Minamiyamashiro Village

A covering hall holds several shrines.

Rokusho Shrine, Nodono

Photo by 漱石の猫 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Tea fields

Vertical-row tea fields ignore the contoursand run straight up the slope.

In tateune, or vertical rows, the tea rows run up the slope instead of along it. They can be picked efficiently with powered clippers or riding tea harvesters, and the fans that guard against late frost can blow air through them easily. The prefectural board of education calls this the signature scenery of the village's tea fields. In January 2015, the hillside tea fields and the farmhouses at their foot were registered as a Kyoto Prefecture landscape asset.

Vertical rows (tateune)
Selected area: about 50 ha
Registered as a prefectural landscape asset, January 2015

02 ／ Pioneer village

The prefecture relocated former samuraito open a 500 m uplifted peneplain.

Dosenbo is an uplifted peneplain cut into Ryoke granitic rocks, and the Kyoto Prefecture Red Data Book rates it as needing continued protection. In the early Meiji era the prefecture relocated former samurai here to open the land, and set up a branch office. Paddies and hillside tea fields still sit side by side.

500 m above sea level
Uplifted peneplain
Settled in the early Meiji era

03 ／ Flower dance

A rain-prayer dance fell silent onceand was revived in 1963.

The village's tourism portal says Tayama Hana-odori has continued since the Edo period as a rite to pray for rain and give thanks for it. It stopped once in 1924 and returned in 1963. A Kyoto Prefecture-designated Intangible Folk Cultural Property, it has been held on 3 November, Culture Day, with a procession in bright costumes walking to Suwa Shrine.

Prefecturally designated folk property
Stopped in 1924
Revived in 1963

Living here

From Osaka and Kyoto, change trains at Kamo.

about 2,000 people
Rural district town

Okawara Station on the Kansai Main Line is in the village. The village says to change at Kamo Station from both Osaka and Kyoto, then ride 16 minutes to Okawara (page updated April 2017). The tourism portal says trains run once or twice an hour and recommends the on-demand "Mura Taku" service. The population was 2,291 as of 30 September 2026.

People living here: 2,391people
Area: 64.11km²
Households: 1,023households
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 5 municipalities across 3 prefectures.

Minamiyamashiro Village in Japan34.773°N 135.994°E

Territory of Minamiyamashiro Village

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)Lakes: National Land Numerical Information (Lake Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari. Prepared with the approval of the Director-General of the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, using its Digital Map 25000 (Spatial Data Framework) and Digital Map 25000 (Place Names and Public Facilities). (承認番号平27情使、第585号)

North to south

13.3km

Kyoto Prefecture: 笠置町, 和束町
Nara Prefecture: 奈良市
Mie Prefecture: 伊賀市
Shiga Prefecture: 甲賀市

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

Minamiyamashiro Village isthis kind of town.

01Rokusho Shrine in Nodono has its main hall and covering hall registered as prefectural cultural properties, and stands in a forest of cedar and cypress. A sacred rope woven each January hangs over its approach
02Vertical-row tea fields climb the slopes, and Dosenbo, 500 m above sea level, is a village the prefecture opened in the early Meiji era by relocating former samurai
03Tayama Hana-odori, a rain-prayer rite that continues at Suwa Shrine in Tayama, has been held on 3 November; revived in 1963, it is a prefecturally designated folk property

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Minamiyamashiro Village official site ↗Wikipedia ↗