Aya Town

A medieval castle, conceived and built.

Aya Castle

Photo by Sanjo (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Takeno Horutonoki

The national designation text says the treeforks into nine stout limbs from about 1.5m.

The 1977 designation text describes a forest of about 5 ares at the western edge of a field, on the fan-shaped terrace of Takeno (竹野) that juts out toward the Aya-kita River (綾北川). The forest consists of the huge crown of a Horutonoki (ホルトノキ), and the text goes on: height about 18m, root girth 10.5m, nine stout limbs forking from about 1.5m above the ground.

National Natural Monument, 1977-02-17
Height about 18m, root girth 10.5m (at designation)
Nine stout limbs from about 1.5m (at designation)

02 ／ Ryoyoko Memorial Hall

A schoolhouse moved three timeslines up three classrooms along 27m.

Built in 1888 (Meiji 21) as the Aya Elementary School (綾小学校) building, it was moved three times before reaching its present site. Its hipped roof is tiled, and its outer walls are lapped boards (簓子下見板張). A corridor runs along the west side, and three classrooms line up on the east. It is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, and today a history museum displaying farm tools and Meiji-era textbooks.

Registered Tangible Cultural Property, 2018-03-27
27m along the ridge, 3 classrooms
Moved three times

03 ／ Aya Hinayama

Old wood and moss recreate mountains in the parlorfor an eldest daughter's first festival.

For an eldest daughter's first Doll Festival (初節句), relatives and neighbors arrange old wood and moss gathered from mountains and rivers in the family's inner parlor (奥座敷), recreating a scene of deep mountains in a "hinayama" (雛山) to celebrate. Every year from late February to early March, the Aya Hinayama Festival (綾雛山まつり) displays them at about 20 places in town.

Made for an eldest daughter's first festival
The town's site: an Edo-period tradition
Displayed at about 20 places in town

Living here

60 minutes by local bus from Miyazaki's bus terminal.

about 7,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway station in town. Miyazaki Kotsu's Kunitomi-Aya line links the Miyazaki bus terminal (宮交シティ) and the Aya waiting-room stop (綾待合所) without a transfer, and on the timetable most buses from the terminal take 60 minutes. The town lies about 20km west of Miyazaki City, in a hilly and mountainous area up the Honjo River.

People living here: 6,934people
Area: 95.19km²
Households: 2,857households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 4 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —4 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.

Aya Town in Japan31.999°N 131.253°E

to MiyazakiLocal bus60min

Travel times follow 宮崎交通『路線別バス時刻表』2-3『宮崎駅～宮崎神宮　宮崎市内→国富・綾・酒泉の杜／国富・綾・酒泉の杜→宮崎市内』（PDF 2-03_20261001.pdf。表の見出しは『2026年4月1日改正』。2026-10-06 に読んだ）。平日の宮交シティ③発→綾待合所着は 8:00→9:00・9:00→10:00・12:00→13:00・15:00→16:00・16:00→17:00 がどれも60分、7:00→8:01 が61分。宮崎駅西②発は 10:10→11:04・11:05→11:59 などの54分。土日祝は宮交シティ③発 7:30→8:30 が60分。綾待合所発→宮交シティ着は平日 6:00→7:00・6:10→7:10 の60分（6:20→7:21 は61分）、土日祝は 6:30→7:30・7:30→8:30・8:30→9:30 の60分（7:00→7:56 は56分）。便ごとに54〜61分の幅があり、宮交シティ起点の便は60分が大半 (checked 2026-10-06). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 4 municipalities.

Territory of Aya Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

17.8km

小林市, 国富町, 宮崎市, 西米良村

Aya Town isthis kind of town.

01Aya Castle was constructed as an early Sengoku-period castle tower, as conceived from a study after the Japan Castle Association (日本城郭協会) was asked in spring of Shōwa 60 (1985) about the building of medieval hill castles. At the castle stands a bronze statue of swordsmith Tanaka Kunihiro (田中国廣), born in Furuya (古屋). A wakizashi signed "Nisshū Furuya-jū Kunihiro saku" (日州古屋住国広作) is an Important Cultural Property, and the site of his house is a prefectural historic site.
02About 80% of the town's total area is forest, and the Aya UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (綾ユネスコエコパーク) was registered in 2012. In the Aya River gorge hangs the Teruha Great Suspension Bridge (照葉大吊橋), 250m long and 142m high.
03In 1988 (Shōwa 63) the town enacted an ordinance on promoting natural-ecosystem agriculture (自然生態系農業の推進に関する条例), and it ranks produce as A (Gold), B (Silver) or C (Copper) under standards set after a council's recommendation.

See the town as it is now.

Facebookayatown ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Aya Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗