Mashiki Town

Four sisters worked for women's status.

Shiken Fujin, Yajima sisters

Photo by hyolee2 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Tsumori Shrine Ohoshi Festival

The sacred object moves between temporary shrines,touring three municipalities over 12 years.

The sacred object (goshintai, 御神体) of Tsumori Shrine (津森神宮) has no permanent hall. Districts in Mashiki, Nishihara Village and Kikuyo enshrine it in a temporary shrine (御仮屋, okariya) and hand it on to the next district. Handling the portable shrine (神輿, mikoshi) roughly is rare nationwide, and the festival is a Kumamoto Prefecture Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. The name Ohoshi (お法使, read hoshi) is thought to come from an imperial messenger's visit to the shrine in the Tensho era (1573-1591).

One circuit in 12 years
Mashiki, Nishihara, Kikuyo
Prefectural Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property

02 ／ Tora-ga-to of Fukuden-ji

Inscribed Bun'ei 8 (1271), this is among thelargest Kamakura-era five-ring towers in the prefecture.

Nicknamed Tora-ga-to (虎ヶ塔), this five-ring tower (gorinto, 五輪塔) is built of fitted blocks of Aso welded tuff (阿蘇溶結凝灰岩), and its remaining height is about 2.5m. Ascetic monks of Fukuden-ji (福田寺) are thought to have paid their respects at the tower, which stood at the entrance to Uchidera (内寺), purified themselves in the river, and climbed for mineiri (峰入り) training. The inscription on the base can be read as a dedication praying, out of gratitude to one's parents, for the equal benefit of all living beings.

Bun'ei 8 (1271)
Height: about 2.5m
Prefectural Important Cultural Property (building)

03 ／ Shioi Spring

The Jichu and Tabaru districts have helda river festival of thanks at the spring.

Groundwater from Aso wells up at Shioi Spring (潮井水源), long used for drinking and daily life. The town's newsletter says that a document about 800 years old already records the name Shioi Daimyojin (塩いと大明神). After rice planting, when water matters most, the Jichu (寺中) and Tabaru (田原) districts have held a river festival (川祭り, kawamatsuri) at the spring to give thanks to the water deity.

Named in an old document: Shioi Daimyojin
River festival of Jichu and Tabaru
Groundwater sourced in Aso

Living here

About 50 minutes to Kumamoto by airport limousine bus.

about 30,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway station in town; the gateway is Aso Kumamoto Airport, within the town. The Sanko Bus airport limousine bus is listed as taking about 50 minutes to Kumamoto Sakuramachi Bus Terminal (桜町バスターミナル), and about 60 minutes to Kumamoto Station.

People living here: 32,510people
Area: 65.68km²
Households: 11,744households
Rent (average for rentals): 43,973yen
Healthcare: 3 hospitals ／ 22 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —12 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.

Mashiki Town in Japan32.801°N 130.817°E

to KumamotoAirport limousine bus50min

Travel times follow 産交バス公式『空港リムジンバス』（熊本市内⇔阿蘇くまもと空港）：運行状況『通常運行』、便数は平日・土日祝とも西部車庫発着38便・熊本駅発着41便・空港特別快速便31便。所要時間は『阿蘇くまもと空港～熊本桜町バスターミナル約50分』『阿蘇くまもと空港～熊本駅前約60分』『阿蘇くまもと空港～西部車庫約70分』、空港特別快速便は『熊本桜町バスターミナル～約45分』。個別の時刻は事業者の動的な時刻表（NAVITIME・bus-vision）で、読めた表は無い (checked 2026-10-03). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 6 municipalities.

Territory of Mashiki Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

12.1km

御船町, 熊本市, 西原村, 菊陽町, 嘉島町, 大津町

Mashiki Town isthis kind of town.

01Takezaki Junko (竹崎順子), Tokutomi Hisako (徳富久子), Yokoi Tsuseko (横井つせ子) and Yajima Kajiko (矢嶋楫子) were sisters of the Yajima family, known as the Shiken Fujin (四賢婦人). The Shiken Fujin Memorial Museum in Shioi Nature Park (潮井自然公園) displays materials on the Yajima family and Tokutomi Soho (徳富蘇峰), who was born in 1863 at the Yajima house, his mother Hisako's family home.
02At Tsumori Shrine's Ohoshi Festival, the sacred object is enshrined in temporary shrines in districts of three municipalities in turn, completing a circuit every 12 years; it is a prefectural Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. The five-ring tower of Fukuden-ji (Tora-ga-to), inscribed with the year 1271, is a prefectural Important Cultural Property (building).
03At Shioi Spring, groundwater from Aso wells up, and the Jichu and Tabaru districts have given thanks to the water deity with a river festival. The town's cultural properties also include the Togawa Canal (砥川疎水), which a village headman (富田茂七) opened in 1801.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Mashiki Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗