Ushikata-yado, Chikuni House, Otari Village
Article

20486 / おたりむら

Nagano Prefecture 北安曇郡

Otari Village

An inn for cattle drivers and porters.

Ushikata-yado, Chikuni House

Photo by Asturio Cantabrio (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 / Nagikama-uchi Ritual

The head priest of Suwa Taisha drivesa cockscomb-shaped sickle into a sacred tree.

In Ox years at Ogura Myojin in Nakamata, Todo, and in Sheep years at Sakai-no-miya, the head priest of Suwa Taisha strikes a nagikama into the sacred tree with a wooden mallet. The nagikama, shaped like a rooster's comb, is one of the sacred implements of the Suwa deity, and the Hachijuni Cultural Foundation records that those driven in by past head priests remain in the tree. The village describes the ritual as held once every seven years.

  • Prefectural intangible folk cultural property, 1992
  • Ox years at Ogura Myojin, Sheep years at Sakai-no-miya
  • The village says once every seven years

02 / Salt Storehouse

A salt storehouse built without nails,so that no metal would corrode.

Salt Storehouse in Otari Village
Photo by Asturio Cantabrio (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The village records that the storehouse is semi-subterranean and uses no nails, so that no metal would corrode while salt was stored. Thought to date from around the end of the Edo period, it was moved to its present site in 2007. The Hachijuni Cultural Foundation lists it among the facilities attached to Ushikata-yado. It was designated a village tangible cultural property in 2000.

  • No nails used
  • Semi-subterranean
  • Village tangible cultural property, 2000

03 / Dinosaur Footprint Fossils

From the Kuruma Formation, about 200 million years old,come tracks thought to be of a small theropod.

In October 1994, six footprints in all were found in the Kuruma Formation (early Jurassic, about 200 million years ago) in the Tsuchizawa basin of Kita-Otari, and a slab of rock about one square meter, containing three of them, was cut out. The village says the shape suggests a small theropod and describes the fossils as evidence of Japan's oldest known dinosaur, of high value as a record.

  • Kuruma Formation, early Jurassic, about 200 million years ago
  • Six footprints found
  • Prefectural natural monument, 2003

Otari Village from the sky

Now and 1974–78. Tap a photo to zoom in.

Wide (about 6 km across)

Close (about 1.5 km across)

Shot 1974–78

Source: Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) GSI Tiles(国土画像情報(第一期:1974〜1978年撮影))

Open in GSI Maps (1974–78)

Living here

Down the Himekawa valley, the Sea of Japan is close at hand.

  • about 3,000 people
  • Rural district town

The village grew along the middle reaches of the Himekawa River and the valleys of its tributaries, and the village says its winter snowfall is among the heaviest in Japan. It lies at the far northwest of Nagano Prefecture, on the border with Niigata Prefecture, and the village says that from Todo in Kita-Otari one can see the Sea of Japan, the only place in the prefecture where that is possible. Its gateway is Minami-Otari Station on the JR Oito Line.

People living here
2,647people
19952020

−8.8% since 2015

4,307 → 2,647

Area
267.91km²

37.52km² of it habitable

2024

Households
1,145households

2.3 people per household

2020

Rent (average for rentals)
—
Healthcare
0 hospitals / 2 clinics

7.6 per 10,000 people

2023

Area267.91km²Habitable land37.52km² / 14%
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.

Shape

Borders 4 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Otari Village in Japan36.779°N 137.908°E
TokyoOsakaOtari Village
Territory of Otari 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

21.0km

Nagano Prefecture
Hakuba Village, Nagano City
Niigata Prefecture
Itoigawa City, Myoko City

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

Otari Village isthis kind of town.

  1. 01Ushikata-yado, the former Chikuni residence, is an inn where cattle drivers and porters stayed along the Chikuni Road, and is a Nagano Prefectural Treasure
  2. 02The Suwa Taisha head priest's nagikama ritual at sacred trees in Todo, and a semi-subterranean salt storehouse built without nails, are kept in the village
  3. 03Footprints thought to be of a small theropod about 200 million years old were found in the Kuruma Formation, and are a prefectural natural monument

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.