Shobara City

A townhouse with small stacked gables

Sanrakuso, Former Hozawa House

Photo by Asturio Cantabrio (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Shobarakujira (ショウバラクジラ)

About 16 million years ago the Chugoku Mountains were sea,and whales came migrating in.

The geology annex of the Hiwa Museum of Natural History displays fossils of four kinds of whales found in Shobara, including the Shobarakujira. One fossil from the bed of the Saijo River was reported in an international paper as a newborn no more than six months old.

Fossils about 16 million years old (city museum guide)
Four kinds of whales found in Shobara on display
Saijo River fossil: newborn of six months or less (2022 exhibit)

02 ／ Shiohara Daisen Kuyo Taue (塩原の大山供養田植)

A large festival for the souls of cattle and horsesis handed down in Shiohara, Tojo.

Daisen-san, the deity of Mt. Daisen in Hoki who protects cattle and horses, was widely worshipped across this region. The Daisen Kuyo Taue honors cattle and horses that died unexpectedly and prays for the safety of those now kept and for a good harvest. It is open to view on site every four years; the latest was May 31, 2026.

Nationally designated Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property (2002)
Open to view on site once every four years
Held on site on May 31, 2026

03 ／ Hiba Kojin Kagura (比婆荒神神楽)

A kagura that passes down oracles,kept up by the people of each myo.

This ancestral-spirit kagura is offered to Motoyama Sanpo Kojin and passes down rites of divine possession and oracles. In the eastern part of the old Hiba District, medieval-looking "myo" (名) units remain, and Kojin is said to be at the center of their faith. Cycle years bring a great kagura; otherwise a small one is the custom.

Nationally designated Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property (1979)
Performed in Tojo and Saijo
Great kagura in cycle years; small kagura otherwise

Living here

Basins and river valleys hold scattered towns and hamlets.

about 30,000 people

Shobara lies in northeastern Hiroshima, in the middle of the Chugoku Mountains, bordering Okayama to the east and Shimane and Tottori to the north. It ranks 14th in area among Japan's municipalities (as of October 1, 2025). Population is 29,852 (end of August 2026).

People living here: 33,633people
Area: 1,246.49km²
Households: 13,794households
Rent (average for rentals): 39,241yen
Healthcare: 5 hospitals ／ 35 clinics

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

Population from 2005 onward (municipal boundary changed).2005-03-31 に合併。2005年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —16 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 9 municipalities across 3 prefectures.

Shobara City in Japan34.858°N 133.017°E

Territory of Shobara City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

41.2km

Hiroshima Prefecture: 三次市, 神石高原町, 府中市
Shimane Prefecture: 奥出雲町, 飯南町, 雲南市
Okayama Prefecture: 新見市, 高梁市
Tottori Prefecture: 日南町

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

Shobara City isthis kind of town.

01Sanrakuso (former Hozawa House) in Tojo is a large townhouse raised in 1891 and a nationally registered Tangible Cultural Property. Its hip-and-gable roof layers small gables at both ends, and the gable end, often called yatsumune-zukuri, is distinctive. Shobara City received it as a donation and runs it as a place that tells Tojo's history and culture.
02In Kumano, Saijo, stands the nationally designated Natural Monument Kumano no Ootochi (a horse chestnut), and the Sata-dani and Sata-toge burial mounds in Taka and Miyauchi became a national Historic Site in 2021. In Tojo, an event called Otoori is held every year in early November. Around Onbashi in the Taishakukyo gorge, the way is closed because of rockfall.
03In 1970 a "mysterious ape" was sighted at the foot of Mt. Hiba in Saijo and named "Hibagon" after the place. The former Saijo Town Office set up an "ape section" to respond; 29 sightings were recorded, the identity stayed unknown, and the section was abolished.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Shobara City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗