Article

20220 ／あづみのし

Azumino City

A channel that drops over 30 cm per km.

Jikkasegi irrigation channel

01 ／ Oo-ruri-shijimi

In Horigane, a channel that warmed cold irrigation watermade wide ridges where kurara grew.

The Azumino oo-ruri-shijimi butterfly (Shijimiaeoides divinus) was designated a city natural monument in 2022, the first animal so designated. At the Iwahara weir in Horigane, cold water drawn from the Karasu River was warmed in a narrow channel called a nurume before it reached the rice fields, and the wide ridges left around the fields grew kurara, the plant its larvae eat.

City natural monument, designated March 30, 2022
Larvae eat only kurara
Records stopped in 1991; rediscovered in 1994

02 ／ Akashina Temple Ruins

Eight-petal eave tiles were castin the same mold as those of a ruined temple in Gifu.

Akashina Haiji is thought to have been founded in the late 7th century, judging from its roof tiles with plain eight-petal lotus patterns. Its eight-petal eave-end tiles were made in the same mold as those of a ruined temple in Gifu Prefecture, and tiles from the same mold also came out of a kiln site in Yamanashi Prefecture. "Akashina no Takara" (Treasures of Akashina) records that tiles were certainly supplied from the Sakurazaka kiln site.

Thought to date from the late 7th century
Eave-end tiles with 8 petals
No building remains found

03 ／ Dosojin

Guardian dosojin stones of each kido neighborhoodnumber over 600 in the city.

A kido is a neighborhood group whose members keep up close everyday ties. The city's regional plan says dosojin number over 600 and that four have been designated as cultural properties. The Kikkamon Dosojin in Honmura, Toyoshina, is a paired-figure stone of a type said to have been carved in large numbers in the Minami-Azumi area from the 1840s to the 1850s.

Over 600 dosojin (city regional plan)
4 city-designated dosojin
Kikkamon Dosojin city-designated in 2008

Azumino City 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 September–November 2021)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

From Shinjuku, the Azusa limited express arrives with no change.

about 90,000 people

The city was formed in 2005 by the merger of the towns of Toyoshina, Hotaka and Akashina and the villages of Misato and Horigane. The gateway, Toyoshina Station, is the station the city's own site describes as about a five-minute walk from the main city hall, and the limited express Azusa No. 5 from Shinjuku arrives there without a change.

People living here: 94,222people
Area: 331.78km²
Households: 36,491households
Rent (average for rentals): 45,586yen
Healthcare: 5 hospitals ／ 81 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —18 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.

Azumino City in Japan36.304°N 137.906°E

to ShinjukuJR limited express174min

Travel times follow JR東日本列車の停車駅一覧（2026年10月版・取得2026-10-21）：特急あずさ5号（新宿－白馬）の平日運転ページ https://timetables.jreast.co.jp/2610/train/110/111361.html と土曜・休日運転ページ https://timetables.jreast.co.jp/2610/train/110/111371.html。信濃大町駅の時刻表（平日・土曜休日とも特あ 11:15発）で列車を特定 (checked 2026-10-21). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 6 municipalities.

Territory of Azumino City

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

20.9km

Matsumoto City, Matsukawa Village, Ikeda Town, Omachi City, Ikusaka Village, Chikuhoku Village

Azumino City isthis kind of town.

01Jikkasegi is an irrigation channel of about 15 km opened in 1816 by people of the surrounding villages with hoes and pickaxes; the city's public newsletter records that it was completed in just three months on a gentle slope of a little over 30 cm per kilometer
02The city natural monument, the Azumino oo-ruri-shijimi butterfly, lives in the rice-field environment created when the channels were opened; the roof tiles of Akashina Haiji, thought to date from the late 7th century, share molds with sites in Gifu and Yamanashi Prefectures; and dosojin of each kido neighborhood number over 600
03The Sonehara family house in Shinya, presumed to date from the mid-17th century, was designated a national Important Cultural Property in 1973; the gateway is Toyoshina Station, and the limited express Azusa from Shinjuku arrives without a change

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Azumino City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes