Article

01602 ／びらとりちょう

Hokkaido 沙流郡

Biratori Town

A climb of over ten river crossings.

Mount Poroshiri

Photo by hikimikyou (Public domain)

01 ／ Cultural landscape

The Saru River's great floods helped shapea living space for the Ainu people.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs explains that willows on the riverbed are essential for making inau, and that elm woods shelter plants useful to daily life. On the river terraces, pasture woodlands tended by modern settlers also spread. It was selected as an Important Cultural Landscape in 2007.

Important Cultural Landscape, selected July 2007
Willows, elms and pasture woodland
Pasture woodland along the middle Saru River

02 ／ Reconstructed houses

Ainu houses, cise, are reconstructedoutdoors at Nibutani.

Cise are reconstructed outdoors at the Nibutani Ainu Culture Museum. Four were built between fiscal 1985 and 2003, and five more on the neighboring town land from fiscal 2008. The 1,121 daily-life tools held by two museums were designated an Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property in 2002.

Cise: 4 + 5
1,121 daily-life tools
Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property, 2002

03 ／ Shrine

Yoshitsune Shrine is said to begin in 1799,when Kondo Juzo and others enshrined a statue.

The town says Kondo Juzo and others, ordered to explore Ezo, enshrined a statue of Yoshitsune in Kansei 11 (1799), which is where the shrine began. A grand festival is held every August, and townspeople hold the shrine in deep respect.

Statue enshrined in Kansei 11 (1799)
Grand festival every August
Located in Honcho, Biratori

Biratori 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 September 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 railway station; buses run out to Tomikawa.

about 5,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway station in the town. The town advises taking a Donan Bus to Tomikawa Terminal in Hidaka Town, then changing to a bus toward Tomakomai, Sapporo or New Chitose Airport (as of October 1, 2026). The town belongs to Saru District.

People living here: 4,776people
Area: 743.09km²
Households: 2,288households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 2 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —4 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 5 municipalities.

Biratori Town in Japan42.585°N 142.129°E

Territory of Biratori 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

41.1km

Hidaka Town, Mukawa Town, Niikappu Town, Shimukappu Village, Obihiro City

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

Biratori Town isthis kind of town.

01Mount Poroshiri is 2,052 m, the highest peak in Hidaka Mountains-Erimo-Tokachi National Park. The town's Nukabira River route has more than ten river crossings
02The Saru River basin was selected in 2007 as an Important Cultural Landscape of Ainu tradition and modern settlement. Cise are reconstructed outdoors at Nibutani
03The 1,121 daily-life tools of Nibutani are an Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property. Yoshitsune Shrine is said to begin in 1799, when Kondo Juzo and others enshrined a statue

See the town as it is now.

Facebookkouhou.biratori ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Biratori Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes