Soeda Town

Each pillar is said to have lost a ring.

Bronze Torii, Hikosan Jingu

Photo by そらみみ (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Nakajima Family Residence (Wataya)

A merchant house that made and sold wax and sakehas a plan close to a farmhouse's.

A merchant house in a post town on the road from Kokura to Hikosan that made and sold haze wax (candle wax from sumac berries), sake and more. Its trade name was Wataya (綿屋). The main house, soy sauce storehouse and sake storehouse, three buildings in all, are Important Cultural Properties; the main house is rare among townhouses in Fukuoka Prefecture in having a plan close to a farmhouse's.

Important Cultural Property (Jan. 28, 1977)
Three buildings: main house, soy sauce and sake storehouses
Soy sauce storehouse: Tenpo 13 (1842)

02 ／ Hikosan Jingu Hoheiden (Offering Hall)

A repair unearthed the foundation stones of its predecessor,dating its founding to late Heian or early Kamakura.

The largest building on the mountain, once the great lecture hall of Reisen-ji temple (霊仙寺). The present hall was rebuilt in Genna 2 (1616) by Hosokawa Tadaoki, lord of Kokura. Its predecessor burned down in Eiroku 11 (1568); the 2006 repair unearthed foundation stones, and artifacts and other evidence dated its founding to around the late Heian to early Kamakura period.

Important Cultural Property (May 27, 1907)
7 bays (22.38 m) by 5 bays (16.9 m)
Predecessor's foundation stones unearthed: 2006

03 ／ Ōkōbe Yamabushi Graveyard (大河辺山伏墓地)

Grave markers face the Western Paradise:50 graves thought to be of lower-ranking yamabushi.

A town-designated Historic Site at the lowest edge of Hikosan's sacred domain, a graveyard from the mid-Edo period. The markers face west, toward the Western Paradise, and carry Sanskrit characters. Many graves are women's, and there are parent-and-child and husband-and-wife graves. Hikosan was a mountain where the ban on women was lifted early.

Town-designated Historic Site (Mar. 20, 1998)
50 graves
Formed from the Genroku to Kyōhō eras

Living here

Hikosan marks the border with Oita to the south.

about 9,000 people
Rural district town

Soeda lies in the southeast of Fukuoka Prefecture. To the south, Hikosan (1,199 m, per the town) and Takasu-yama form the boundary with Hita and Nakatsu in Oita Prefecture. The economy, administration and transport cluster on the flat land in the north. The Hitahikosan Line runs as a railway as far as Soeda Station; from Soeda to Hita the Hikoboshi Line BRT connects the two.

People living here: 8,801people
Area: 132.2km²
Households: 3,724households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 13 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —6 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 8 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Soeda Town in Japan33.572°N 130.854°E

Territory of Soeda Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

16.1km

Fukuoka Prefecture: 川崎町, 東峰村, 赤村, みやこ町, 大任町, 嘉麻市
Oita Prefecture: 日田市, 中津市

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

Soeda Town isthis kind of town.

01The Bronze Torii (銅鳥居) of Hikosan Jingu was built in Kan'ei 14 (1637) as a gift from Nabeshima Katsushige, lord of Saga, and is an Important Cultural Property. It is said that when it was moved to its present site, one ring was removed from each pillar, leaving it with a stocky shape.
02The Hoheiden of Hikosan Jingu is the largest building on the mountain. The Nakajima Family Residence in Soeda's Honmachi district is a facility with a designated manager under the town; according to the town's guide, it is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 16:00.
03In Tsuno stands the former Suyama family house (旧数山家住宅, an Important Cultural Property), a thatched farmhouse located at the Tsuno entrance, one of the seven routes to Hikosan. The Noda notice-board site (野田の高札場) is the only one surviving in the town, and became a town historic site in 2024. The Tsuno Kagura Preservation Society (津野神楽保存会), one of the Buzen Kagura groups, has performed at the Takagi Shrine festival. Near the summit of Mount Ganjaku there are the ruins of Ganjaku Castle.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Soeda Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗