Historic Site. At the waist between its front and rear parts stands an armored stone figure about 2 m tall. The town writes that its face is blank because of a superstition that people with sore eyes, shoulders or backs who struck or scraped the same part of the figure and took pieces home would feel relief.
02Kokadani Kofun, across a valley, is a round mound where a wall painting in a stone chamber was found during work to make a vineyard. At the Gion festival of the Masunaga district, a gate-like Chōgiri (丁切) assembled without a single nail is raised. One of the five farming-custom votive plaques confirmed in the old Yame District is at Hayatama Shrine in Hiyoshi.
03Yame sudare blinds are a prefectural-designated specialty craft, and the town says two of its three makers are in Hirokawa. Kurume kasuri is also a specialty of the town. The Taibaru ginkgo grove is on private land, and in 2026 it is open for viewing only from November 17 to 23.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Hirokawa Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗