Yatsushiro City

Nihon Shoki names an islet off the dike.

Mizushima, a river-mouth islet

01 ／ Former Gunchiku Shinchi Kōgō Sluice (旧郡築新地甲号樋門)

A 10-arch sluice in a Meiji-era dike.Red brick is laid three layers deep in the arches.

It stands in Gunchiku 3-bancho. In 1899 (Meiji 32) the then Yatsushiro District carried out the Gunchiku Shinchi land reclamation, and the sluice was built in its tide-stopping embankment. The city says a ten-arch stone sluice has almost no counterparts in Japan and is valuable. A stone seawall runs about 1 km north to south on the seaward side.

10 arches
Seawall about 1 km north to south
National Important Cultural Property (2004) and Historic Site (2022)

02 ／ Kureko Chicken and the Ancient Dance (久連子鶏・古代踊り)

The long tail feathers of the Kureko cockdecorate the “shaguma” flower hat of the ancient dance.

The Kureko chicken (久連子鶏) has been kept in Kureko, Izumi, and is a prefectural Natural Monument. A prefectural document says it is a breed kept for over 300 years to supply tail feathers for the flower hat. The ancient dance (古代踊り) is said to have been danced by Heike refugees longing for the capital.

Prefectural Natural Monument (1965)
Ancient dance: nationally selected and prefecturally designated Intangible Folk Cultural Property
Over 300 years (prefectural document)

03 ／ Kannai Bridge (鑑内橋)

Said to have been built around 1830 by Iwanaga Sangorō,the bridge uses Amakusa sandstone.

Kannai Bridge (Kagami) is a city-designated bridge said to have been built around 1830 by Iwanaga Sangorō (岩永三五郎), a renowned master stonemason of Higo. It is built of Amakusa sandstone. It is a component of the Japan Heritage story “Trail of the Stonemasons Who Cultivated Yatsushiro,” and Sangorō was born in Nozu (now Hikawa).

Around 1830
Amakusa sandstone
City-designated (1993)

Living here

211 minutes at the fastest, Shin-Osaka to Shin-Yatsushiro.

about 120,000 people
Shinkansen stops here

Shin-Yatsushiro Station is a Kyushu Shinkansen station in Yatsushiro. In JR West's timetable (October 2026), Sakura 743 leaves Shin-Osaka at 6:50 and leaves Shin-Yatsushiro at 10:21.

People living here: 123,067people
Area: 681.3km²
Households: 49,204households
Rent (average for rentals): 41,072yen
Healthcare: 10 hospitals ／ 113 clinics

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

Population from 2005 onward (municipal boundary changed).2005-08-01 に新設合併（坂本村・千丁町・鏡町・東陽村・泉村）。2005年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —48 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.

ACCESS

Where you can go from here.

Yatsushiro City in Japan32.508°N 130.602°E

to OsakaSanyo-Kyushu Shinkansen211min

Travel times follow JR西日本「JRおでかけネット」区間時刻表『東海道･山陽･九州新幹線(東京～博多～鹿児島中央) 下り』（ページの日付は2026年10月3日〈土〉。保存：$SP/yatsushiro/jr1796-20261003.html、表を機械で読んだ $SP/yatsushiro/jr-rows.json）。新大阪『発』の行と新八代の行を突き合わせると、新大阪から新八代へ乗り換えなしで停まる列車は『さくら』の7本：743号（新大阪6:50発→新八代10:21発＝211分）・745号（8:00→11:31＝211分）・749号（9:20→12:54＝214分）・753号（11:20→14:54＝214分）・761号（15:23→18:54＝211分）・763号（16:23→19:57＝214分）・765号（17:20→20:57＝217分）。『運転日注意』の欄はすべて空（毎日運転）。列車ページ https://timetable.jr-odekake.net/train-timetable/316081?date=20261003 （さくら743号鹿児島中央行・運転日毎日運転・新大阪 06:50 発・新八代 10:20 着 10:21 発）と https://timetable.jr-odekake.net/train-timetable/316181?date=20261003 （さくら761号・毎日運転・新大阪 15:23 発・新八代 18:53 着 18:54 発。JR時刻表2026年10月号に基づく）で確かめた (checked 2026-10-03). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 10 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Yatsushiro City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

29.2km

Kumamoto Prefecture: 五木村, 芦北町, 美里町, 氷川町, 球磨村, 宇城市, 水上村, 山都町, 山江村
Miyazaki Prefecture: 椎葉村

Yatsushiro City isthis kind of town.

01Mizushima is a small islet about 50 m from the embankment at the mouth of the Kuma River, and its name appears in the Nihon Shoki and the Higo no Kuni Fudoki. The Man'yōshū includes a poem by Prince Nagata (長田王), and in 2009 the islet was designated the national Place of Scenic Beauty “Shiranui and Mizushima.” Shiranui (不知火) is known as a mysterious fire that appears over the Yatsushiro Sea before dawn on the first day of the eighth lunar month.
02Mizushima, the former Gunchiku Shinchi Kōgō Sluice and Kannai Bridge are component properties of the Japan Heritage story “Trail of the Stonemasons Who Cultivated Yatsushiro.” The Shinkō-gyōji (procession) of the Yatsushiro Myōken Festival is a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.
03The Yatsushiro Castle Ruins Group, which includes the Yatsushiro Castle ruins, became a national Historic Site in 2014. The garden of Shōhinken (松浜軒) is a national Place of Scenic Beauty, and at Hinagu Onsen the main hall of the city-designated Hinagu Onsen Shrine was moved in 1822 to its present site overlooking the hot-spring town.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Yatsushiro City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗