Shime Town

A hammer-like tower above a 430 m shaft.

Former Shime Mine Winding Tower

Photo by そらみみ (Soramimi) (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Tanabata-ike Kofun (七夕池古墳)

Kotoji-shaped stone objects and 3,300 beadscame from a pit-style stone chamber.

A national Historic Site in Tabuchi, Shime. The round mound, 29 meters across, is the largest in the Kasuya area, the town says. A woman in her prime was laid in the wooden coffin in the stone chamber, with a bronze mirror, a sword and beads. Kotoji-shaped stone objects are said to have been found at only 8 sites in Kyushu. It was designated on the same day as Koshoji Kofun in Umi.

Round mound 29 meters across
National Historic Site (June 26, 1975)
Kotoji-shaped stone objects: found at 8 sites in Kyushu
3,300 beads

02 ／ Exhaust Fan of Mine No. 8 (第八坑)

A naval seaplane's propellerbecame the blades of a mine exhaust fan.

In 1934 (Showa 9), an exhaust fan made from the propeller of a former Navy reconnaissance seaplane was set up at the exhaust shaft mouth of Mine No. 8 of the former Shime Mining Office. The mouth was sealed in 1966, and a 2000 excavation found the fan still in place. It is now kept in the town's Industrial Heritage Storehouse.

Installed in 1934 (Showa 9)
Propeller length: 3.3 meters
Town-designated cultural property (Feb. 20, 2024)

03 ／ Ishinage Sumo (石投げ相撲)

From fervor so great that stones were thrown,the name “Ishinage Sumo” is said to have come.

A votive sumo event hosted by the Shime farming district. It is said to have begun in the late Edo period, when prayers to a god of cattle and horses (大行司様) against a livestock plague were answered and 33 bouts were offered; the town says the origin is unclear. For 2026, it was announced for September 6 at the sumo ring beside Iwasaki Shrine.

Prayer against a plague of cattle and horses
33 votive bouts
Baby sumo entrances also held

Living here

After the mine closed, housing grew next to Fukuoka.

about 50,000 people
Rural district town

Shime is a long, narrow town next to Fukuoka City and Fukuoka Airport. The town records that after the 1964 (Showa 39) closure cut its population to about 16,000, housing development advanced as a bedroom community, helped by its location about 8 km from central Fukuoka. Large stores have opened along the main roads, and commercial clusters are seen, it says.

People living here: 46,377people
Area: 8.69km²
Households: 19,005households
Rent (average for rentals): 57,991yen
Healthcare: 5 hospitals ／ 33 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —7 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 4 municipalities, and almost entirely flat.

Shime Town in Japan33.591°N 130.480°E

Territory of Shime Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

5.5km

福岡市, 粕屋町, 宇美町, 須恵町

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

Shime Town isthis kind of town.

01The Former Shime Mine Winding Tower (旧志免鉱業所竪坑櫓) is a reinforced-concrete tower 47.6 m high, completed in 1943 (Showa 18), and a national Important Cultural Property. It raised and lowered a cage, carrying coal up and miners down through the 430 m shaft directly below. Its interior is normally closed.
02The Katsuta Line of the former Japanese National Railways (JNR) ran 4.4 km through the town and closed in March 1985 (Showa 60); the site of Shime Station is now a railway park and the trackbed a greenway. The town records that the slag heap (西原硬山) is owned jointly by the three towns of Shime, Sue and Kasuya.
03Shime, in Kasuya District (糟屋郡), has a total area of 8.69 km², which the town says is the third smallest town in the prefecture. It was a coal town: a naval colliery before the war and a JNR colliery after it. After the closure it became a bedroom community of Fukuoka.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Shime Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗