Kikuyo Town

A hole's swirl is said to flush silt.

Hanaguri, Babagusu Ide canal

Photo by Mizushimasea (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Teppo-koji (鉄砲小路)

Guarding against enemies from Bungo,while opening up untilled land.

North of the Bungo Kaido road, a settlement was built for the jitsutsu men (地筒の者, musketeers). Its guardian shrine, Sokozuru Shrine (蘇古鶴神社), was enshrined here in 1635. The town's cultural-heritage tourism guide says hedges have been kept along about 4km of former samurai residences.

Hedges: about 4km
Sokozuru Shrine: enshrined 1635
Jitsutsu men (musketeers)

02 ／ Kami-Tsukure Kawasegaki (上津久礼の川施餓鬼)

Even after the whole village movedby order, the Kawasegaki carried on.

Around 1678-1679, by order of the domain, the whole village of Kami-Tsukure (上津久礼) moved to its present site. The town's description says that on August 19, in the afternoon, each group makes a horse-shaped boat of straw, the 'segaki boat.'

Town-designated folk culture
Segaki boats: up to 3m
Village moved c. 1678-1679

03 ／ Nango Okan Road (南郷往還跡)

The words carved on the oiwake stone:'Left, Ofutsu; right, Mantoku.'

This is the old Nango Okan road linking the Higo provincial capital with Aso-Nango. The town records that about 180m of stone paving remains between the district (道明区) and the plateau (高遊原台地). Beside the signpost stone stands a stone Jizo, set up in 1726.

Stone paving: about 180m
Stone Jizo: 1726
Town-designated historic site (1979)

Living here

Irrigation channels run crisscross through town.

about 40,000 people
Rural district town

To use the water of the Shira River (白川), people had to draw it from upstream through ide (井手, irrigation channels). The town's cultural-heritage tourism guide says the channels built in the Kato and Hosokawa domain eras are still in use, and that the weirs and stone arch bridges (眼鏡橋) are protected as cultural properties.

People living here: 43,337people
Area: 37.46km²
Households: 17,794households
Rent (average for rentals): 50,752yen
Healthcare: 5 hospitals ／ 35 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 4 municipalities.

Kikuyo Town in Japan32.862°N 130.829°E

Territory of Kikuyo Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

8.3km

合志市, 熊本市, 大津町, 益城町

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

Kikuyo Town isthis kind of town.

01The Hanaguri of the Babagusu Ide canal (馬場楠井手) are holes cut under walls of rock left standing in the bedrock of an irrigation channel. Water striking the wall of a hole is said to swirl and carry sediment out with it. The site is a Kumamoto Prefecture historic site, and the Shira River basin irrigation network was registered as a World Heritage Irrigation Structure in 2018.
02North of the Bungo Kaido road, Teppo-koji (鉄砲小路) is a settlement where the jitsutsu men (地筒の者, musketeers) lived. Its guardian shrine, Sokozuru Shrine (蘇古鶴神社), has the town's only tower gate (楼門).
03Kami-Tsukure, a village that moved as a whole, keeps the Kawasegaki, and the district (道明区) keeps stone paving and an oiwake stone of the Nango Okan road. In this town, the Babagusu lion dance (馬場楠の獅子舞) has been passed down only in the Babagusu district, and it is danced at the rites of Tsumori Shrine's Ohoshi Festival.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Kikuyo Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗