Sakawa Town

Gifted saplings grew into a cherry spot.

Makino Park

Photo by アラツク (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Fudogaiwaya Cave Site

From a limestone cave,Incipient Jomon pottery was unearthed.

The town records that this cave, in a limestone belt running across Shikoku, yielded fine raised-line pottery of the Jomon Incipient period. It is a national historic site. The town also dates its own origin to about ten thousand years ago, established by analysis of the cave's stone tools and pottery.

Historic site, designated 19 December 1978 (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
Fine raised-line pottery of the Jomon Incipient period excavated (town website)
The town's origin is about 10,000 years ago (town website)

02 ／ Takemura Family Residence

From the mid-Edo period, a sake-brewingmerchant house lodged the shogunate's inspectors.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs says the main house has a shop section to the east and a reception section to the west; the shop section is thought to date from around 1780 (Anei 9) and the reception section from 1838 (Tenpo 9). The reception rooms are of a quality comparable to warrior residences. The tourist association says visits are normally exterior only.

Main house, storehouse and front gate are Important Cultural Properties, designated 4 December 2007 (prefecture, Agency for Cultural Affairs)
Shop section built around 1780 (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
Visits normally limited to the exterior (Sakawa Tourism Association)

03 ／ Meikyokan

A lord's private schoollater became a domain school.

The town records that the Fukao lords founded it as a private school in 1772 (Anei 1) and expanded it into a domain school in 1802 (Kyowa 2). Its entrance section was moved to Sakawa Ordinary Elementary School in 1887 and later re-moved to the Uemachi district. The town says Makino Tomitaro studied at Meikyokan.

Founded as a private school in 1772 (Anei 1) (town website)
Expanded into a domain school in 1802 (Kyowa 2) (same source)
Entrance section moved to Sakawa Ordinary Elementary School in 1887 (same source)

Living here

A basin town cradled by the Shikoku Mountains.

about 10,000 people
Rural district town

In west-central Kochi Prefecture, with National Route 33 and the JR Dosan Line running through. The town says Seizan Bunko is a six-minute walk from Sakawa Station. In December 2024 the town library “Sakuto,” a single-storey wooden building, opened.

People living here: 12,323people
Area: 100.8km²
Households: 5,141households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 2 hospitals ／ 9 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 5 municipalities.

Sakawa Town in Japan33.501°N 133.287°E

Territory of Sakawa Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

13.1km

越知町, 日高村, 津野町, 土佐市, 須崎市

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

Sakawa Town isthis kind of town.

01Makino Park (牧野公園) has been developed as a cherry-blossom spot since Somei-yoshino saplings given by Makino Tomitaro, a botanist from Sakawa, were planted there. It was named “Makino Park” when the town road through it was completed in 1958, and the graves of Makino Tomitaro and Tanaka Mitsuaki lie on its slope. Its aging cherry trees have been undergoing renewal since 2008.
02The Fudogaiwaya cave site (不動ガ岩屋洞窟遺跡) is a national historic site where fine raised-line pottery of the Jomon Incipient period has been excavated. The Uemachi district was the castle town of the Fukao family; the Important Cultural Property Takemura Family Residence and sake breweries stand there, and the entrance section of Meikyokan (名教館) was re-moved. Seizan Bunko (青山文庫) is a museum built around the writings and paintings of patriots collected by Tanaka Mitsuaki, and the town also runs a “whole-town botanical garden” project centred on Makino Park.
03A town in Takaoka District, in a basin cradled by the Shikoku Mountains. National Route 33 and the JR Dosan Line pass through, and the town says Meikyokan is a seven-minute walk from Sakawa Station. It also has Naumann Karst (named after the German geologist Naumann) and the Sakawa Geological Museum, which displays fossils.

See the town as it is now.

Facebookteamsakawa365 ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Sakawa Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗