Arao City

Plum said to be in Sun Yat-sen's photo.

Friendship Plum, Miyazaki house

01 ／ Nobara Hachimangu Furyu (野原八幡宮風流)

The children's hats, made to look like lion heads,are renewed each year at the kasa-kiri.

A taiko dance handed down in three districts: Komoya, Nobara and Kawanobori. Two children (稚児) dance, beating a small drum and a large drum. Each hat represents a lion's head: two fans form the lion's mouth, and a pillow of rice straw holds ornaments such as the goshin (御神) and hachinosu (bee's nest). It was designated a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 2021, and in 2022 was inscribed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list as one of the “Furyu-odori” (風流踊).

Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property (designated Mar. 11, 2021)
Three districts: Komoya, Nobara, Kawanobori
One of the “Furyu-odori” on the UNESCO list (2022)

02 ／ Iwamoto Bridge (岩本橋)

The Iwamoto checkpoint on the Chikugo border was closed,and a spectacle bridge was built where it crossed the barrier.

Iwamoto Bridge in Kamiide is a spectacle bridge (眼鏡橋) of cut Aso tuff blocks laid in two layers, said to be of an academically valuable style. Chrysanthemum patterns are carved into its parapets, and it is said to be the work of a master stonemason from Yatsushiro. It is designated a Kumamoto Prefecture cultural property.

Cut Aso tuff blocks laid in two layers
Kumamoto Prefecture-designated cultural property
No. 6 of the Eight Views of Arao

03 ／ Yamanokami at Manda Pit (万田坑の山ノ神)

Workers going down into the mine always prayedto the Yamanokami for safety before entering.

At the Yamanokami (山ノ神, mountain god) of Manda Pit stand a stone shrine, lanterns, a flower stand, guardian dogs and an offertory box. The stone shrine dates from Taisho 5 (1916), the lanterns from Taisho 6–7 (1917–18), the flower stand from Taisho 15 (1926), and the guardian dogs and offertory box from Showa 5 (1930). The Yamanokami ritual facilities are a national Important Cultural Property, and Manda Pit is also a component of a World Cultural Heritage site.

Stone shrine: Taisho 5 (1916)
Guardian dogs and offertory box: Showa 5 (1930)
National Important Cultural Property (one of the former Manda Pit facilities)

Living here

Arao Station is the one nearest Manda Pit.

about 50,000 people

The city introduces Arao Station, on the JR Kagoshima Main Line, as the station nearest Manda Pit. In 2018 it was given the nickname “World Cultural Heritage Manda Pit Station” (世界文化遺産万田坑駅). The city's stations are Arao and Minami-Arao; Minami-Arao is the one nearest the Arao tidal flat.

People living here: 50,832people
Area: 57.37km²
Households: 20,783households
Rent (average for rentals): 39,095yen
Healthcare: 5 hospitals ／ 45 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.

Shape

Borders 4 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Arao City in Japan32.987°N 130.433°E

Territory of Arao City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

8.4km

Kumamoto Prefecture: 長洲町, 玉名市, 南関町
Fukuoka Prefecture: 大牟田市

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

Arao City isthis kind of town.

01The “Friendship Plum” in the garden of the Miyazaki brothers' birthplace house is a white plum 250 to 300 years old, said to appear in a photo taken when Sun Yat-sen revisited Arao in 1913. The house became a Kumamoto Prefecture Historic Site in 1973.
02The Arao tidal flat, on the Ariake Sea, was registered as a Ramsar site in 2012, with a registered area of 754 hectares. Majaku (マジャク, a local name for the mud shrimp), caught by dipping a brush into holes in the flat, is the city's fish.
03Mount Shodai (小岱山) is said to have been named “Little Dai Mountain” in 1211 by the priest Shunjo (しゅんじょう律師), who had returned from China. Kaitatsu Kimiko (海達公子), a poet who grew up in Arao, was chosen in fiscal 2018 as a Person of Merit in Modern Culture of Kumamoto Prefecture.

See the town as it is now.

Facebookaraocity1942 ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Arao City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗