Article

03322 ／やはばちょう

Iwate Prefecture 紫波郡

Yahaba Town

A square fort, ringed by logs set tight.

Tokutan Castle site, outer logs

Photo by MChew (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Excavated finds

From a well at the Tokutan site,a wooden helmet and a koto top board.

In the 65th excavation, in 2006, a wooden helmet (Japanese horse chestnut, black lacquer) came out of a well in a workshop area. Its lacquer dates to the late 7th century, well over a century older than the 9th-century fort, and the town writes that it seems to have been reused as a water bucket. One plank of the well frame was reused from a koto top board.

Prefectural, 2013
Lacquer dated late 7th c.
Koto board in well frame

02 ／ Magariya house

In the feudal era, a village head's househad a plank room for weighing rice.

This magariya, a house form particular to the Nanbu region, has a stable attached to the north side of the main house, facing south. In the feudal era it was a village head's house, with a building area of 90 tsubo. Its earthen-floor space holds a plank-floored room called the hakariba, where rice paid in by tenant farmers was weighed. It was moved from Fujisawa and rebuilt here in 1986.

90 tsubo building area
Town-designated, 1986
Moved from Fujisawa

03 ／ Burial mounds

A late 7th-century cluster of mounds:over 100 confirmed by excavation.

The Fujisawa burial mounds are a cluster of late-period mounds from the late 7th century of the Kofun period. Excavations have confirmed more than 100 mounds. The 1,390 finds were designated a prefectural cultural property in 2009 and include glass beads and magatama beads.

Over 100 mounds
1,390 finds
Finds prefectural, 2009

Yahaba 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 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

JR Yahaba Station in the center; an express bus stop at the west exit.

about 30,000 people
Rural district town

The town's guide (updated 1 October 2026) says JR Yahaba Station stands in the center of the town and is used for travel out of it. At the west exit of Yahaba Station is a stop for the express bus toward Shinjuku and Kawasaki, run by Iwate Kenpoku Bus. Iwate Kenkotsu route buses also run in the town.

People living here: 28,056people
Area: 67.32km²
Households: 10,986households
Rent (average for rentals): 54,376yen
Healthcare: 4 hospitals ／ 19 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —8 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 3 municipalities.

Yahaba Town in Japan39.606°N 141.143°E

Territory of Yahaba Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (Administrative Area Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari.

North to south

8.9km

Shiwa Town, Morioka City, Shizukuishi Town

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

Yahaba Town isthis kind of town.

01Tokutan Castle site was an early Heian-period fort; the Agency for Cultural Affairs explains that its outer line was marked by a palisade of logs 15 to 20 cm across set tight in one row, and the town writes that nothing from that time remains above ground
02A wooden helmet and a koto top board from a well at the Tokutan site are prefecturally designated cultural properties, and the Sasaki family magariya, moved from Fujisawa, was a village head's house in the feudal era
03The Fujisawa burial mounds are a late 7th-century cluster of late-period mounds, with more than 100 confirmed by excavation, and 1,390 finds are designated a prefectural cultural property

See the town as it is now.

Source: Wikidata (P2002, P2003, P2013, P2397)

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Yahaba Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes