Article

04501 ／わくやちょう

Miyagi Prefecture 遠田郡

Wakuya Town

A shrine stands on a Buddhist hall site.

Koganeyama gold site, shrine

Photo by ChiefHira (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Kannon hall

The Kannon hall on the mountain tophas a karahafu porch across its three-bay front.

The prefecture records that the hall has a square plan of 14.9 m (actual length) on a side under a pyramidal roof, with a karahafu (curved gable) porch across its front of three bays. A record gives its construction as the fourth year of Kaei (1851), and the prefecture describes it as of the largest scale among Buddhist halls built in the Edo period in the prefecture.

Real length 14.9 m
Record of Kaei 4 (1851)
Prefectural Tangible Cultural Property

02 ／ Nagane shell midden

The prefecture says the shellfish differ by period:salt-water, brackish-water, then fresh-water.

A U-shaped shell midden measuring 300 m east-west and 250 m north-south. The prefecture records salt-water shellfish in the earliest period, brackish-water in the early and middle periods, and fresh-water in the late and final periods, while the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as consisting of fresh-water shellfish, mainly shijimi clams. A 1968 excavation found two pit dwellings in complete form.

National Historic Site, 1970
300 m by 250 m
Two pit dwellings

03 ／ Shinmei Shrine worship hall

The unpainted-wood hall with a hip-and-gable roofdates from Genroku 11 (1698).

The prefectural designation is "Shinmei Shrine worship hall (former main hall of Myoken-gu)". The prefecture records unpainted wood, three bays by two, under a copper-plate hip-and-gable roof (perhaps once thatched). A one-bay porch fronts it, a railed veranda runs round three sides, and the carvings are coloured in gofun white.

Built 1698 (Genroku 11)
Prefectural designation, 1988
Three bays by two

Wakuya Town from the sky

Now and 1974–78. Tap a photo to zoom in.

Now1974–78

Wide (about 6 km across)

Close (about 1.5 km across)

Now (shot November 2023)Shot 1974–78

Source: Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) GSI Tiles（全国最新写真（シームレス）／国土画像情報（第一期：1974〜1978年撮影））

Open in GSI Maps (now)Open in GSI Maps (1974–78)

Living here

From Wakuya Station, 10 minutes by car to the gold site.

about 20,000 people
Rural district town

The prefecture's pages on its historic sites give the way to the Koganeyama gold site as 10 minutes by car from Wakuya Station on the Ishinomaki Line, and the way to the Nagane shell midden as 15 minutes by car from the same station.

People living here: 15,388people
Area: 82.16km²
Households: 5,452households
Rent (average for rentals): 35,626yen
Healthcare: 3 hospitals ／ 6 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.

Shape

Borders 4 municipalities.

Wakuya Town in Japan38.540°N 141.128°E

Territory of Wakuya Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (Administrative Area Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari.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

10.3km

Misato Town, Tome City, Osaki City, Ishinomaki City

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

Wakuya Town isthis kind of town.

01The grounds of Koganeyama Shrine are the national Historic Site of the Koganeyama gold site; a 1957 excavation found foundation stones and Nara-period roof tiles, and the prefecture records that a Buddhist hall thought to be hexagonal was built there to commemorate gold production
02The Kannon hall and the Shinmei Shrine worship hall are prefecturally designated buildings, as is a mortuary hall for the fourth head of the Wakuya Date family; the prefecture calls its earthen-floor type rare among mortuary halls of the time
03The prefecture's pages give the way from Wakuya Station as 10 minutes by car to the gold site and 15 minutes to the shell midden

See the town as it is now.

Facebooktown.wakuya.miyagi ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Wakuya Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes