Article

01361 ／えさしちょう

Hokkaido 檜山郡

Esashi Town

Kitamae ships tied up to stakes in rock.

Kitamae ship mooring, Kamomejima

Photo by BATACHAN (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Ubagamidaijingu Shrine Togyo Festival

Of 13 festival floats,only one is shaped like a ship.

Ubagamidaijingu Shrine Togyo Festival in Esashi Town — Photo by BATACHAN (CC BY-SA 4.0)

At the Ubagamidaijingu Shrine Togyo Festival, the floats are called Yama. Twelve of the 13 are carriages with two or three tiers of viewing stands, and one is the ship-shaped Matsuhomaru. The town's tourism site says Omi merchants ordered it from Osaka in 1845 (Koka 2).

13 floats (12 carriage-style, 1 ship-shaped)
Matsuhomaru made in 1845 (Koka 2)
Hokkaido-designated intangible folk cultural property (March 19, 2019)

02 ／ Former Hiyama and Nishi District Office

A Western-style building on a hilltoponce housed the Hiyama and Nishi district office.

Built in 1887 (Meiji 20) as the district office overseeing Hiyama and Nishi Districts, this Western-style building later served as a police station and a town hall annex. The town's tourism site calls it the only remaining district office building in Hokkaido. It was designated a Hokkaido tangible cultural property in 1992.

Built in 1887 (Meiji 20)
Hokkaido-designated tangible cultural property (March 31, 1992)
Only remaining district office building in Hokkaido (town tourism site)

03 ／ Former Nakamura Family Merchant House

A seafood wholesaler and shipper's houselines its storehouses up on the shore side.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the Former Nakamura Family Merchant House as a typical townhouse of Hokkaido's west coast, a gable-entrance earthen-walled building. Because the family was a marine products wholesaler that also ran shipping, two storehouses stand in a row behind the main house on the shore side. It was designated in 1971.

National Important Cultural Property (December 28, 1971)
Earthen-walled, gabled, gable-end entrance
Main house, library warehouse and Shimono warehouse are designated

Esashi 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–October 2022)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; 96 minutes by bus from Kikonai Station.

about 7,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway station in the town; the Esashi Line between Kikonai and Esashi closed on May 12, 2014. The nearest active station is Kikonai Station. On the Hakodate Bus Esashi-Kikonai Line (revised October 1, 2026), the trip from Kikonai Station to Nakautacho takes 96 minutes on all three daily services.

People living here: 7,428people
Area: 109.48km²
Households: 3,542households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 2 hospitals ／ 4 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —3 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.

Esashi Town in Japan41.869°N 140.127°E

to KikonaiLocal bus96min

Travel times follow 函館バス『江差・木古内線（631・633・635系統）』の時刻表（令和8年10月1日改正。江差町観光情報サイト esashi.town のアクセス『バス時刻表』に掲載の時刻表画像 https://esashi.town/wp/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/631_page-0001.jpg。表の見出しは『平日・土日祝共通』）。木古内駅前→湯ノ岱→江差ターミナル→江差病院前の下り：631系統木古内駅前 9:40発→中歌町 11:16着（96分）・12:40発→14:16着（96分）・16:35発→18:11着（96分）の3本とも同じ分数（江差ターミナル着は83分、姥神町フェリー前着は95分、江差病院前着は109分）。逆向き（江差→木古内駅前）は631系統の中歌町 7:19→木古内駅前 9:00、10:19→12:00、12:49→14:30（いずれも101分。633・635系統は途中の湯ノ岱・神明止まりの便がある） (checked 2026-10-29). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 3 municipalities.

Territory of Esashi 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

18.6km

Assabu Town, Kaminokuni Town, Otobe Town

Esashi Town isthis kind of town.

01On the northeast of Kamomejima, Kitamae ships once moored here. The town records that they tied ropes to wooden stakes set in holes cut in the bedrock, and the site is designated by the town as a historic site
02At the Ubagamidaijingu Shrine Togyo Festival, 13 floats parade through town, one of them the ship-shaped Matsuhomaru. The Former Hiyama and Nishi District Office is a Hokkaido cultural property, and the Former Nakamura Family Merchant House a national one
03The town has no railway station; a Hakodate Bus runs from Kikonai Station to Nakautacho

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Esashi Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes