Article

01555 ／えんがるちょう

Hokkaido 紋別郡

Engaru Town

A steam train runs a figure-eight track.

Amemiya No. 21, Maruseppu

Photo by ほくなん (Public domain)

01 ／ National Treasure

Stone tools found below an obsidian sourceare now a National Treasure.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the mountain above the site as Japan's largest-scale obsidian source. At the Shirataki Sites at its foot, about 6.69 million artifacts, roughly 12 tons, came from 23 sites; 1,965 of them were designated a National Treasure in 2023.

About 6.69 million artifacts from 23 sites
1,965 items in the National Treasure
Designated June 27, 2023

02 ／ Ganbo-iwa rock

A rock said to give the town its namecan be seen from all over town.

Ganbo-iwa rises about 78 m above the ground. In Ainu, "Inkarushi" means a place with a good view, and the town says its name comes from that word. In 2011 it was designated a component of the nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty "Pirikanoka," and the town records it as the first such designation in the Okhotsk area.

About 78 m above the ground
Designated a national scenic site on Feb. 7, 2011
One of Hokkaido's 100 Natural Sites

03 ／ Chapel

A chapel keeping the form of a Taisho-era churchstands in Engaru Town.

The chapel of the Hokkaido Family School is a two-story wooden building of 205.4 square meters, completed in 1919. A Hokkaido-designated tangible cultural property, it stands where the founder of the Family School, established in Tokyo's Sugamo in 1899, opened a branch in 1914.

Completed in 1919
Two-story wooden building, 205.4 square meters
Hokkaido-designated tangible cultural property (2015)

Engaru 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 August–September 2024)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

Six active stations in town, all on the Sekihoku Main Line.

about 20,000 people
Rural district town

The town's JR stations are six on the Sekihoku Main Line: Engaru, Maruseppu, Angoku, Setose, Ikutahara and Shirataki. The town's access page names Engaru Station under rail and calls it "also famous as one of the few stations in Japan with a switchback." The gateway is Engaru Station.

People living here: 19,241people
Area: 1,332.45km²
Households: 8,813households
Rent (average for rentals): 36,655yen
Healthcare: 3 hospitals ／ 14 clinics

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

Population from 2005 onward (municipal boundary changed).2005-10-01 に新設合併（生田原町・丸瀬布町・白滝村）。2005年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —7 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 6 municipalities.

Engaru Town in Japan44.062°N 143.528°E

Territory of Engaru 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

46.2km

Kitami City, Kamikawa Town, Mombetsu City, Yubetsu Town, Takinoue Town, Saroma Town

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

Engaru Town isthis kind of town.

01Amemiya No. 21 in Maruseppu is a forest railway steam locomotive that hauled timber; the town calls it Japan's only running forest railway steam locomotive, and it runs on a figure-eight track
02The Shirataki Sites artifacts, 1,965 items from sites at the foot of the obsidian mountain, were designated a National Treasure in 2023
03Ganbo-iwa is the rock the town says gives it its name, and the Hokkaido Family School chapel, a wooden building completed in 1919, is a prefectural cultural property

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Engaru Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes