Morotsuka Village

Conifers and broadleaves, mixed 7 to 3.

Mosaic Forest (モザイク林相)

Photo by Asset utilitist (CC0)

01 ／ Morotsuka-style Neighborhood Community Centers (自治公民館)

In December 1948, GHQ granted permissionand the community center system was set up.

According to the village's history, the neighborhood self-governing bodies of its hamlets were dissolved after the defeat. The village applied again with a plan for committees under each community center and won permission in December 1948. By 1950, centers stood in all 15 districts of the day. In 1988 the liaison council won the Emperor's Cup at the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Festival.

Permission in December 1948
15 districts by 1950
1988 Emperor's Cup, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Festival

02 ／ Yamamori of Toshita Kagura (戸下神楽)

An oddly costumed mountain wardendebates the priest for about an hour.

Yamamori (山守), the first piece of Toshita Kagura's grand kagura, is described in an Agency for Cultural Affairs document as a long piece in which an oddly costumed mountain warden debates the priest role for about an hour. According to the village's site, the mountain god comes down from the mountain wearing vines, and the grand kagura is held about once in ten years.

Debate of about an hour
Grand kagura about once in ten years
Mountain god comes down wearing vines

03 ／ Japanese Honeybees and the Uto

With handmade hives called uto,honey has long been taken naturally.

The village's site says that in Morotsuka, honey has long been taken through natural beekeeping, in handmade hives called "uto" (ウト). It describes the honey of Japanese honeybees as hyakkamitsu (百花蜜), born from many kinds of flowers in the mountains.

Handmade hives called "uto"
Natural beekeeping since long ago
Japanese honeybee hyakkamitsu honey

Living here

About 2 hours by car from either Kumamoto or Miyazaki Airport.

about 1,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway station. The village's site gives about 2 hours by car from both Kumamoto Airport and Miyazaki Airport. From Miyazaki Airport to Hyuga City Station on the Nippo Main Line, the village's site gives 65 minutes by limited express.

People living here: 1,486people
Area: 187.56km²
Households: 628households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 3 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —0 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 5 municipalities.

Morotsuka Village in Japan32.512°N 131.330°E

Territory of Morotsuka Village

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

19.9km

美郷町, 椎葉村, 日之影町, 五ヶ瀬町, 高千穂町

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

Morotsuka Village isthis kind of town.

01In the postwar expansion-planting era, Morotsuka took the approach of mix-planting conifers and broadleaves at a ratio of 7 to 3. The village's site introduces the resulting landscape, where conifers mingle with broadleaf trees such as kunugi and oak, under the name "mozaiku rinso" (モザイク林相, mosaic forest).
02Toshita Kagura is one of the Morotsuka Kagura, along with Minamikawa Kagura and Katsura Kagura. In 1993 the national government selected Morotsuka Kagura as an intangible folk cultural property for which documentation should be made. The village is one of the five towns and villages that make up the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System "Takachihogo-Shiibayama."
03The village's site says the first "Seijinsai" (成人祭, coming-of-age festival) was held in April 1947, and the village carries the title "birthplace of the coming-of-age ceremony."

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Morotsuka Village official site ↗Wikipedia ↗