Watarai Town

Hime and Hiko are enshrined at Kugu.

Kugutsuhime Shrine

Photo by Nakagita Yoshiaki (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Morizoe site

A Jomon site that produced and suppliedvermilion, and exchanged widely.

The Morizoe site (Kamikugu), from the late and final Jomon period, is known to have produced and supplied vermilion (shu), a red pigment essential to rituals and charms in prehistoric and ancient times. Of the Jomon pottery and stone tools unearthed, dated to about 4,500 to 2,800 years ago, 4,078 items were designated town cultural property in 2022 and are on permanent display at the town's local history museum.

About 4,500 to 2,800 years ago
4,078 items
Town cultural property, 2022

02 ／ Okashira Shinji

Lion heads on either bank of the Miyaare said to form a male-female pair.

Tanahashi's Okashira Shinji (a lion-head ritual) is a Mie Prefecture Intangible Folk Cultural Property, and the lion head of Shimokugu is a Mie Prefecture Tangible Folk Cultural Property. The Shimokugu head, called Osaki, is said to form a pair with the one called Daijo in Tanahashi on the opposite bank. Late at night, the male and female lions, parted from each other, are known to dance calling each other's names.

Prefectural Intangible Folk Cultural Property, 1968
Prefectural Tangible Folk Cultural Property, 1972
Osaki and Daijo

03 ／ Oumu-seki

Voices were heard inside the rock,and mountain workers fled, the tale goes.

Oumu-seki, the "parrot rock" of Minaminakamura, is a single mass of chert 18 m high and over 40 m wide, designated a town Place of Scenic Beauty in 2018. The tale goes that mountain workers, startled by voices from inside the rock, feared the work of a mountain spirit and fled. In 1730 the scholar Ito Togai visited and wrote a poem about it.

18 m high, over 40 m wide
Town Place of Scenic Beauty, 2018
Ito Togai visited in 1730

Living here

No station; 25 minutes by bus from Iseshi Station.

about 8,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway station in the town. From the front of Iseshi Station (JR and Kintetsu), a Mie Kotsu route bus takes 25 minutes to Watarai Town Office. The town bus runs three routes, each one day a week with two trips, at 100 yen for adults. For trips within the town only, a fare-subsidy ticket makes the route bus 100 yen as well.

People living here: 7,847people
Area: 134.98km²
Households: 2,689households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 5 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —2 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.

Watarai Town in Japan34.439°N 136.623°E

to IseLocal bus25min

Travel times follow 町公式『度会町内のバスの運行について』（更新 2026-04-01）が載せる三重交通の『度会町内路線バス時刻表』PDF（https://www.town.watarai.lg.jp/cmsfiles/contents/0000002/2586/zikokuhyou.pdf。2ページ構成で、1ページ目『中村・一之瀬・小川郷⇔中心部・伊勢方面』は『2023年10月1日改正』、2ページ目『注連指・中川・田間⇔中心部・伊勢方面』は『2021年10月1日改正』）。2ページ目の系統25（平日ダイヤ・土日祝ダイヤに同じ時刻が載る）の『伊勢市駅前』→『度会町役場前』の列を読んだ (checked 2026-10-13). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 6 municipalities.

Territory of Watarai Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

15.8km

南伊勢町, 大紀町, 玉城町, 伊勢市, 大台町, 多気町

Watarai Town isthis kind of town.

01Kugutsuhime Shrine in Kamikugu enshrines Kugutsuhime and Kugutsuhiko, and Yamatohime-no-mikoto is said to have established a shrine there
02The Morizoe site, from the late and final Jomon period, produced and supplied vermilion, and 4,078 items unearthed there were designated town cultural property in 2022
03The lion heads of the Okashira Shinji in Tanahashi and of Shimokugu are said to form a pair across the Miya River, and at Oumu-seki in Minaminakamura mountain workers are said to have fled at voices from inside the rock

See the town as it is now.

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Watarai Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗