Article

20409 ／ひらやむら

Nagano Prefecture 下伊那郡

Hiraya Village

Stabled horse inns flourished here.

Hiraya-juku, a Chuma post town

Photo by Asturio Cantabrio (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Okuwa-sama

The portable shrine of the Ise deity could not passthe Namiai checkpoint and is said to have stopped here.

The former village website writes that the festival began in the second year of Kanpo (1742), when a portable shrine carrying the deity Toyouke Omikami of Ise was sent along the road from village to village. On the Ina road it could not pass the Namiai checkpoint, so it stopped at Hiraya. A 2005 report says the shrine was passed on from one neighborhood association to the next on 17 April.

Began in 1742 (Kanpo 2)
The shrine stopped at Hiraya
Passed from one association to the next

02 ／ Otsushima-sama

On the night of 14 July, each household has set candleson the tips of birch branches.

The former village website writes that each household holds Otsushima-sama on 14 July every year. Candles are set on the tips of birch branches cut in the mountains, in place of lamp stands, and when they are lit the whole town becomes a night view. The next day's riverside meal is described in a 2005 report as no longer held as often.

14 July
Candles on birch branches
Riverside meal the next day

03 ／ Chuma

Rice and paper went out of Shinshu on horseback;salt, tea and fish came in.

The village explains that chuma was a way of carrying loads on horses' backs, begun as a side job for farmers in the off-season. Rice and other grains, paper, tobacco and sake went out of Shinshu, and salt, tea, fish and raw cotton came in (loads differed by road). Bato Kannon (Horse-headed Kannon) stones stand across the village.

Farmers' off-season side job
Grains, paper, tobacco, sake
Salt, tea, fish, raw cotton

Hiraya 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 May 2022)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

No station in the village; by car or the western community bus.

about 1,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway station in the village. The village's access page gives directions by car (about 30 minutes on National Route 153 from the Iida-Yamamoto Interchange of the Chuo Expressway) and a timetable for the western community bus. The village office is the gateway.

People living here: 387people
Area: 77.37km²
Households: 196households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 1 clinic

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 6 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Hiraya Village in Japan35.323°N 137.630°E

Territory of Hiraya 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

15.1km

Nagano Prefecture: Neba Village, Achi Village, Urugi Village, Anan Town
Gifu Prefecture: Ena City, Nakatsugawa City

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

Hiraya Village isthis kind of town.

01The village says Hiraya-juku prospered from the Edo period to the Meiji era as a post town under the shogunate's relay system and as a town of horse inns with stables for chuma; a historical walking map shows Nishimachi and Yanagidaira as having the look of a post town
02Okuwa-sama is a festival that the former village website says began in 1742 with a portable shrine of the Ise deity sent from village to village, which could not pass the Namiai checkpoint and stopped at Hiraya. On 14 July, in Otsushima-sama, each household sets candles on the tips of birch branches
03Chuma began as a farmers' off-season side job, carrying grains, paper, tobacco and sake out of Shinshu and salt, tea, fish and raw cotton in. The village has no railway station, and the village website points to cars and the western community bus

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Hiraya Village official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

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