Okawa City

A canal's two banks had different lords.

Kobo and Enokizu, border town

01 ／ Osakai-ishi Stone Row

The domain-border stone row was botha boundary marker and a horse relay post.

In the Edo period, Kobo (小保) belonged to the Yanagawa Domain and Enokizu (榎津) to the Kurume Domain, with the Osakai-ego (御堺江湖) waterway and the Osakai-ishi (御境石) stone row as the boundary. Kobo was a post town equipped to relay porters and horses, and horses are said to have been tied to crossbars passed through the stones. The waterway survives near the Former Yoshihara Family Residence (旧吉原家住宅, a nationally designated Important Cultural Property).

City-designated historic site (designated April 26, 2018)
Kobo belonged to the Yanagawa Domain, Enokizu to the Kurume Domain (city)
The stone row appears in the 1786 (Tenmei 6) map of Kobo town (preservation society)

02 ／ Hiyoshi Shrine's Boat Mikoshi

The mikoshi the Enokizu shipwrights dedicatedis assembled without a single nail.

The funa-mikoshi (船御輿, boat-shaped portable shrine) of Enokizu's Hiyoshi Shrine (日吉神社) is 9.3 m long, 2 m wide at the center and 3 m high. Made of cedar and coated with lacquer, it is assembled without a single nail and pulled on four wooden wheels fixed to its base. Shipwrights of Enokizu dedicated it in 1774 (Anei 3). It is put on display at the shrine's festival in May.

Prefectural Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property (designated December 24, 1963)
9.3 m long, 2 m wide at the center, 3 m high (city)
Dedicated by Enokizu shipwrights in 1774 (Anei 3) (city)
The shipwrights' shop names, such as Iwakuniya, Satsumaya and Gotoya, come from province names (city)

03 ／ Chikugo River Lift Bridge

After the JNR Saga Line closed, the bridgewas weighed for demolition, then became a promenade.

Completed in 1935 (Showa 10) as a railway bridge of the Japanese National Railways' Saga Line, it is 507.2 m long. With the Chikugo River's shipping in mind, it was built as a lift bridge whose central span is raised. After the line closed in 1987, it was reopened as a promenade in 1996. The central span currently has trouble lifting, but the bridge can be walked across.

National Important Cultural Property (former Chikugo River Bridge; designated May 30, 2003)
Completed in 1935 (Showa 10); 507.2 m long
Line closed in 1987 (Showa 62); reopened as a promenade in 1996 (city)
Central span has trouble lifting (foundation, September 2026)

Living here

Nearly at the center of the trianglelinking Kurume, Omuta and Saga.

about 30,000 people

The city lies almost at the center of the triangle linking Kurume and Omuta, major cities of southern Fukuoka Prefecture, and Saga in Saga Prefecture. It sits in the middle of the Chikugo Plain, where the Chikugo River flows through the west of the city into the Ariake Sea. The city's own guide gives about 20 minutes by Nishitetsu bus from Nishitetsu Yanagawa Station to Kokusai Iryo Fukushi Daigaku-mae or Nakahara Takagi Byoin-mae bus stop.

People living here: 32,988people
Area: 33.62km²
Households: 12,941households
Rent (average for rentals): 42,507yen
Healthcare: 2 hospitals ／ 29 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —9 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

Surrounded by 5 municipalities, and almost entirely flat.

Okawa City in Japan33.207°N 130.384°E

Territory of Okawa City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

8.2km

Fukuoka Prefecture: 柳川市, 大木町, 久留米市
Saga Prefecture: 佐賀市, 神埼市

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

Okawa City isthis kind of town.

01Kobo (小保) and Enokizu (榎津) are a domain-border town: in the Edo period, with a waterway (ego, 江湖) as the boundary, Kobo on the west side belonged to the Yanagawa Domain and Enokizu on the east to the Kurume Domain. Some 170 townhouses, shrines and temples, and woodworking workshops from the Edo to the Showa periods stand in a town that takes about 20 minutes to walk across.
02Kobo's Former Yoshihara Family Residence (旧吉原家住宅) is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property, the home of the Yoshihara family, who served generations as town headmen of Kobo in the Yanagawa Domain and later became chief village headmen. At Enokizu's Furogu Shrine (風浪宮, known as Ofuro-san), the main hall and the stone five-story pagoda are nationally designated Important Cultural Properties, the Shirasagi camphor tree is prefecturally designated, and the February festival includes the Hadakangyo (裸ん行), a run of about 3 km from Wakatsu Shrine (若津神社) to the shrine.
03On the Chikugo River's estuary at the Ariake Sea, the city has creeks (クリーク) running a combined 300 km through it. Wakatsu Port was opened by the Kurume Domain, and Wakatsu Shrine holds the Shosho-sai festival (少将祭) honoring Arima Yoriyuki (有馬頼徸), the Kurume daimyo who opened it. Its main industry is woodworking, including Okawa furniture and fittings.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Okawa City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗