Aki City

A landowner handmade every clock part.

Noradokei, Hatakenaka Residence

Photo by osami (Public domain)

01 ／ Samurai quarter

Roofs are laid with right and left tiles,chosen by the direction of strong winds.

Doi Kachu (土居廓中) is a samurai quarter shaped by the Goto family, senior retainers of the Tosa domain. Roof tiles are laid as right or left tiles depending on the wind direction. The doyodake bamboo hedges are said to have been planted so the bamboo could serve as arrows when needed. Rules for tending hedges were set down in detail in a 1767 record (御土居附屋鋪牒).

National Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings (selected 2012)
Preservation district about 410 m east-west, about 360 m north-south
Hedge-care rules appear in a record of 1767 (Meiwa 4)
Nomura Family Residence is open to the public free of charge

02 ／ Fern colony

Seven kinds of ferns grow togetherin a cave cut by the waves.

Iokido Cave (伊尾木洞) is a natural cave eroded by waves from the Pacific. About 5 m high, about 4 m wide and about 40 m long, it is home to seven kinds of ferns, including hōbishida (ホウビシダ). Valley water runs through the cave, and cool air of about 20 degrees hangs there all year.

National Natural Monument (designated 1926)
Seven kinds of ferns grow together
About 5 m high, about 4 m wide
About 40 m long
About 20 degrees inside all year

03 ／ Calligraphy

The calligrapher Minami Fujō worked tirelessly,and Japan's first public calligraphy museum rose on a castle site.

The Aki City Calligraphy Museum opened in 1982 on the site of Aki Kunitora's castle. Minami Fujō (南不乗), a calligrapher from Aki, worked tirelessly for its construction and donated his own works. His eldest brother, Teshima Yūkei (手島右卿), showed "Hōgyū" (抱牛) at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair and raised the international standing of calligraphic art.

Japan's first public calligraphy museum (opened 1982)
About 1,900 works in the collection (as of April 1, 2024)
"Hōgyū" shown at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair

Living here

About 40 km east of Kochi City.A plain spreads along the Aki and Iogi rivers.

about 20,000 people

Aki lies about 40 km east of the prefectural capital, Kochi City, facing Tosa Bay to the south and backed by the Shikoku Mountains to the north, where it borders Tokushima Prefecture. A plain spreads along the Aki (安芸川) and Iogi (伊尾木川) rivers, which flow south, and the city forms the largest urban area in the eastern part of the prefecture, centered on National Route 55.

People living here: 16,243people
Area: 317.16km²
Households: 7,307households
Rent (average for rentals): 37,035yen
Healthcare: 2 hospitals ／ 15 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —7 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 across 1 prefectures.

Aki City in Japan33.516°N 133.906°E

Territory of Aki City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

30.4km

Kochi Prefecture: 馬路村, 香美市, 安田町, 芸西村, 香南市
Tokushima Prefecture: 那賀町

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

Aki City isthis kind of town.

01The Hatakenaka Residence (Noradokei) is a landowner's house in Doi, Aki, and it has a clock tower. The prefecture's official tourism site says the landowner Hatakenaka Genba made it in the mid-Meiji era, and tradition holds that he finished everything, down to the gears and weights, by himself, modeled on an American octagonal wall clock. The main house is a nationally registered tangible cultural property, and as a private home it can be viewed from the outside only.
02Aki Castle Site is the remains of the castle of the Aki clan, said to have been built by Aki Chikauji in 1308. The clan was defeated by Chosokabe Motochika in 1569, and the city's museum records that the Chosokabe rewrote the name from 安芸 to 安喜, and the latter was used until the Meiji era. The birthplace of Iwasaki Yataro, founder of Mitsubishi, also stands in the city and is open to visitors except for the interior of the building.
03In 1954 eight towns and villages, centered on Aki Town, merged to form the city. Its citizens' charter calls it a "village of children's songs," and the city has ten monuments to the composer Hirota Ryutaro. Aki Station on the Gomen-Nahari Line is the city's gateway.

See the town as it is now.

Facebookcity.aki ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Aki City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗