Article

08221 ／ひたちなかし

Hitachinaka City

Circles sketched on a compass principle.

Torazuka Kofun, mural sketches

Photo by Saigen Jiro (CC0)

01 ／ Cave tombs

A knife with a parallel in the Shosoin collectioncame from one of the cave tombs.

Jugoro-ana Yokoana Tombs became a national historic site in 2024. The city's board of education estimates the total at over 500, on top of 274 confirmed so far, with more thought to lie buried. A knife from Tomb 35 of the Tatedashi group has a parallel in the Shosoin collection, the board notes, calling it a valuable find.

National historic site, Feb. 21, 2024
274 confirmed, over 500 estimated
Five knives from Tomb 35

02 ／ Reverberatory furnace

The brick clay came from Kosuna in Tochigi.Today's furnace is a 1937 reconstructed model.

The Nakaminato Reverberatory Furnace site is a prefectural historic site. A reverberatory furnace is a metal-melting furnace that reflects flame and heat off its inner surface to reach high temperatures. Furnace No. 1 was completed in 1855 and No. 2 in the 4th year of Ansei. Its bricks used clay from Kosuna in Tochigi Prefecture, and today's furnace is a reconstruction from 1937.

Prefectural historic site
Furnace No. 1 completed in 1855
Reconstructed model, 1937

03 ／ Strata

A fossil named as a pterosaur boneproved to be a giant softshell turtle bone.

Along the coast from Hiraiso to Isozaki, saw-toothed rock tilts 35 to 50 degrees to the northeast. The Hiraiso Cretaceous Strata, a prefectural natural monument, are thought to date from the end of the Cretaceous, about 75 million years ago, based on heteromorph ammonites. A fossil named Hitachinakaryu in 2002 was found on re-examination to be a bone of a giant softshell turtle.

Prefectural natural monument, 1957
Strata tilt 35 to 50 degrees northeast
About 75 million years ago

Hitachinaka City 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 April 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

About 70 minutes from Katsuta to Ueno by limited express.

about 160,000 people
90 min to a city centre

The city introduces itself as lying on the Pacific coast in central Ibaraki Prefecture, next to Mito, the prefectural capital. All limited express trains stop at Katsuta Station, about 70 minutes to Ueno Station and one stop, six minutes, to Mito Station, it says. Around the station are restaurants, apartments and business hotels, as well as a library and a general hospital, forming the city's central area.

People living here: 156,581people
Area: 101.02km²
Households: 66,754households
Rent (average for rentals): 50,741yen
Healthcare: 5 hospitals ／ 94 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —21 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.

Hitachinaka City in Japan36.397°N 140.535°E

to TokyoLtd. exp. Hitachi77min
to UenoLtd. exp. Hitachi70min

Travel times follow JR東日本の駅時刻表（timetables.jreast.co.jp の 2610 版）の常磐線下り〔240d1（平日）・240d2（土曜・休日）。品川－上野－水戸－仙台〕で、各列車の品川・東京・上野・北千住の『発』と勝田の『着』を機械で読んで数えた（2026-10-22 閲覧） (checked 2026-10-22). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 3 municipalities.

Territory of Hitachinaka City

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

14.1km

Naka City, Tokai Village, Mito City

Hitachinaka City isthis kind of town.

01Torazuka Kofun is a national historic site, a keyhole-shaped mound 56.5 m long. Its chamber murals were painted in red iron oxide over white clay, and the board of education notes that the circles on the back and west walls have sketch lines made using the compass principle. The names of the kofun and Jugoro-ana are considered likely to derive from the Tale of the Soga Brothers
02Jugoro-ana Yokoana Tombs, a cluster of cave tombs, became a national historic site in 2024. The Nakaminato Reverberatory Furnace site holds a model rebuilt in 1937 of a furnace built in the Ansei era, and its bricks used clay from Kosuna in Tochigi Prefecture
03The Hiraiso Cretaceous Strata are tilted rock layers on the coast, a prefectural natural monument. The city also has the Mawatari Haniwa Workshop Site, a national historic site where kilns and workshops for making haniwa were found, and the Nakaminato lion and Miroku dances, chosen by the national government for recording

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Hitachinaka City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗