Nankoku City

A hall to match Kokubunji lay due south.

Nonaka-haiji temple ruins

Photo by Saigen Jiro (CC0)

01 ／ Mountain castle

From the Chosokabe clan's mountain castlecame tiles inscribed "Tensho 3."

Oko Castle Site (岡豊城跡) was the seat of the Chosokabe clan, built on Mt. Oko, 94 m above sea level. The city introduces a building there as the first in a medieval Tosa mountain castle to use foundation stones and roof tiles. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that tiles bearing the marks "Tenshō 3" and "kawarako Senshu" hint at the building's date and where the tiles were made.

National Historic Site (designated 2008)
Built on Mt. Oko, 94 m above sea level
Tiles marked "Tenshō 3" and "kawarako Senshu" (Agency for Cultural Affairs)

02 ／ Town name

The duty-exempt town called "Gomen-machi" (御免町)later became "Gomen-machi" (後免町).

In the Edo period, the magistrate Nonaka Kenzan reworked the Monobe River and created a commercial district that used the Funairi River for transport. Settlers were given land and exempted from taxes and duties. The town came to be called "Gomen-machi" (御免町), and later formed the central urban area as "Gomen-machi" (後免町).

Settlers exempted from taxes and duties (city)
Commercial district using the Funairi River for transport
Now the central urban area of Nankoku

03 ／ Special Natural Monument

The Onagadori's tail feathers do not molt,and some reach 6 meters.

The Onagadori is a breed of domestic fowl. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that its tail feathers grow without molting, and some reach 6 meters. The city introduces it as a bird whose tail grows about 70 cm a year, and as the city's bird, native to the Shinohara district.

National Special Natural Monument (1952)
Tail grows about 70 cm a year (city)
Some tail feathers reach 6 meters (Agency for Cultural Affairs)

Living here

Since modern times, the city has grown aroundtwo rice crops a year and greenhouse horticulture.

about 50,000 people

The city lies in the center of Kochi Prefecture and is said to be the birthplace of rice farming in Tosa. Remains are abundant, centered on Tamura, and burial mounds on hilltops and hillsides number as many as 80. The city's newsletter calls its Kocho Plain the largest granary in the prefecture.

People living here: 46,664people
Area: 125.3km²
Households: 19,755households
Rent (average for rentals): 44,862yen
Healthcare: 9 hospitals ／ 29 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —15 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 5 municipalities.

Nankoku City in Japan33.576°N 133.642°E

Territory of Nankoku City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

20.7km

高知市, 香美市, 香南市, 土佐町, 本山町

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

Nankoku City isthis kind of town.

01Nonaka-haiji ruins (野中廃寺跡), in Motomachi 1-chome, are the remains of an ancient temple founded in the mid-Nara period, laid out in the Hokki-ji style with the main hall to the west, the pagoda to the east, the middle gate to the south and the lecture hall to the north. Its main hall rivals that of Tosa Kokubunji in scale, and Kokubunji lies about 2 km due north of it. It was designated a National Historic Site on February 17, 2026. The site is on private land, and the city asks visitors not to disturb neighbors.
02Nankoku lies in the center of Kochi Prefecture. In ancient times the provincial office of Tosa was set up in Hie, and the area flourished as a center of politics and culture. The city holds Tosa Kokubunji, Temple 29 of the Shikoku pilgrimage, and Zenjibu-ji, Temple 32. Oko Castle was the seat of Chosokabe Motochika, who brought Tosa under his rule in the Sengoku period.
03The city was founded in 1959 by the merger of Gomen-machi, Kocho Village, Noda Village, Oko Village and Iwa Village. Hosokawa Hanzo, whom the city introduces as "Karakuri Hanzo", wrote the three-volume Kiko-zui (機巧図彙) in 1796.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Nankoku City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗