Article

07466 ／やぶきまち

Fukushima Prefecture 西白河郡

Yabuki Town

An early 7th-century round tomb remains.

Ogre's Hole Tumulus

Photo by Duff Figgy (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Land clearing

The Yabuki plain, whose rivers could not be used,became farmland once the Hatori canal was built.

The town says the rivers of the Yabuki plain ran too low to be used for farming. The ceremony marking completion of the Hatori Dam took place on November 11, 1956, and the Hatori canal, proposed in 1885, was finished. The town's tourism site says a weir built by farmers in the early Meiji era still does its job.

Hatori Dam ceremony: Nov. 11, 1956
Hatori canal proposed in 1885
A weir built in the early Meiji era survives and is still used (tourism site)

02 ／ Reservoir

The Great Pond was once called Ayuri Marsh.A monument to pheasants stands at the entrance.

Reservoir in Yabuki Town — Photo by Duff Figgy (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The town's cultural property guide says the pond was once called Ayuri Marsh and lay among pine woods. The Imperial Household Ministry's Iwase Hunting Ground was set up on the Yabuki plain in 1891 and lasted until 1925. As a trace of those hunts, a monument in memory of the pheasants stands at the park entrance.

Former name: Ayuri Marsh
Iwase Hunting Ground, 1891-1925
Pheasant monument at the park entrance

03 ／ Old trees

A bannerman's mansion is said to have been builtaround two nutmeg yew trees left standing.

The town says that when a mansion was set up here in 1837 under a bannerman's rule, it was built with the splendid kaya trees midway between the front and back gates, and the trees were left standing. The trunks measure about 5.8 m and 4.8 m around, and the trees are about 19 to 20 m tall. They are a prefectural natural monument.

Prefectural natural monument, April 13, 1971
Trunks about 5.8 m and 4.8 m around
Height about 19 to 20 m

Yabuki Town from the sky

Now and 1974–78. Tap a photo to zoom in.

Now1974–78

Wide (about 6 km across)

Close (about 1.5 km across)

Now (shot June–July 2023)Shot 1974–78

Source: Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) GSI Tiles（全国最新写真（シームレス）／国土画像情報（第一期：1974〜1978年撮影））

Open in GSI Maps (now)Open in GSI Maps (1974–78)

Living here

From Yabuki Station, about 15 minutes on foot to the town office.

about 20,000 people
Rural district town

The town's only railway station is Yabuki Station on the JR Tohoku Main Line. The town's guide to its offices (updated June 9, 2025) gives about 15 minutes on foot or by bicycle from the station to the town office, and about 5 minutes by car. The town says its total area is 60.40 km2, that the land is mostly gently sloping, and that farmland covers more than half of it.

People living here: 17,287people
Area: 60.4km²
Households: 6,102households
Rent (average for rentals): 40,075yen
Healthcare: 3 hospitals ／ 7 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —3 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.

Yabuki Town in Japan37.201°N 140.339°E

Territory of Yabuki Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (Administrative Area Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari.Lakes: National Land Numerical Information (Lake Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari. Prepared with the approval of the Director-General of the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, using its Digital Map 25000 (Spatial Data Framework) and Digital Map 25000 (Place Names and Public Facilities). (承認番号平27情使、第585号)

North to south

10.5km

Kagamiishi Town, Nakajima Village, Izumizaki Village, Ten-ei Village, Shirakawa City, Tamakawa Village, Ishikawa Town

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

Yabuki Town isthis kind of town.

01The Ogre's Hole Tumulus is a round tomb 26 by 27 m across and 4.1 m high; the town says it is large for a round tomb with a stone chamber in the prefecture, and it is a prefectural historic site
02On the Yabuki plain, the Hatori Dam ceremony was held in 1956 and the Hatori canal was finished, turning it into farmland, the town says
03The Great Pond was once Ayuri Marsh and a pheasant monument stands at its entrance; the two kaya trees at Nakahata's mansion site are a prefectural natural monument

See the town as it is now.

Source: Wikidata (P2002, P2003, P2013, P2397)

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Yabuki Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes