Mifune Town

A stone bridge at the "Taniwatari" pass.

Yase Meganebashi, Hyuga Okan

Photo by sk01 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Nipponopterus

From a neck vertebra found in 1996,the first pterosaur named from a body fossil found in Japan.

In 1996, a pterosaur neck vertebra (頸椎骨) was found in the bone bed of a riverbed upstream of the Tenkun Dam (天君ダム). A March 2025 paper showed it to be a new genus and species, named Nipponopterus mifunensis ('Japanese wing from Mifune'). Its wingspan is estimated at 2-3m, possibly up to 3.5m.

Named in a March 2025 paper
Wingspan 2-3m (possibly up to 3.5m)
Mifune Group, upper formation (Late Cretaceous)

02 ／ Nanataki Falls

Usually out of sight, the fallsget a release of water once a year.

About 40m high and about 30m wide. Layers of Aso welded tuff (阿蘇溶結凝灰岩) alternate with columnar joints, and erosion differences make the water fall in seven steps, hence the name. The tourism site says the falls can be seen at the Nanataki Shrine annual festival (七滝神社例大祭) on the second Sunday of May. In 2025, water was released on May 11.

About 40m high, about 30m wide
Annual festival: second Sunday of May
2025-05-11: water released

03 ／ Teishun-en

Stacked monument stonesuse foundation stones of the Miyabe house.

A park made in 1913 by residents of the former Nanataki Village (旧七滝村) in memory of Miyabe Teizo and his younger brother (春蔵). A monument honoring Teizo, about 5m tall, stands at the center, with poem monuments for the brothers on either side. The stacked monument stones use foundation stones from the Miyabe house. The site of the family home (生家跡) is right nearby, and so is Yase Meganebashi on the Hyuga Okan road.

1913: made by former Nanataki villagers
Monument about 5m tall
Stones from the Miyabe house's foundations

Living here

49 minutes from Kumamoto by local bus.

about 20,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway station in town; the gateway is a Kumamoto Bus stop. From Sakuramachi Bus Terminal (桜町バスターミナル) to the Mifune Dinosaur Museum-mae stop (御船町恐竜博物館前), most weekday buses take 49 minutes (timetable revised October 2026); the town's own guide says 45 minutes. A company founded in 1912 as Mifune Railway (御船鉄道) was renamed Yuen Railway (熊延鉄道) in 1927 and closed its railway division in 1964.

People living here: 16,303people
Area: 99.03km²
Households: 6,196households
Rent (average for rentals): 42,869yen
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 13 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —7 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.

Mifune Town in Japan32.715°N 130.802°E

to KumamotoLocal bus49min

Travel times follow 熊本バス公式の路線バス時刻案内（https://www.kuma-bus.co.jp/bustime/ 。時刻表は『令和8年10月1日から』のダイヤ〈start 20261001・告知 2026-09-17〉。バス停の時刻データ API を 2026-10-03 に取得）。桜町バスターミナル発→御船町恐竜博物館前着を、同じ便（trip_id）が両方の停留所に停まるものについて全便数えた。平日26便：Ｋ２－４（甲佐行き）8便・Ｍ３－１（甲佐行き）8便・Ｍ３－２（通潤山荘行き）7便・Ｋ２－５（砥用・学校前行き）2便・甲佐環状1便。所要は 49分が8便（最多）・53分が7便・46分が3便・60分が2便・43/44/47/54/56/57分が各1便（最短43・最長60）。土曜19便は52分が5便（最多）・46分が4便、日祝19便は52分が8便（最多）・46分が7便 (checked 2026-10-03). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 7 municipalities.

Territory of Mifune Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

14.3km

甲佐町, 山都町, 益城町, 西原村, 嘉島町, 美里町, 熊本市

Mifune Town isthis kind of town.

01Yase Meganebashi (八勢目鑑橋) is a stone bridge built in 1855 at "Yase no Taniwatari" (八勢の谷渡り), a hard stretch of the old Hyuga Okan road (日向往還) that led from Kumamoto toward Hyuga. A prefecturally designated Important Cultural Property, it stands near a stone-paved section of the road.
02A pterosaur fossil from the Mifune Group was named Nipponopterus mifunensis, a new genus and species, in a March 2025 paper. A researcher from the town's Mifune Dinosaur Museum was on the team.
03Nanataki Falls is usually out of sight and shows itself in a once-a-year release of water. Teishun-en is a park made in 1913 by residents of the former Nanataki Village in memory of Miyabe Teizo and his younger brother (春蔵).

See the town as it is now.

Facebookmifunetown ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Mifune Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗