Tsuno Town

Falls hang on hard rock slow to erode.

Osuzuyama Falls, Yatogi Falls

Photo by Sanjo (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Vowed Dancers of Tsuno Kagura (願祝子)

Parents praying for a sick child's recoveryvow the child as a kagura dancer (願祝子).

A shrine record written by a Tsuno Shrine head priest in the Meiji era (由緒記) describes a custom of "vowed dancers" (願祝子): when a child fell gravely ill, the parents prayed for recovery and vowed, in thanks, that the child would serve as a kagura dancer. The terms ran from three years to life. According to the preservation society, the kagura is offered in the precincts every year on December 4, at the eve festival, and after the grand festival on December 5.

Shrine record, section on vowed dancers (願祝子の事)
Terms from three years to life
Offered December 4 and 5

02 ／ Akagi Family Residence

The honjin rooms and the family's livingquarters are built in the same structure.

The town's site says honjin were usually built as a separate building, but at the Akagi Family Residence the honjin part and the living part share one structure, which is rare even nationwide. In 1837 the family received permission from the Takanabe domain to run a honjin, and the lord and shogunate officials stayed here. The main house, hit by fire, was rebuilt within the year 1844.

Honjin permission: Tenpo 8 (1837)
Main house: Tenpo 15 (1844)
Important Cultural Property: 2004-12-10

03 ／ Site of the Former Tsunomaki Horse Corral

A bowl-shaped hollow, 10m across and 2m deep,where horses were driven in and caught.

The prefecture's cultural property information says the Tsunomaki ranch of the former Takanabe domain lay north of today's JR Tsuno Station, on open land facing Hyuga-nada Sea. It is now farmland, and only a trace of the horse corral remains. The ranch was revived in the Keicho era by the Takanabe domain lord, the Akizuki clan, and held several hundred war horses, but it was abandoned in the Ansei era.

Prefectural historic site: 1936-07-17
Revived in the Keicho era
Abandoned in the Ansei era

Living here

The Tsuno Station forecourt looks out to the ridge of Mt. Osuzu.

about 10,000 people
Rural district town

The tourist association's guide map says you can see the ridge of Mt. Osuzu (尾鈴山) from the front of Tsuno Station on the JR Nippo Main Line. Mt. Osuzu runs north to south along the west side of the town, and the headwaters of the Nanuki River (名貫川) include the valleys Yatogi-dani, Amacha-dani and Keyaki-dani.

People living here: 9,906people
Area: 102.11km²
Households: 3,960households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 6 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.

Tsuno Town in Japan32.257°N 131.560°E

Territory of Tsuno Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

10.5km

日向市, 川南町, 木城町

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

Tsuno Town isthis kind of town.

01Osuzuyama Falls is a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty. Its designation text says that, because the quartz porphyry bedrock is hard to erode and the streams carry abundant water, the mountains hold waterfalls of varied character, including Iwami, Enoha and Yatogi. Yatogi Falls (矢研の滝) is said to be named for Emperor Jimmu sharpening his arrows here.
02Tsuno Kagura is the kagura tradition centered on Tsuno Shrine. Together with Hiki Kagura and Minashiro Kagura it is called Takanabe Kagura, and according to the prefecture's cultural-property records it was designated a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in March 2026. At the summer grand festival (August 1 and 2), each district's taikodai drum float parades through town.
03The Akagi Family Residence stands along the Bungo Kaido road and doubled as a honjin; it is an Important Cultural Property of Japan. The Site of the Former Tsunomaki Horse Corral, a hollow where horses were driven in and caught, is a prefectural historic site.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Tsuno Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗