Kuma Village

In 1973, a university club found a cave.

Kyusendo, Ehime Univ. explorers

Photo by Babi Hijau (Public domain)

01 ／ Kounose Sumiyoshi Shrine

A sacred object swept away by a floodis said to be pulled from a Kuma River shoal.

This shrine stands on a hillside with a fine view, on the right bank of the Kuma River (球磨川). Its founding is traditionally dated to 806, and a glowing object picked up at a shoal is said to have been the sacred object (御神体) swept away by a flood. In its grounds is a lantern shaped like a lighthouse, a symbol of prayers for safety.

Japan Heritage component property
Prefectural Important Cultural Property (building)
Lighthouse-shaped lantern

02 ／ Maitoko Channel

For a hamlet above the river, channelsand a tunnel were hand-dug in the Edo period.

Maitoko (毎床) is a hamlet that sits higher than the river in the valley and suffered from drought. In the Edo period, people built a weir, dug a channel by hand and drove a tunnel through. The waterways around the hamlet run 8km in all, and every March the whole district is said to have turned out to repair them.

Total length 8km
Dug in the Edo period
Repaired each March by the whole district

03 ／ Isshochi Station

The station building burned down in April 1914and was rebuilt that August.

The station building burned down in April 1914 (Taisho 3) and was rebuilt that August; this is today's building. Timber construction from that time remains at the entrance, the waiting room and the exit to the platform. Many people reportedly buy commemorative platform tickets because of the station's name.

Burned down in April 1914
Rebuilt that August
Commemorative platform tickets

Living here

The Kuma River runs through the village, east to west.

about 2,000 people
Rural district town

Mountain forest covers 88% of the area, with Mt. Shiraiwa (白岩山, 1,001m) to the north of the river and Mt. Kunimi (国見山, 969m) to the south. The village was formed in 1954 (Showa 29) when the three villages of Watari, Isshochi and Kounose merged.

People living here: 2,433people
Area: 207.58km²
Households: 976households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 1 clinic

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

Children waiting for childcare: —3 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 across 1 prefectures.

Kuma Village in Japan32.252°N 130.651°E

Territory of Kuma Village

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

25.2km

Kumamoto Prefecture: 人吉市, 芦北町, 八代市, 山江村
Kagoshima Prefecture: 伊佐市

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

Kuma Village isthis kind of town.

01Kyusendo (球泉洞) is a limestone cave thought to have formed when limestone that lay under the sea until about 300 million years ago was uplifted. Ehime University's Academic Exploration Club found it in 1973 (Showa 48).
02Kounose Sumiyoshi Shrine (神瀬住吉神社), on the right bank of the Kuma River, has a tradition that its swept-away sacred object was pulled from a shoal. In the Maitoko hamlet, an Edo-period waterway dug by hand runs 8km around the settlement.
03Isshochi Station is a timber station building that burned down in 1914 and was rebuilt the same year. Mountain forest covers 88% of Kuma Village, and the Kuma River runs through its center from east to west.

See the town as it is now.

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Kuma Village official site ↗Wikipedia ↗