Nishinoomote City

A lord had sweet potatoes grown.

Monument to Sweet Potato Growing

01 ／ Ōmato Hajimeshiki

When 35 arrows hit, the last one isdeliberately missed, as a warning.

Every January 11, at the archery ground of Seirin Shrine, 36 arrows are shot at a large target 5 shaku 8 sun (175 cm) across. The prefecture writes that when 35 arrows hit, the last one is deliberately missed, in keeping with the warning that what is full will wane. It began in 1501 in imitation of a court archery ceremony, after an archery instructor was invited in 1500.

Every January 11
36 arrows, target 5 shaku 8 sun across
Prefectural Intangible Folk Cultural Property (1992)

02 ／ Fukagawa Men Odori

Dancers wear masks of paper layeredon clay molds, dried and painted.

This dance is open to the public on the third Sunday of October, in front of Fukagawa Shrine in Sumiyoshi. Some twenty masked dancers perform; each mask is shaped on a clay mold, covered in many layers of paper, dried, and painted in red and ink as a man's, woman's, old or young face. The prefecture writes that formerly only each house's eldest son danced.

Some 20 dancers, 2 monkey roles
Third Sunday of October
Prefectural Intangible Folk Cultural Property (1971)

03 ／ Former Yaita Residence Main House

In a house at the old port, the ceilingabove the central room is boat-bottom shaped.

It stands at the old port of Nishinoomote and is a nationally registered Tangible Cultural Property. The gable-entered house is 4.5 ken wide and 7.5 ken deep, with a second floor above the central room and an open ceiling shaped like a boat bottom. The Agency for Cultural Affairs writes that it is valuable as a surviving early-modern townhouse of a port town.

4.5 ken wide, 7.5 ken deep
Open ceiling shaped like a boat bottom
Nationally registered Tangible Cultural Property (building)

Living here

90 minutes from Kagoshima by high-speed boat.

about 10,000 people

Nishinoomote has no railway; its gateway is Nishinoomote Port. The city writes that the jetfoil from Kagoshima Honko Minami Pier takes about 1 hour 35 minutes and the ferry about 3 hours 30 minutes. The airport by air is Tanegashima Airport, in Nakatane.

People living here: 14,708people
Area: 205.57km²
Households: 7,046households
Rent (average for rentals): 36,014yen
Healthcare: 2 hospitals ／ 5 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.

ACCESS

Where you can go from here.

Nishinoomote City in Japan30.732°N 130.997°E

to KagoshimaTane-Yaku Highspeed Ferry95min

Travel times follow 島の町の決め（五島市・小値賀町と同じ。町内の玄関口の港へ乗り換えなしで着く船の起点を都市名に、事業者名だけを mode に）。事業者公式・種子屋久高速船『運賃・時刻表』（tykousoku.jp/fare_time/・2026-10-07 に開いた）の『鹿児島⇔種子島』の冬ダイヤ（2026-10-01〜2027-02-28。見出しに『（申請中）』と付く）：鹿児島→種子島は 111便 7:30→9:05・114便 10:00→11:35・127便 13:00→14:35・118便 14:45→16:20（いずれも95分）・119便 15:45→17:20（木・金・日。95分）・113便 11:30→13:05（12/29-30・1/2-3のみ）・112便 8:00→10:55（宮之浦経由・175分）・117便 13:30→16:30（宮之浦経由・180分）。種子島→鹿児島は 120便 7:00→8:40（金・土・月。100分）・121便 8:00→9:40（100分）・112便 11:10→12:50（100分）・128便 14:00→15:35（95分）。市公式『種子島へのアクセス』（admin/homepage/access/2518.html）も『鹿児島本港南埠頭高速船ジェットフォイル約1時間35分またはフェリー約3時間30分 → 西之表港』と書く。事業者と市公式が一致する（95分）。 (checked 2026-10-07). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 1 municipalities.

Territory of Nishinoomote City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

28.1km

中種子町

Nishinoomote City isthis kind of town.

01The Monument of the first sweet potato cultivation in Japan stands along National Route 58 on the Ishidera coast; the city writes that it commemorates how Tanegashima Hisamoto, the 19th island lord, had retainers grow a basket of sweet potatoes he received from the Ryukyu king in 1698
02The five prefecture-designated folk performing arts are Ōmato Hajimeshiki, Fukagawa Men Odori, the Furuta lion dance, Yokoyama Bon Odori and Tanegashima Odori; Yokoyama Bon Odori is one of the Bon dances of Tanegashima, a nationally selected intangible folk cultural property for record-making, which also survive in Nishi, Minamitane
03The city's historic sites also include stones for the crew of the American sailing ship Casimir, who drifted ashore in 1885 and were warmly received by locals, and a statue of Tanegashima Tokitaka, the 14th island lord, who the city writes succeeded in making the first domestic gun in 1543

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Nishinoomote City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗