Article

20349 ／あおきむら

Nagano Prefecture 小県郡

Aoki Village

Only the 1st tier has simpler brackets.

Daihoji Pagoda, bracket sets

Photo by Masanori88 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Hofukuji Pass

A poem said to be written for a husband crossing the passstands at the summit as a Manyo monument.

Hofukuji Pass in Aoki Village — Photo by Mountainlife (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Hofukuji Pass, 1,345 m high, is listed by the village as part of the presumed Tosando road. When it had just been cut and was dangerous, a wife is said to have composed a poem in Manyoshu volume 14 out of worry for her husband crossing it. In 1983 Aoki Village and Matsumoto City built a monument to it at the summit. A monument to the view Weston praised also stands there.

1,345 m above sea level
A poem from Manyoshu volume 14
Poem monument built 1983

02 ／ Hiyoshi Shrine

Five bays across the front,but only one doorway, in the center.

The main hall of Hiyoshi Shrine in Tonoto is a prefectural treasure in the gogensha nagare-zukuri and mise-dana-zukuri styles. Five-bay halls generally put a door in every bay of the front, but this one has just one, in the central bay, the village says. In the Edo period, when drought dragged on, people of the Urano group held a rain-prayer procession here, and it was painted in a picture.

Gogensha nagare-zukuri, mise-dana-zukuri
One doorway, in the central bay
Prefectural treasure, designated August 1990

03 ／ Wild Taro

A taro that arrived in the Jomon periodsurvives at a spot where the water stays warm in winter.

The wild taro colony at the outflow of Kutsukake hot spring is a prefectural natural monument. The village says that when temperatures fell in the late Jomon period the plant died out in most regions, but that here, where the water stays warm even in winter, it survived without dying out. The village calls it ishi-imo or Kobo-imo.

Prefectural natural monument, designated May 2007
Died out elsewhere in the late Jomon cooling
Called ishi-imo and Kobo-imo

Aoki Village 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 2004)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

31 minutes from Ueda by local bus.

about 4,000 people
Rural district town

A farming and mountain village about 12 km west of Ueda City, with about 80 percent of its 57.10 km2 in forest. The village calls Mount Okami to the south, Mount Komayumi to the north and Mount Jukkan to the west the Aoki Sanzan, or three mountains of Aoki. The village has no railway station; the Chikuma Bus Aoki Line takes 31 minutes from Ueda Station to Aoki Bus Terminal (timetable revised October 2026).

People living here: 4,121people
Area: 57.1km²
Households: 1,553households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 2 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —1 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.

Aoki Village in Japan36.370°N 138.129°E

to UedaLocal bus31min

Travel times follow 千曲バス公式『青木線』の時刻表（令和8年10月1日改正。下秋和車庫～上田駅前～小泉～青木バスターミナル）。上田駅前→青木バスターミナルは平日・土日祝とも毎時15分発・46分着の便が31分（例：8:15→8:46、9:15→9:46。平日の7:44→8:15、17:15→17:46、18:01→18:32、18:58→19:29、19:55→20:26、21:00→21:31もすべて31分）。逆向きの青木バスターミナル→上田駅前も土日祝の7:00→7:31ほか毎時00分発・31分着が31分（平日の8:00→8:33だけ33分） (checked 2026-10-21). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 3 municipalities.

Territory of Aoki Village

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

10.5km

Ueda City, Chikuhoku Village, Matsumoto City

Aoki Village isthis kind of town.

01Daihoji Pagoda, a National Treasure, is known from an ink inscription to date from 1333; the village says its second and third tiers use three-step brackets, but the first tier alone uses the slightly simpler two-step type
02At the summit of Hofukuji Pass, part of the presumed Tosando road, stand a Manyo poem monument and a monument for Weston; the main hall of Hiyoshi Shrine in Tonoto, a prefectural treasure, has five bays across the front but only one doorway in the center
03Wild taro survives at the outflow of Kutsukake hot spring, a prefectural natural monument, and the village, ringed by the Aoki Sanzan, lies 31 minutes from Ueda Station by Chikuma Bus

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Aoki Village official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes