Takaharu Town

Cedars Yoshihiro reportedly had planted.

Sano no Sugi Namiki

Photo by 矢野弘幸 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Takaharu no Kanme (高原の神舞)

Children dance gripping the blades of real swords.The "kanme" is danced through the night.

Sacred dances handed down in the Sano and Haraigawa districts. Locals call them "kanme" (神舞), not "kagura." They are danced through the night from the first Saturday (Sano) and second Saturday (Haraigawa) of December, and Haraigawa has the Juninin-tsurugi (十二人剱), danced by 12 people for about an hour.

National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, 2010-03-11
Two dances: Sano Kagura and Haraigawa Kagura
Juninin-tsurugi: about 1 hour

02 ／ The wooden ox of Nawashirodasai (苗代田祭)

A wooden ox is used to act out mock rice farming.Ink inscriptions date the earlier ox to the Bunsei era.

A spring rice-planting rite held at Sano Shrine (狭野神社) every February 18, praying for a good harvest. Also called Bebugahaho (ベブガハホ): "bebu" means ox and "haho" means housewife. The present wooden ox dates from the 1935-1944 period, and the earlier one from the Bunsei era (1818-1830). It is a prefectural intangible folk cultural property.

Every February 18
Prefectural designation: 1999-09-27
Earlier wooden ox: Bunsei era (1818-1830)

03 ／ The halls of Kirishima Higashi Shrine (霧島東神社)

A tablet reading "Higashi Kirishima-za," donated bythe Satsuma lord, is kept at the front of the hall.

After repeated eruptions the shrine was rebuilt again and again, and the present halls date from the Kyoho era, the on-site signboard says. The tablet was donated by Shimazu Mitsuhisa (島津光久) in 1666. Inside, at the back, a male-and-female pair of dragon pillars is enshrined. The shrine crest is a Buddhist wheel.

Tablet donated in 1666
A male-and-female pair of dragon pillars
Halls built in the Kyoho era

Living here

By expressway, Miyakonojo is 15 minutes, Miyazaki 40.

about 9,000 people
Rural district town

The town's site, on its "Location" page, gives travel times by expressway of 15 minutes (20.4 km) to Miyakonojo and 40 minutes (54 km) to Miyazaki. In town are Takaharu Station and Hirowara Station on the JR Kitto Line, which links Miyakonojo with Yusui in Kagoshima Prefecture.

People living here: 8,639people
Area: 85.39km²
Households: 3,763households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 7 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —5 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 3 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Takaharu Town in Japan31.928°N 131.008°E

Territory of Takaharu Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

10.6km

Miyazaki Prefecture: 小林市, 都城市
Kagoshima Prefecture: 霧島市

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

Takaharu Town isthis kind of town.

01On both sides of the approach to Sano Shrine (狭野神社) runs the Sano no Sugi Namiki (狭野のスギ並木), a national natural monument, stretching eight cho (町, a traditional unit of length). According to the prefecture, it is said to have been planted on the orders of Shimazu Yoshihiro (島津義弘) about 400 years ago, and the avenue is also nationally designated as a breeding site of the Oriental dollarbird (ブッポウソウ).
02The Takaharu no Kanme, handed down in Sano and Haraigawa, is a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. Sano Shrine's Nawashirodasai is a prefecturally designated rice-planting rite in which a wooden ox is used to act out farming.
03The halls of Kirishima Higashi Shrine date from the Kyoho era, and a tablet donated by Shimazu Mitsuhisa is kept at the front. The shrine is said to be where the ancestral deities were first enshrined when the heavenly grandson Ninigi descended, and it holds the summit of Mt. Takachihonomine as a detached precinct and enshrines the spear Amanosakahoko as a shrine treasure.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Takaharu Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗