Minamiise Town

Ferns grow by a cave of ogre legend.

Onigajo Fern Colony, Oshibuchi

Photo by さかおり (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Kamagata

Seven Kama hamlets keep in turnthe old deeds on rights to mountain land.

The Kamagata old deeds, designated by Mie Prefecture, number 31 documents. The eight Kama hamlets along the coast (now seven) keep them in rotation. Each hamlet is thought to have made salt in the old days, and most of the documents concern rights to the Kama-yama, the mountain where firewood for boiling salt was gathered. The town history says they are called goshomon, are held sacred, and are handed over in a ceremony at a Shinto festival.

31 documents
Documents from the Nanbokucho to the Edo period
Prefectural designation, 1953

02 ／ Sengen

Sengen is enshrined in each district;Kirihara and Hozaura keep mountain-opening festivals.

The town says Sengen is enshrined in every district. Kirihara's Sengen festival is the mountain-opening rite of Mt. Sengen in Gokashoura, and the men who climb it purify themselves in a river for the two weeks before. In Hozaura, men in make-up walk with ritual wands, and in the end dedicate them at the shrine on Mt. Sengen.

Kirihara Fuji-ko, prefectural selection, 2004
Gokashoura Sengen stone pillar, 1678
Hozaura Sengen festival, town designation

03 ／ Castle site

Where a residence and a refuge castle form a pair,stupas said to be the Aisu graves stand in a row.

Gokasho Castle Site, a prefecture-designated historic site, is a defensible spot overlooking Gokasho Bay to the south. It consists of a square main enclosure ringed by double earthworks and, to its south, a square residence site about 40 m on a side. At the foot are five-ring stupas said to be the graves of the Aisu clan; the tourist association counts 25.

Prefectural historic site, 1938
Residence site about 40 m on a side
25 five-ring stupas (tourist association)

Living here

No station; 46 minutes by bus from Ise-shi Station.

about 10,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway station in the town. From Ise-shi Station, a Mie Kotsu route bus takes 46 minutes to Gokasho, the fastest daily service. The town gives about 50 minutes. Gokasho is where Mie Kotsu and the town buses connect, and local trips continue by town bus.

People living here: 10,989people
Area: 241.89km²
Households: 4,977households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 11 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —6 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.

Minamiise Town in Japan34.352°N 136.704°E

to IseLocal bus46min

Travel times follow 町公式『南伊勢町町営バス総合時刻表［令和7年10月1日］』（https://www.town.minamiise.lg.jp/material/files/group/9/zikoku.pdf。町公式『町営バスについて』〔更新日 2026-04-27〕が掲載。三重交通の路線も再掲し『三交バス赤字は今回の改正です』と書く）の p.2〜3『三重交通五ヶ所線（五ヶ所→伊勢市駅前→宇治山田駅前）』『同（宇治山田駅前→伊勢市駅前→五ヶ所）』。PDFを画像にして、『土日祝は運休』の赤い囲みの列を目で確かめた (checked 2026-10-13). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 4 municipalities.

Territory of Minamiise Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

20.0km

大紀町, 度会町, 伊勢市, 志摩市

Minamiise Town isthis kind of town.

01The Onigajo Fern Colony in Oshibuchi was designated a national natural monument in 1928; warm-climate ferns grow on the cliffs near a cave where an ogre is said to have lived, and the designation commentary calls it important as a northern limit of their range
02The prefecture-designated Kamagata old deeds, documents on rights to the Kama-yama, are kept in rotation by seven Kama hamlets; Sengen is enshrined in each district, and Kirihara and Hozaura keep mountain-opening festivals
03The prefecture-designated Gokasho Castle Site has five-ring stupas said to be the Aisu clan's graves, and in Kawamura Zuiken's birthplace stands a town-designated stone torii that he dedicated in 1663

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Minamiise Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗