Ubuyama Village

Tap water sources differ by hamlet.

Ikeyama Suigen, Meisui Hyakusen

Photo by STA3816 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ The three birth-water shrines

A birth-water hearth, a ladle and a birthplaceare handed down at three shrines.

Otomiya Shrine (乙宮神社) is said to stand where a grandchild of the Aso deity was born, and the origin of the name Ubuyama (産山). Hirakawa Aso Shrine (平川阿蘇神社) is said to enshrine the hearth that heated the birth water, and Katamata Aso Shrine (片俣阿蘇神社) the ladle for it. The village calls them the three Ubuyama shrines.

Birthplace: Otomiya Shrine
Birth-water hearth: Hirakawa Aso Shrine
Birth-water ladle: Katamata Aso Shrine

02 ／ "I" families

Where the surname "I" (井) is common,even elders are called by first name.

The village's official guide, Ubuyama-mura Toriatsukai Setsumeisho (産山村取り扱いせつめい書), says surnames containing "I" (井) are especially common and that, to avoid confusion, people call even their elders by first name. It also describes villagers as being on first-name terms.

Many surnames with "I" (井)
First names, even for elders
From the village's official guide

03 ／ Higotai

The village flower, set by residents' vote,is a blue-violet globe blooming at Obon.

Higotai (ヒゴタイ) is a blue-violet, globe-shaped flower that blooms on the village's grasslands from August to September. Because it blooms around Obon, it is called a bonbana (盆花) and has been offered at household altars and graves. A residents' vote in 1987 (Showa 62) made it the village flower. It is now listed as Vulnerable and picking it is prohibited.

1987 (Showa 62): village flower by residents' vote
Blooms August to September
Vulnerable; picking prohibited

Living here

In spring, the greeting is "Have you finished planting rice?"

about 1,000 people
Rural district town

The village's official guide says the autumn greeting is "Have you finished harvesting rice?" and that anyone who can talk about rice paddies and cattle is a master of the village's idle chatter (井戸端会議). There is no JR station in the village; its tourist guide gives Miyaji Station (宮地駅) on the JR Hohi Line in Aso City as the nearest, about 30 minutes by taxi.

People living here: 1,382people
Area: 60.81km²
Households: 520households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 2 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —1 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 2 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Ubuyama Village in Japan32.996°N 131.217°E

Territory of Ubuyama Village

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

12.3km

Kumamoto Prefecture: 阿蘇市
Oita Prefecture: 竹田市

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

Ubuyama Village isthis kind of town.

01Ikeyama Suigen (池山水源) is a spring in Tajiri (田尻) selected as one of Japan's Meisui Hyakusen (名水百選, 100 exquisite waters) by the Ministry of the Environment. The village's official guide says all of the village's tap water is spring water, and that each hamlet draws it from a different source.
02Traditions about the birth of a grandchild of the Aso deity remain at Otomiya (乙宮神社), Hirakawa Aso (平川阿蘇神社) and Katamata Aso (片俣阿蘇神社) shrines. The village says many villagers have surnames with "I" (井) and call even elders by first name.
03Higotai, which blooms from August to September, became the village flower by a residents' vote in 1987. The village also has a stone-paved section of the Bungo Kaido (豊後街道, national historic site), at Benten-zaka and Sakai-no-Matsuzaka, and the Kurakake no Kunugi (鞍掛のクヌギ) oak, which the village website presents as a prefecture-designated cultural property.

See the town as it is now.

Facebookubuyamamura ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Ubuyama Village official site ↗Wikipedia ↗