Minamiaso Village

A spring waters 350 cho of paddies.

Takezaki Spring

Photo by みなみあそ観光局 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Hokishita Ide

Shoo, appointed to the Nangochu irrigation post,cut the Hokishita Ide from Hakusui to Kugino.

In 1667 (Kanbun 7), Katayama Kazaemon (片山嘉左衛門, known as Shoo, 松翁) was appointed by the Higo domain to the post of Nangochu Yosuiho-joyaku (南郷中用水方定役). He devised a surveying method (斤量式測定法) and cut the Hokishita Ide (保木下井手), a channel running from Hakusui (白水) to Kugino (久木野). The village's plan records that the technique was passed down mainly in Kugino and that many more channels were developed one after another.

1667 (Kanbun 7): Nangochu Yosuiho-joyaku post
Channel from Hakusui to Kugino
Selected as a Top 100 Irrigation Canal, 2006

02 ／ Isshingyo no Ozakura

Single-minded rites to mourn the lord of Yazaki Castleare said to be the origin of the tree's name.

Standing in Nakamatsu (中松), the tree is described by the tourism association as a yamazakura about 400 years old, 14m tall, with a trunk 7.35m around. The village website explains that it is the bodhi tree of the lord of Yazaki Castle (矢崎城; 伯耆守惟冬), who fell in battle, and that its name comes from the single-minded rites (一心に行) performed to mourn him and his retainers.

About 400 years old (tourism association)
14m tall, trunk 7.35m around
Bodhi tree of the Yazaki Castle lord

03 ／ Volcano Research Center Main Building

Its center is a six-story tower,with sloping walls and strangely thick columns.

京都帝国大学火山研究所.jpg — Photo by Chorinringo (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The main building of the Volcano Research Center of Kyoto University (京都大学理学研究科附属地球熱学研究施設火山研究センター), formerly the Kyoto Imperial University Aso Volcanological Laboratory (旧京都帝国大学阿蘇火山研究所), was built on a hill in Kawayo (河陽) in 1929 (Showa 4). Of reinforced concrete, it uses distinctive designs throughout, the Agency for Cultural Affairs notes. It is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan.

Built 1929, reinforced concrete, six stories
Central tower section
Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building)

Living here

Three villages -- Choyo, Hakusui and Kugino -- became one in 2005.

about 10,000 people
Rural district town

On February 13, 2005, Choyo (長陽), Hakusui (白水) and Kugino (久木野) villages merged to form Minamiaso. The village's cultural property plan records 11 water sources in the village chosen among Japan's Famous Waters (名水百選) and similar selections.

People living here: 9,836people
Area: 137.32km²
Households: 4,051households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 8 clinics

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.

Minamiaso Village in Japan32.845°N 131.018°E

Territory of Minamiaso Village

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

14.0km

阿蘇市, 山都町, 高森町, 西原村, 大津町

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

Minamiaso Village isthis kind of town.

01The village website records the total flow of Takezaki Spring (竹崎水源) at 2 tons per second (172,000 tons a day). The water is rain that fell on the southern outer rim and surfaces after passing underground, and the tourism association says it serves as irrigation for 350 cho of paddies in the Kugino land improvement district.
02At Ikenokawa Spring (池の川水源) in Nakamatsu, it is said that a year when the Kabuto-ishi (兜石) stone is no longer visible is a rainy year with a poor harvest, and a year when it shows is a year of good harvest. Shirakawa Spring (白川水源) was chosen among Japan's Top 100 Famous Waters in 1985.
03Katayama Kazaemon (Shoo) cut the Hokishita Ide, and the Isshingyo big cherry is said to be the bodhi tree of the lord of Yazaki Castle (矢崎城). The Volcano Research Center's main building in Kawayo (河陽), built in 1929, is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Minamiaso Village official site ↗Wikipedia ↗