Yamae Village

A junked bus woke from a 14-year sleep.

Maron-go, bonnet bus

Photo by Muyo (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Yamada Daio Shrine

The shrine to the steward Hirakawa Jiro Fujitakawas restored by Lord Sagara Haruhiro of Hitoyoshi and others.

This shrine enshrines the spirit of Hirakawa Jiro Fujitaka (平河次郎藤高), steward (jito) of Yamada village in the Nagayoshi estate, and is a National Important Cultural Property. The village website records that in 1546 (Tenbun 15) Sagara Haruhiro (相良晴広), lord of Hitoyoshi, and Azuma Nagae (東長兄), the Kuma magistrate, restored the shrine buildings. The Japan Heritage portal describes Fujitaka as the second son of Hirakawa Yoshitaka (平河義高), whom the Sagara clan destroyed.

National Important Cultural Property (building)
1546 (Tenbun 15): shrine buildings restored
Japan Heritage component

02 ／ Akasaka House Stone Storehouse

On its gable walls, two characters (赤, 貞)naming the family who built it are worked into the stone.

A two-story stone storehouse made of cut stone from Mt. Enzo (円蔵山), known for its quarries. Built in 1929 (Showa 4), it became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building) in 1998. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as "the smallest of the stone storehouses remaining in the village, but the oldest."

Two characters (赤, 貞) on the walls
Built 1929 (Showa 4)
Registered Tangible Cultural Property, 1998

03 ／ Kojiin Temple

A hall dated to 1655 (Shoo 4) by an ink inscriptionstands on the summit, up a flight of 375 stone steps.

Kojiin is a Koyasan Shingon-sect temple, with 375 stone steps leading up to its inner sanctuary (奥の院). The Bishamon Hall (毘沙門堂) on the summit is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, and an ink inscription on its altar platform shows it was built in 1655 (Shoo 4). The village website records that the two wooden standing statues of Bishamonten, National Important Cultural Properties, were once enshrined in this hall.

375 steps
Built 1655 (Shoo 4)
2 Bishamonten statues: National Important Cultural Properties

Living here

The nearest city, Hitoyoshi, is 4km away.

about 3,000 people
Rural district town

The village website places Yamae 100km from Kumamoto, 60km from Yatsushiro and 4km from Hitoyoshi, the nearest city. About 90% of the total area is forest, and the Manko River (万江川) and the Yamada River (山田川) flow from north to south, joining the Kuma River (球磨川) in Hitoyoshi. The course along the Manko River ends at Yamae Onsen Hotaru (山江温泉ほたる), a natural hot spring with a good reputation.

People living here: 3,238people
Area: 121.19km²
Households: 1,131households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 0 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 5 municipalities.

Yamae Village in Japan32.247°N 130.767°E

Territory of Yamae Village

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

18.2km

相良村, 人吉市, 五木村, 球磨村, 八代市

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

Yamae Village isthis kind of town.

01The bonnet bus Maron-go was donated by Kyushu Sangyo Kotsu in 1978 and kept on display. A villagers' group, the Hashirase-you-kai (走らせよう会), revived the bus, which had been scrapped, and it passed its vehicle inspection in 1993. In 2005 it was certified as a recommended industrial heritage by the Japan Society for Industrial Archaeology.
02Yamada Daio Shrine, which enshrines Hirakawa Jiro Fujitaka, is a National Important Cultural Property. On both gable walls of the Akasaka House stone storehouse (a Registered Tangible Cultural Property), two characters (赤, 貞) naming the family who built it are worked into the stone. At the top of the 375 steps at Kojiin stands the Bishamon Hall, also a Registered Tangible Cultural Property.
03Yamada Daio Shrine and Kojiin are component cultural properties of the Japan Heritage story 'The Culture of Conservatism and Progress Born of 700 Years of the Sagara' (相良700年が生んだ保守と進取の文化). At Ibuki-san (息吹きさん) in Yamada-Higashiura, said to be where a traveler suffering from asthma died in the mid-Edo period, people offer bamboo blowpipes equal in number to their age.

See the town as it is now.

Facebookyamaemura ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Yamae Village official site ↗Wikipedia ↗