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01346 ／やくもちょう

Hokkaido 二海郡

Yakumo Town

A spring-fed pond that never dries up.

Umemura Garden

Photo by Ozizo (Public domain)

01 ／ Wooden bear carvings

Modeled on a Swiss souvenir,a carved bear said to be Hokkaido's first was made.

Yoshichika of the Owari Tokugawa family found carved wooden bears in Switzerland in 1921-22 and brought some home as models. The town museum says that in 1924 a dairy farmer made the Hokkaido No. 1 carved bear from one, and it was entered in an exhibition. The bears are on display at the town's wooden bear museum.

Yoshichika's European trip: 1921-22
Carved bear the town calls Hokkaido's first, entered in 1924
Yakumo Peasant Art Society dissolved naturally in 1943

02 ／ Mt. Oboko

Mt. Oboko, 999 m high,rises in the town's southern national forest.

Mt. Oboko in Yakumo Town — Photo by Yama-ski (CC BY-SA 4.0)

A forest officer of the Hokkaido Regional Forest Office introduces Mt. Oboko (Oboko-dake) as a 999 m peak in national forest in the south of Yakumo Town, busy with climbers in summer. Of the town's total area of about 95,000 hectares, about 84% is forest and about 62% of that is national forest.

Mt. Oboko is 999 m high
About 84% of the town is forest
About 62% of the forest is national forest

03 ／ Kotan Onsen site

Fishhooks, harpoon heads, a whalebone sword-shaped tool:a set that shows Jomon fishing life.

The finds from the Kotan Onsen site are a set from the early Late Jomon period, taken from shell middens and other places on a coastal terrace overlooking Uchiura Bay (Funka Bay). It is a national Important Cultural Property: 20 pots, 71 stone tools, 255 bone, antler and tusk items and 11 shell items, notably antler fishhooks and whalebone sword-shaped tools.

Set from the early Late Jomon period
20 pots, 71 stone items, 255 bone/antler/tusk items, 11 shell items
Designated Important Cultural Property on June 30, 1997

Yakumo 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 2012)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

About 1 hour by limited express from Hakodate to Yakumo Station.

about 20,000 people
Rural district town

The town's access page gives about 1 hour from Hakodate Station and about 2 hours 40 minutes from Sapporo Station to Yakumo Station by JR limited express (updated March 2026). The town has six stations on the JR Hakodate Main Line: Yakumo, Yamasaki, Yamakoshi, Otoshibe, Nodaoi and Kuroiwa.

People living here: 15,826people
Area: 956.08km²
Households: 7,519households
Rent (average for rentals): 38,795yen
Healthcare: 2 hospitals ／ 5 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（熊石町）。2005年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —5 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.

Yakumo Town in Japan42.256°N 140.265°E

Territory of Yakumo 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

41.3km

Imakane Town, Otobe Town, Setana Town, Mori Town, Assabu Town, Oshamambe Town

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

Yakumo Town isthis kind of town.

01Umemura Garden is a strolling pond garden begun in 1912 by Umemura, a settler from Aichi, and completed in 1930. Its spring-fed pond never dries up, a rest facility overlooks it, and it was designated a town cultural property in 1983
02Modeled on carved bears Tokugawa Yoshichika brought from Switzerland, a carved bear the town calls Hokkaido's first was entered in an exhibition in 1924. The Peasant Art Society dissolved in 1943, and the carving course resumed in 2013
03The southern national forest holds 999 m Mt. Oboko. The Kotan Onsen site finds from the early Late Jomon period are a national Important Cultural Property, and the town has six JR Hakodate Main Line stations

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Yakumo Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes