Article

01482 ／おびらちょう

Hokkaido 留萌郡

Obira Town

Herring house with over 200 hired hands.

Former Hanada House

Photo by 夢の散歩 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Inside the banya

The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls its beams grand;yan-shu quarters survive.

Inside the banya in Obira Town — Photo by さえぼー (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The former Hanada House is a national important cultural property (designated 1971). The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as one of the few surviving large herring-fishery buildings, with yan-shu (hired fishermen) lodgings well preserved and grand framing of massive timbers. The town considers its owner's living quarters to date from around 1905, judging from graffiti on the boards of the yan-shu beds.

National important cultural property (1971)
Yan-shu lodgings well preserved
Framing of massive timbers

02 ／ Old village name

Its land was once Tentokari Village.It passed to Obira Town via Onishika Village.

The town says the old name of the former Hanada House's site was Tentokari Village, which was merged, via Onishika Village, into Obira Village and then Obira Town. The monument is inscribed with the origin of both villages. In September 1998 a statue was donated in front of the banya to mark the 120th anniversary of the village's founding.

Old village name: Tentokari
Via Onishika Village to Obira Town
Statue for 120th anniversary (1998)

03 ／ Plesiosaur

Upstream on the Obira-Oshibe River,plesiosaur fossils were found.

In 1987 a fossil was found near Kosei Bridge upstream on the Obira-Oshibe River, and excavation turned up 236 pieces of a plesiosaur in all. They came from Upper Cretaceous strata about 85 million years old; a Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau document calls it the third such find in Japan, after Iwaki and Hobetsu.

Found in 1987
236 pieces in all
About 85 million years old

Obira 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 June 2025)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 in town; the gateway is the town office.

about 3,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway station in town, and the gateway is the town office. The town's access page advises travelling to Sapporo or Asahikawa and taking an intercity express bus (checked October 2026). The office is in Obira Town, Rumoi District.

People living here: 2,994people
Area: 627.22km²
Households: 1,366households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 3 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —0 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.

Obira Town in Japan44.015°N 141.663°E

Territory of Obira 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

32.2km

Tomamae Town, Rumoi City, Numata Town, Horokanai Town, Fukagawa City

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

Obira Town isthis kind of town.

01The former Hanada House in Hirotomi, Onishika, is a national important cultural property; the town says it is the largest surviving banya in Hokkaido, a large herring-fishing house that once had over 200 hired hands
02The Agency for Cultural Affairs says its yan-shu (hired fishermen) lodgings are well preserved, and its site, once Tentokari Village, was merged via Onishika Village into Obira Town
03Plesiosaur fossils found in 1987 near Kosei Bridge upstream on the Obira-Oshibe River came from strata about 85 million years old, 236 pieces in all

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Obira Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes