Uto City

Stone from here became Kansai coffins.

Makado stone, Aso pink rock

Photo by Saigen Jiro (CC0)

01 ／ Todoroki Aqueduct

Matsubase-ware pipes first carried the water;about 100 years later, Makado stone replaced them.

The water in Uto town was unfit to drink, so in Kanbun 3 (1663) Hosokawa Yukitaka, the first lord of Uto Domain, had water brought from the Todoroki spring to the town in Matsubase-ware (松橋焼) pipes. About 100 years later, the fifth lord, Hosokawa Okinori, replaced them with pipes hollowed out of Makado stone. The spring was chosen as one of Japan's 100 Famous Waters in 1985.

Laid in Kanbun 3 (1663)
Matsubase-ware pipes replaced by Makado stone
Todoroki spring: one of Japan's 100 Famous Waters (1985)

02 ／ Mukonoda Tumulus

A woman's skeleton lay in a boat-shaped coffin,with three mirrors buried alongside.

A keyhole-shaped tomb about 90 m long, built around the late 4th century. In a pit-style stone chamber at the rear mound lay a boat-shaped coffin hollowed from tuff. Besides the woman's skeleton, it held three mirrors, a jasper wheel-shaped bracelet and a jade comma-shaped bead. Iron swords were laid outside the coffin, and the finds are an Important Cultural Property.

About 90 m long, late 4th century
Three mirrors inside the coffin
Finds: Important Cultural Property (designated 1979)

03 ／ Oda Station Building

Of the Misumi Line's nine stations,only Oda keeps its original building.

The Misumi Line opened in December Meiji 32 (1899), built by the Kyushu Railway between Uto and Misumi. Of its nine stations, Oda is the only one where the building from the opening still stands, a single-story wooden structure with a tiled roof. In December 2012 the city bought it from JR Kyushu, and the Oda Retro Hall (網田レトロ館) opened in October 2013.

Opened December 1899
Registered Tangible Cultural Property
Bought by the city from JR Kyushu in 2012

Living here

Six JR stations, and 11 km to Kumamoto Station.

about 40,000 people

The city has six stations: Uto, Midorikawa, Sumiyoshi, Higo-Nagahama, Oda and Akase (city website, updated July 2025). The Misumi Line runs 28.2 km from Uto Station to Misumi Station. From Uto Station on the Kagoshima Main Line, Kumamoto Station is 11 km away and Yatsushiro Station 25 km.

People living here: 36,122people
Area: 74.3km²
Households: 13,499households
Rent (average for rentals): 44,776yen
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 21 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —11 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.

Uto City in Japan32.688°N 130.660°E

Territory of Uto City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

7.9km

宇城市, 熊本市

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

Uto City isthis kind of town.

01Makado stone (馬門石), a tuff found in Makado, Amitsu-machi, Uto, was formed when pyroclastic flows from an eruption of Mt. Aso about 90,000 years ago hardened; it includes pink parts and is also called Aso pink rock
02The Todoroki Aqueduct (轟泉水道), an Edo-period waterworks fed by the Todoroki spring, and Mukonoda Tumulus (向野田古墳), where a woman's skeleton lay in a boat-shaped stone coffin (finds are an Important Cultural Property), are here
03The city also has the Oda Station Building (Registered Tangible Cultural Property), the Oda coastal area (御輿来海岸), whose broad tidal flats form sand ripples (a city-designated Place of Scenic Beauty), and 29 rain-prayer giant drums (a nationally designated Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property)

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Uto City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗