Article

10444 ／かわばむら

Gunma Prefecture 利根郡

Kawaba Village

A wooden school with a carriage porch.

Former Kawaba Primary School

Photo by Qurren (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Irrigation canal

A canal of about 16.3 km, said to beleveled by the light of lanterns.

According to the village's tourism site, the Kawaba Canal was completed in 1628 after five years of work, in the era of the Sanada clan. It draws water from the Usune River and runs about 16.3 km, bringing water to the water-short castle town of Numata, and it still waters fields about 400 years later.

Completed 1628
About 16.3 km long
Intake at the Usune River

02 ／ Temple gate

On the upper floor of a hip-and-gable gate,sixteen arhats are enshrined.

Kichijoji is a Rinzai Kenchoji-school temple founded in the Nanbokucho period. The tourism site describes its gate as hip-and-gable roofed with flowing carvings. The village's list of cultural properties names the gate and the Sixteen Arhats statues as village important cultural properties.

Hip-and-gable gate
Sixteen Arhats on the upper floor
Gate and statues: village cultural properties

03 ／ Monzen Haruma

A dance praying for a good silkworm harvestwas taken up by the district's young men.

According to the Gunma Cultural Foundation, itinerant performers danced in Monzen from the early Meiji era to pray for good silkworm harvests; when the dance lapsed and the silkworm crop failed, young men took it over. It is held on February 11, and is a prefectural Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

Date: February 11
Prefectural Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property
Designated March 21, 2000

Kawaba 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 January 2019)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

No station here: 22 minutes by bus from Numata.

about 3,000 people
Rural district town

The village says it is 30 minutes by car from Numata Station. On the Kan-etsu Transportation Kawaba Loop Line, the fastest run from Numata Station to the Denen Plaza stop in the village takes 22 minutes (timetable revised July 2026). The village office moved to a new building in Yachi in November 2023.

People living here: 3,480people
Area: 85.25km²
Households: 997households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 3 clinics

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.

ACCESS

Where you can go from here.

Kawaba Village in Japan36.695°N 139.107°E

to NumataLocal bus22min

Travel times follow 関越交通（事業者公式）『川場村循環バス時刻表』（2026年7月1日改正。https://kan-etsu.net/files/libs/14347/202606191615077225.pdf。関越交通の路線バスの頁 publics/index/21 の『川場循環線　運行区間：沼田駅～田園プラザ・群馬パース病院入口～沼田駅』の時刻表）。沼田駅発の下り・立岩先回り（左まわり）の表を、PDF の文字の位置まで読んで数えた (checked 2026-10-21). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 3 municipalities.

Territory of Kawaba 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

15.9km

Numata City, Katashina Village, Minakami Town

Kawaba Village isthis kind of town.

01The former Kawaba Jinjo Koto Elementary School is a wooden Meiji 43 (1910) schoolhouse with clapboard walls and a tiled roof, moved to its present site in 1987 and now the village's museum of history and folklore; it is a nationally registered tangible cultural property
02The Kawaba Canal, completed in 1628, runs about 16.3 km, and Kichijoji has a gate with sixteen arhats on its upper floor; both are introduced by the village's tourism site
03Monzen Haruma, a dance praying for a good silkworm harvest, was taken over by the district's young men; it is held on February 11 and is a prefectural Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Kawaba Village official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes