Sukumo City

A turtle is said to have borne the bell.

Enkō-ji Bell, Red Turtle legend

Photo by Dokudami (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Confinement site of Nonaka Kenzan's family

Eight children of Nonaka Kenzan were exiled to Sukumo,confined for 40 years in a house ringed with bamboo.

In 1664 (Kanbun 4), eight of Kenzan's children were exiled to Sukumo. A map of about 1680 shows the confinement site: a board fence, a bamboo barrier outside it, and guard posts at the four corners. The site is now the grounds of Sukumo Elementary School, where a monument stands. At Nishiyama cemetery lie the graves of six of the eight.

Eight children were confined in Sukumo in 1664 (city website)
Confinement in a house double-fenced with bamboo lasted 40 years (city website)
The family graves were designated a city historic site in 1961 (city website)

02 ／ Hamada Tomariya

A raised lodge where young men slept,one nationally designated, stands at Hamada.

A tomariya (泊屋) was a dormitory for young men's associations; from the late Edo period into Meiji, Hata villages had over a hundred raised, freestanding tomariya. The Hamada Tomariya, from around the end of the Edo period, uses natural chestnut trunks for its four corner posts and was designated a nationally Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property in 1957.

Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property, designated June 3, 1957 (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
Four villages in Yoshina — Hamada, Shimogumi, Michinokawa and Kutsunugi — each had its own tomariya (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
Hata had over a hundred tomariya (city website)

03 ／ The border on Okinoshima

An island divided since the Middle Agesbetween Tosa and Uwajima, its border fixed in 1659 by the shogunate.

On Okinoshima, Hahajima was a village of the Uwajima domain and Hirose of Tosa. The border dispute was carried to the shogunate's court, where the city history says Nonaka Kenzan directed Tosa's side. A shogunate ruling in Manji 2 (1659) fixed the border.

Divided between Tosa and Iyo-Uwajima domains since the Middle Ages (city website)
Border fixed by a shogunate ruling in 1659 (city website)
Chosen for the "100 Island Treasures" in March 2009 (city website)

Living here

At the southwestern tip of Shikoku,forest covers about 84% of the city.

about 20,000 people

The city spreads along the Matsuda River, which flows into Sukumo Bay, and offshore to the west lie the inhabited islands of Okinoshima and Ugurushima. Its total area is about 286 km². It was formed in 1954 by the merger of six towns and villages: Sukumo, Kozukushi, Hirata, Yamana, Hashikami and Okinoshima. In winter, when conditions allow, the sun setting over Sukumo Bay looks like a daruma doll (だるま夕日).

People living here: 19,033people
Area: 286.14km²
Households: 8,508households
Rent (average for rentals): 37,001yen
Healthcare: 5 hospitals ／ 12 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —11 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.

Sukumo City in Japan32.939°N 132.726°E

to OsakaOvernight bus513min
to SannomiyaOvernight bus459min

Travel times follow 近鉄バス公式『京都・大阪・神戸⇔中村・宿毛（しまんとブルーライナー）』（高知西南交通と共同運行の夜行の高速バス）の時刻表。中村・宿毛行き（下り）が京都駅八条口21:00発・あべのハルカス22:15・なんばOCAT22:35・大阪駅前（東梅田駅）22:55・三宮駅（ミント神戸バスターミナル）23:49発 → 宿毛駅7:28着。関西方面行き（上り）は宿毛駅20:30発 → 三宮駅4:59着・大阪駅前5:53着 (checked 2026-09-30). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 6 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Sukumo City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

45.1km

Kochi Prefecture: 四万十市, 三原村, 土佐清水市, 大月町
Ehime Prefecture: 愛南町, 宇和島市

Sukumo City isthis kind of town.

01The bronze bell of Enkō-ji (延光寺) in Hirata, Sukumo, bears an inscription of Engi 11 (911) and is a national Important Cultural Property. The city says a legend that a red turtle climbed out of the sea carrying a small bell on its back gave the temple its mountain name, Shakkizan (赤亀山), and past the Niō gate, on the right, stands a stone statue of the turtle bearing a bell.
02Where the eight children of Nonaka Kenzan were confined stands a monument in Sukumo Elementary School, and their graves are at Nishiyama cemetery. The Hamada Tomariya (浜田の泊屋) in Yoshina is a national Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property, and Okinoshima, divided since the Middle Ages between Tosa and Uwajima, had its border fixed by a shogunate ruling in 1659.
03Takachiniimasu Shrine (高知坐神社) in Hirata is listed in the Engishiki register of shrines and its main hall is a prefecturally protected tangible cultural property. The Ono Azusa Memorial Park, built on the site of his birthplace, and the daruma sunset seen over Sukumo Bay in winter are also part of the city.

See the town as it is now.

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Sukumo City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗