Kinmeichiku, Tsukuda Hachimangu, Shibukawa City
Article

10208 / しぶかわし

Gunma Prefecture

Shibukawa City

Green and gold stripes alternate by node

Kinmeichiku, Tsukuda Hachimangu

Photo by さかおり (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 / Stage

The audience seating is built aneweach time, of local cedar and silkworm baskets.

Stage in Shibukawa City
Photo by こやまひろ (CC BY 4.0)

The audience seating at the Kamimiharada Kabuki Stage was set up by local people for each performance and taken down afterward. The materials are local cedar and pine and other timber, plus silkworm baskets and bamboo. For the 200th anniversary festival in 2019 it took 34 days and 754 person-days.

  • Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property (1960)
  • Gandō-gaeshi, toomi, turntable, double lift
  • 2019: built over 34 days, 754 person-days

02 / Pagoda

A pagoda whose inner sanctumturns on an iron shaft.

Pagoda in Shibukawa City
Photo by tak1701d (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The hexagonal two-story pagoda of Mizusawa-dera Temple has a rotating inner sanctum on its lower story, built to turn easily on a central iron shaft. The method imitates a revolving sutra repository, and six Jizo statues stand on its six sides. When the roof was re-laid in 1980, an ink inscription was found on the core pillar.

  • Prefectural Important Cultural Property (1973)
  • Lower story 2.727 m a side, upper story half that
  • Core pillar inscription dated 1817

03 / Historic site

A villa bought by a Hawaiian Kingdom envoy.Of its 90 tsubo, part of an annex remains.

Historic site in Shibukawa City
Photo by Abasaa (Public domain)

Irwin, envoy to Japan of the Kingdom of Hawaii, bought a building of the Kōyōkan restaurant's Ikaho branch in 1891 as a villa. It covered 90 tsubo, but what remains today is part of an annex at its northwest corner, moved by hikiya in 1985.

  • City-designated historic site (1985)
  • Bought in 1891
  • 90 tsubo; part of an annex remains

Shibukawa City from the sky

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

Wide (about 6 km across)

Close (about 1.5 km across)

Now (shot May–August 2020)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

96 minutes from Ueno by limited express.

  • about 70,000 people
  • 2 hours to a city centre

The city's guide lists Shibukawa Station, on the JR Joetsu and Agatsuma lines, first. It is 96 minutes from Ueno by the Limited Express Kusatsu/Shima, and 133 minutes from Tokyo and 134 from Shinjuku by highway bus, which arrives at Shibukawa Station.

People living here
74,581people
2010

−4.9% since 2015

83,330 → 74,581

Area
240.27km²

105.99km² of it habitable

2024

Households
29,114households

2.6 people per household

2020

Rent (average for rentals)
40,025yen

National average 60,630 yen

2023

Healthcare
9 hospitals / 53 clinics

8.3 per 10,000 people

2023

Area240.27km²Habitable land105.99km² / 44%
Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Population from 2010 onward (municipal boundary changed).2006-02-20 に新設合併(伊香保町・小野上村・子持村・赤城村・北橘村)。2010年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare
—12 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.

Shibukawa City in Japan36.489°N 139.000°E
OsakaShibukawa City
Shibukawa Station
渋川駅2021
  • to UenoLtd. exp. Kusatsu/Shima96min
  • to TokyoHighway bus133min
  • to ShinjukuHighway bus134min

Travel times follow JR東日本の時刻表(2610版・吾妻線 下り〈timetables.jreast.co.jp/2610/timetable-v/236d1・236d2〉と高崎線・上越線 下り〈238d1・238d2〉の平日・土曜休日)で、特急『草津・四万1号』『同3号』の運転日欄が『全日』、始発が上野で、渋川着が11:36・13:50であることを読んだ。ジェイアールバス関東『デジタル時刻表 上州ゆめぐり号・東京ゆめぐり号(東京駅・バスタ新宿〜伊香保温泉・草津温泉)』(time.jrbuskanto.co.jp/bk03010.html。下りの運転日等の欄はすべて『毎日』)の渋川駅の着を読んだ (checked 2026-10-21). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 9 municipalities.

Territory of Shibukawa City
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)

Shibukawa City isthis kind of town.

  1. 01The Shikishima Kinmeichiku is a variety of madake bamboo growing as about 100 culms in the grounds of Tsukuda Hachimangu Shrine; its green and golden parts appear as stripes, alternating node by node. It was designated a national natural monument in 1953
  2. 02The Kamimiharada Kabuki Stage, an Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property with its gandō-gaeshi, toomi, turntable and double lift mechanisms, is said to have been built in 1819
  3. 03The hexagonal two-story pagoda of Mizusawa-dera has a rotating lower sanctum and is a prefectural Important Cultural Property; in former Ikaho Town, an annex of a Hawaiian Kingdom envoy's villa survives as a city historic site

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

From this town's themes