Tagawa City

Two chimneys a song says irk the moon

Two Chimneys, Ita Mine Site

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

01 ／ River-Crossing Procession of Fuji Hachimangu (風治八幡宮)

Said to have begun as thanks for an end to plague.The yamakasa floats enter the river and splash each other.

A festival of Fuji Hachimangu (風治八幡宮) in Ita, Tagawa: two portable shrines and 11 yamakasa floats enter the Hikosan River. The highlight is young men rocking the floats and splashing water at each other. It is said to have begun as thanks, in the Eiroku era (1558-1570), for prayers that ended a plague.

Fukuoka Prefecture Intangible Folk Cultural Property No. 1
2 portable shrines, 11 yamakasa floats
Said to have begun in the Eiroku era (1558-1570)

02 ／ The Yamamoto Sakubei Collection

Of the 697 items inscribed in Memory of the World,627 are held by Tagawa City.

The Yamamoto Sakubei Collection, made up of coal-mining paintings, diaries and more, was in 2011 the first Japanese entry inscribed in UNESCO's Memory of the World. In 1957 Sakubei began work as a night watchman at the Nagao main office in Yugeta (弓削田), and took up his brush again.

627 of 697 items held by Tagawa City
Inscribed in Memory of the World on May 25, 2011
Took up his brush again in 1957, as a night watchman

03 ／ Ikari Puppet Theatre (伊加利人形芝居)

Since the first year of Keio, a puppet playchildren enjoy has been offered each New Year's Day.

When the villagers of Ikari prayed at Uga Shrine, an auxiliary shrine of Iwagame Hachiman, for an end to a plague, Benzaiten is said to have appeared and told them to offer a puppet play that children enjoy. Since then, as a "prayer for as long as the village lasts", it has been offered every New Year's Day.

Fukuoka Prefecture Intangible Folk Cultural Property
Every New Year's Day since Keio 1 (1865)
A "prayer for as long as the village lasts" (万年願)

Living here

Tagawa sits at the center of a basin ringed by mountains on three sides.

about 50,000 people

Tagawa lies in northeastern Fukuoka, with Mount Hikosan (英彦山) to the south, the Fukuchi Mountains (福智連山) to the north and Mount Kawara (香春岳) to the east. The city records that when the River-Crossing Procession ends, Chikuho turns to early summer and, as if taking the festival as a signal, farmers begin preparing their seedbeds. Coal Memorial Park (石炭記念公園) is a place of rest for residents.

People living here: 46,203people
Area: 54.55km²
Households: 20,588households
Rent (average for rentals): 33,890yen
Healthcare: 7 hospitals ／ 52 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —18 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 7 municipalities.

Tagawa City in Japan33.639°N 130.806°E

Territory of Tagawa City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

14.4km

川崎町, 飯塚市, 香春町, 福智町, 糸田町, 大任町, 嘉麻市

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

Tagawa City isthis kind of town.

01The Two Chimneys (二本煙突) of Tagawa belong to the Ita Mine of the former Mitsui Tagawa Mining Office: brick stacks built to vent the steam boilers. They are 45.45 m tall and stand with the Ita Shaft Headframe (伊田竪坑櫓) in Coal Memorial Park, part of the nationally designated Historic Site "Chikuho Coalfield Sites".
02The River-Crossing Procession of Fuji Hachimangu is Fukuoka Prefecture's Intangible Folk Cultural Property No. 1. The Tagawa City Coal Mining Historical Museum (田川市石炭・歴史博物館), which holds 627 of the 697 items of the Yamamoto Sakubei Collection, also holds three scrolls of mining-apprentice certificates (坑夫取立免状) that overturned the long-held view that the tomo (友子) system did not exist in Chikuho.
03In Ikari a puppet play is offered every New Year's Day, and at Kasuga Shrine's festival the Iwato kagura is offered. Tagawa lies at the center of a basin ringed by Mount Hikosan, the Fukuchi Mountains and Mount Kawara, and is a core city of Chikuho.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Tagawa City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗