Article

20417 ／おおしかむら

Nagano Prefecture 下伊那郡

Oshika Village

Tan and green rock meet directly.

Anko outcrop, Tectonic Line

Photo by KAMUI (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Oshika kabuki

By the mid-18th century at least,kabuki was being staged in this village.

A village document records that villagers staged kabuki in 1767. Stages were built in 13 places in the village between the end of the Edo period and the Meiji era, and on the wall of the second-floor dressing room of the Ichiba Shrine stage, the names of touring actors are scrawled. The lunch box used by spectators was called a "rokuben."

Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, 2017
Stages built in 13 places in the village
Ichiba Shrine stage built in 1851

02 ／ Kashio salt spring

In the mountains, brine as saltyas seawater wells up.

At Kashio, brine about as salty as seawater wells up, and the village-run Median Tectonic Line Museum records that salt was made there in the Meiji era. The tourist association says digging began in 1875 and a salt works was set up. The museum explains from isotope analysis that the water is not fossil seawater.

Digging began in 1875 (tourist association)
Salt making in the Meiji era (museum)
Isotope analysis since the 1970s

03 ／ Fukutokuji main hall

The Buddha pedestal's inscription says 1160.The hall is dated to around the 14th century.

A small hall, three bays by three, with a hip-and-gable shingle roof. The village's cultural property map records that a dismantling repair in 1953 showed the hall does not go back before the Kamakura period. The tourist association judges from its techniques that it was built in the time of Prince Munenaga.

National Important Cultural Property
Three bays by three
Early Muromachi (Agency for Cultural Affairs database)

Oshika 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–October 2016)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: 29 minutes by bus from Ina-Oshima.

about 1,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway station in the village. From in front of Ina-Oshima Station (Matsukawa Town) on the JR Iida Line, the Ina Bus Oshika line takes 29 minutes to the stop Ochiai near the village office (daily service, timetable revised 1 October 2023). The terminus, Okawara, is 48 minutes.

People living here: 1,023people
Area: 248.28km²
Households: 532households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 3 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.

Oshika Village in Japan35.578°N 138.034°E

to Ina-OshimaLocal bus29min

Travel times follow 伊那バス公式（https://www.ibgr.jp/general-route/ の『大鹿村・大鹿線』）が載せる『大鹿線通過時刻表』（令和5年10月1日改正）の1枚PDF（https://www.ibgr.jp/wp-content/uploads/6e6f9ba7a11fd31e97a7e28f11a56525.pdf）。目で読んだ（文字の抽出は不可） (checked 2026-10-21). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 7 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Oshika 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

27.8km

Nagano Prefecture: Ina City, Iida City, Nakagawa Village, Matsukawa Town, Toyooka Village, Komagane City
Shizuoka Prefecture: Shizuoka City

Oshika Village isthis kind of town.

01At the Anko outcrop, rock of the Ryoke metamorphic belt meets rock of the Sanbagawa belt directly, a tan rock beside a green one; with the Kitagawa outcrop it is a national Natural Monument
02Oshika kabuki, shown at the Daiseki Shrine and Ichiba Shrine stages in spring and autumn, is an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. At Kashio, brine as salty as seawater wells up in the mountains
03The Fukutokuji main hall is a national Important Cultural Property. The village map records the Matsushita residence as a nationally designated Important Cultural Property and the 1957 Koshibu Bridge as a nationally registered tangible cultural property

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Oshika Village official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes