Omuta City

The 1908 gates still move by water pump.

Miike Port Lock

Photo by じじき (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Mikawa Pit Electric Locomotives (三川坑跡)

Said to be entered through a window, with no door,the locomotive was nicknamed “Game.”

Four electric locomotives of the Miike Coal Mine private railway are preserved at the Mikawa Pit site. The 15-ton locomotive built in the US in 1908 was called “Game” (ガメ, the Omuta-area dialect word for turtle) for its L-shaped body; it had no doorway, and the cab was reportedly entered through a window. In March 2026 the Council for Cultural Affairs recommended its designation as an Important Cultural Property.

4 electric locomotives
A 15-ton locomotive built in the US in 1908
Designation as Important Cultural Property recommended (Mar. 26, 2026)

02 ／ Miike no Daijayama (三池の大蛇山)

A serpent made mainly of bamboo, rice straw and paperbreathes fire as it parades through town.

The daijayama (大蛇山) floats of Miike Honmachi Gion-gu (三池本町祇園宮) and the shrine at Miike Shinmachi (彌剱神社) are a city-designated Intangible Folk Cultural Property. A float is about 10 m long and weighs up to 3 tons; its main materials are bamboo, rice straw and paper. It breathes fire and smoke in a festival held in mid-to-late July each year. Having a child bitten by the serpent's mouth is said to guarantee good health.

City-designated Intangible Folk Cultural Property (Apr. 14, 2010)
About 10 m long, up to 3 tons
Festival in mid-to-late July each year

03 ／ Hayagane Meganebashi (早鐘眼鏡橋)

A stone arch carries a waterway over a river.The arch stones bear officials' names and more.

Hayagane Meganebashi is a stone-arch aqueduct bridge of tuff, built in 1674. The Miike domain ran the waterway over the river to irrigate the Suwa, Katahira and Omuta areas with water from Hayagane Pond. The arch stones carry the names of officials who took part in building the bridge, among other inscriptions.

Built in 1674 (Enpō 2)
11.2 m long, 3.15 m wide
National Important Cultural Property (June 17, 1970)

Living here

189 minutes at the fastest, Shin-Osaka to Shin-Omuta.

about 110,000 people
Shinkansen stops here

Shin-Omuta Station is on the Kyushu Shinkansen. In JR West's timetable (September 2026), Sakura 765 leaves Shin-Osaka at 17:20 and leaves Shin-Omuta at 20:29. The Mikawa Pit site and the former Nagasaki Customs Miike Branch are open on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays (except the year-end and New Year period), 10:00 to 16:30.

People living here: 111,281people
Area: 81.45km²
Households: 49,231households
Rent (average for rentals): 37,299yen
Healthcare: 23 hospitals ／ 110 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —23 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.

Omuta City in Japan33.030°N 130.446°E

to OsakaSanyo-Kyushu Shinkansen189min

Travel times follow JR西日本「JRおでかけネット」区間時刻表『東海道･山陽･九州新幹線(東京～博多～鹿児島中央) 下り』（2026年9月29日のダイヤ。本体が保存した $SP/jr-shinkansen-down-20260929.json の『新大阪発』『新大牟田発』の行から計算。元の表は https://timetable.jr-odekake.net/line-timetable/1796）。さくら765号（新大阪17:20発→新大牟田20:29発）。列車ページ https://timetable.jr-odekake.net/train-timetable/316201?date=20260930 で『新幹線さくら765号鹿児島中央行』『列車番号765A』『運転日毎日運転』『新大阪17:20発』を確かめた（新大牟田の行は2026-09-30の列車ページでも保存表と同じ） (checked 2026-09-30). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 3 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Omuta City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

10.9km

Fukuoka Prefecture: みやま市
Kumamoto Prefecture: 荒尾市, 南関町

Omuta City isthis kind of town.

01Miike Port was built by Mitsui in 1908 (Meiji 41). Because the tide range in the Ariake Sea is large, a lock (閘門, a water gate) was placed between the inner port and the dock to keep the water level in the dock. The two steel gate leaves are still opened and closed by water pump, as originally, and the lock remains in operation.
02Four electric locomotives are preserved at the Mikawa Pit site. The Miyanohara Pit is a national Important Cultural Property and Historic Site; its steel headframe and brick winding-engine house of the Second Shaft survive. The Miyanohara Pit, Miike Port and the Miike Coal Mine private railway ruins are component parts of the World Heritage site “Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution.”
03The Haginoo Kofun (萩ノ尾古墳) is a round tomb and national Historic Site, with a boat, shields and circles painted in red pigment on the wall below the stone shelf of its rear wall. The city-run Miike Karuta and History Museum is a facility merging a memorial hall built to commemorate Japan's birthplace of karuta cards with the local history museum.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Omuta City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗