Takamori Town

Rail tunnel work halted by huge outflow.

Takamori Yusui Tunnel

Photo by masamic (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Ugedo-iwa, Kamishikimi Kumanoza Shrine

A great hole, over 10m high and wide,pierces the rock behind the shrine.

Ugedo-iwa (穿戸岩) is a huge rock mass behind the sanctuary of Kamishikimi Kumanoza Shrine (上色見熊野座神社). A great wind hole over 10m in height and width goes through it, said to have been kicked open by Oni Hachi Hoshi (鬼八法師), a servant of Takeiwatatsu-no-mikoto (健磐竜命). Nearly 100 stone lanterns line the approach.

Great hole over 10m high and wide
Nearly 100 lanterns along the approach
Said to be kicked open by Oni Hachi Hoshi

02 ／ Takamori no Niwaka

Young men of the kojokai troupesstage a new skit every year.

On the nights of the Fuchin Festival (風鎮祭), held on the Friday and Saturday after the Obon holidays, five kojokai (向上会) troupes pull their niwaka stages through town. Their improvised-style skits are in the Takamori dialect, and an unwritten rule calls for new pieces on current topics every year. In 2019 the national government selected it as an intangible folk cultural property for which documentation should be made.

5 kojokai troupes
National selection: 2019-03-28
Prefectural report: 2026-02-03

03 ／ Kusakabe Yoshimi Shrine's Kudari-miya

The shrine hall lies some 100-odd stepsbelow the torii gate: a "kudari-miya."

This shrine enshrines Hikoyai-no-mikoto (日子八井命) and 11 other deities, and its hall lies more than a hundred steps below the torii gate. The town's site says it is also called one of Japan's three great kudari-miya, along with Udo Shrine in Miyazaki and Nukisaki Shrine in Gunma. The large cedar on the cliff behind the hall is said to be about 700 years old.

Hall: 100-odd steps below the torii
Great cedar: said to be about 700 years old
Enshrines Hikoyai-no-mikoto and 11 others

Living here

The Minami-Aso Railway's terminus is the town's gateway.

about 6,000 people
Rural district town

Takamori Station is the terminus of the Minami-Aso Railway, and the town's site says Takamori Spring Tunnel Park is a 10-minute walk from it. Kai Ario (甲斐有雄), born in Oshita, set up about 1,900 signposts in his lifetime so that travelers would not lose their way, according to the town's site.

People living here: 5,789people
Area: 175.06km²
Households: 2,408households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 4 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 across 2 prefectures.

Takamori Town in Japan32.827°N 131.122°E

Territory of Takamori Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

17.2km

Kumamoto Prefecture: 山都町, 阿蘇市, 南阿蘇村
Oita Prefecture: 竹田市
Miyazaki Prefecture: 高千穂町

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

Takamori Town isthis kind of town.

01The Takamori Yusui Tunnel (高森湧水トンネル) was dug for work to link the former JNR Takamori Line and Takachiho Line. Work began in December 1973, and a huge outflow of water in February 1975 halted it. The tunnel is 2,055m long and is now the town's water source.
02Ugedo-iwa (穿戸岩) at Kamishikimi Kumanoza Shrine is a rock mass pierced by a great hole over 10m high and wide. At the summer Fuchin Festival, five kojokai troupes perform the improvised-style skits called Takamori no Niwaka.
03Kusakabe Yoshimi Shrine is a "kudari-miya," its hall more than a hundred steps below the torii gate. The grassland landscape on the southern slopes of Mt. Nekodake was selected in 2017 as a nationally designated Important Cultural Landscape.

See the town as it is now.

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Takamori Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗