Shima City

Sandal said to rout a giant goes to sea.

Waraji-biki, Nakiri

Photo by N yotarou (CC BY 2.5)

01 ／ Production tools

From women divers to tilers and masons,3,019 tools of a peninsula's work.

The 3,019 items (2,892 production tools plus 127 attached items) are owned by Shima City and were designated an Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property on 24 March 2026. The collection is based on folk implements gathered by the Japan Institute of Travel Culture, and includes tools for diving, pearl culture, rice growing, boatbuilding, stonework and blacksmithing; the attached items include specimens of the former National Pearl Research Laboratory.

3,019 items (2,892 tools, 127 attached)
Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property, 24 March 2026
Specimens of the former National Pearl Research Laboratory attached

02 ／ Sacred rice field

Topple the taboo bamboo on the bank,and young men fight over it in the mud.

Isobe no Omita is a rice-planting rite held every 24 June in the sacred rice field of Izawanomiya. The nine districts of Isobe take turns, and each district serves every eighth year. When the taboo bamboo bearing large fans is toppled, naked young men drag it into the muddy paddy and fight over it. Torn pieces of the fans are offered at household altars and to the boat spirits.

Every 24 June
Nine districts take turns; each serves every eighth year
Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, 1990

03 ／ Oriki's tree

A sapling about 10 cm tall, brought homeonce, is now a tree of about 25 m.

The New Caledonia pine in Oriki-no-Matsu Park in Wagu is the first Landscape Important Tree designated by Shima City (21 March 2024). Ito Riki, from what was then Katada Village and a pioneer among emigrants to America, brought home the sapling on her single visit back to Japan. As of March 2024 the tree is about 130 years old, about 25 m tall, with a trunk girth of about 2.7 m.

First Landscape Important Tree
About 130 years old, about 25 m tall
Sapling about 10 cm tall

Living here

To Ugata Station, 119 minutes by Kintetsu limited express from Nagoya.

about 50,000 people
2 hours to a city centre

Ugata Station on the Kintetsu Shima Line is in the Ugata area of Ago, where the city hall stands. By limited express that runs every day, it takes 119 minutes at the fastest from Kintetsu-Nagoya Station and 143 minutes from Osaka-Namba Station (Kintetsu timetable, as of 14 March 2026; counted on the weekday timetable). The city's own guide gives "near Kintetsu Ugata Station" as the destination for drivers.

People living here: 46,057people
Area: 178.93km²
Households: 19,568households
Rent (average for rentals): 37,276yen
Healthcare: 3 hospitals ／ 45 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —13 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.

Shima City in Japan34.328°N 136.830°E

to NagoyaKintetsu limited express119min
to OsakaKintetsu limited express143min

Travel times follow 近畿日本鉄道『駅の時刻表』（eki.kintetsu.co.jp。各ページに「2026/3/14現在」）。近鉄名古屋駅（名古屋線・方面『大阪難波・伊勢中川・五十鈴川・賢島』）・大阪難波駅（難波線・方面『近鉄奈良・近鉄名古屋・賢島』）・京都駅（京都線・方面『近鉄奈良・天理・橿原神宮前・賢島』）の発車時刻表（平日・土休日）で、行先が『賢島』の特急を全部開き、各列車の停車駅表で、起点『発』→鵜方『着』を数えた（観光特急しまかぜは採らない）。名古屋：平日13本・土休日15本、大阪難波：平日10本・土休日11本、京都：平日2本・土休日3本。三重交通『鳥羽・伊勢・県内各地～東京・埼玉（高速鳥羽東京大宮線）』の時刻表（sanco.co.jp。ページに『2023年10月1日改正』）で、バスタ新宿『発』→磯部バスセンター『着』を読んだ。 (checked 2026-10-13). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 3 municipalities.

Territory of Shima City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

25.2km

鳥羽市, 伊勢市, 南伊勢町

Shima City isthis kind of town.

01The Waraji-biki held at Nakiri every year on a monkey day in September comes from a tale of villagers driving off the giant Dandarabotchi with a huge straw sandal; a sandal about the size of a tatami mat is hauled and floated out to sea, in a rite designated an intangible folk cultural property by Mie Prefecture
02The Production Tools of the Shima Peninsula with Pearl Culture Materials are based on folk implements gathered by the Japan Institute of Travel Culture and were designated a national Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property in 2026; Isobe no Omita is the rice planting of Izawanomiya, carried out by the nine Isobe districts in turn
03A sapling about ten centimetres tall, brought back by Ito Riki of Katada, has grown in Oriki-no-Matsu Park in Wagu into a New Caledonia pine of about 25 m, the first tree designated a Landscape Important Tree by Shima City

See the town as it is now.

Instagram@shimacity_official ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Shima City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗