Article

07422 ／ゆがわむら

Fukushima Prefecture 河沼郡

Yugawa Village

Flatland castle, 5 m above the riverbed.

Castle ruins, river terrace

Photo by Tail furry (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Yakushi Hall

The former lecture hall, called the Aizu Chuo Yakushi Hall,is a hip-roofed hall five bays by five.

The village says the former lecture hall was rebuilt in 1398 and is called the Aizu Chuo Yakushi Hall. It is a hip-roofed hall five bays wide and five deep. By temple tradition, the Sun and Moon attendants beside the National Treasure Yakushi were named the other way round, until the 1903 national designation changed them.

National Important Cultural Property (designated 1903)
Rebuilt in 1398
Five bays by five bays

02 ／ Village name

A river once divided two villages,and its name became the merged village's name.

Under the 1889 municipal system, Oikawa and a neighboring village were divided by the Yugawa River. When they merged again on March 31, 1957, the village says, it took the name of the river that had been the boundary.

Oikawa and a neighboring village divided by the Yugawa
Merged on March 31, 1957
Named after the Yugawa River

03 ／ Landscape

Elevation is about 180 m, with no mountains.It is also called "one single rice field."

The village says its elevation is about 180 m and that having no mountains is one of its features. Its tourism leaflet says that, with so little difference in height, Yugawa is often called "one single rice field," and describes a small village 4 km on each side.

Elevation about 180 m
A small village 4 km on each side
"Yugawa is one single rice field"

Yugawa Village 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 October 2011)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

The village's only station is Oikawa, on the Banetsu West Line.

about 3,000 people
Rural district town

The village has one station, Oikawa on the JR Banetsu West Line. In the JR East timetable (November 2026 edition), five trains a day on weekdays and on weekends and holidays stop there in the down direction from Aizuwakamatsu Station. The village lies near the middle of the Aizu Basin, and says its 16.37 km2 makes it the smallest municipality in Fukushima Prefecture.

People living here: 3,081people
Area: 16.37km²
Households: 976households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 1 clinic

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

Children waiting for childcare: —1 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 3 municipalities, and almost entirely flat.

Yugawa Village in Japan37.566°N 139.887°E

Territory of Yugawa Village

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

5.6km

Aizuwakamatsu City, Kitakata City, Aizubange Town

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

Yugawa Village isthis kind of town.

01The ruins of a flatland castle on a river terrace southwest of where two rivers meet are a village-designated historic site; the village says it was built and lived in from 1193
02The former lecture hall of a temple in the village, the Aizu Chuo Yakushi Hall, is a National Important Cultural Property, a hip-roofed hall five bays by five that the village says was rebuilt in 1398
03The village took its name from the Yugawa River, which had divided Oikawa and a neighboring village, when they merged in 1957; at about 180 m, it is a village without mountains

See the town as it is now.

FacebookYugawaVillage ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Yugawa Village official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

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