Article

20561 ／やまのうちまち

Nagano Prefecture 下高井郡

Yamanouchi Town

Sphagnum piled up on a lake bed.

Tanohara Marsh, old Lake Shiga

Photo by Koda6029 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Sano Site

Late Jomon pottery of the Chubu regiontakes its name from this site: Sano-shiki.

This Late Jomon settlement site on the Sazawa River fan, in the southwest of the Yamanouchi basin, is a National Historic Site. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database says that pottery of the early to middle part of the Late Jomon period shows a style unique to the Chubu region and was named Sano-shiki. The town explains that pottery with the motifs sanyamon, kagi-no-te-mon and koji-mon serves as the type standard for the Chubu region.

National Historic Site, designated December 25, 1976
Settlement about 2,500 to 3,000 years old
12 excavations

02 ／ Yomase Gogura

A gogura stores tribute rice and reserves against crop failure.One designated by the town stands in Hongo, Yomase.

It is a town-designated Tangible Folk Cultural Property (June 11, 1970). According to the Hachijuni Cultural Foundation, it dates from the Tenpo era, with earthen-walled, tiled construction, 2 ken wide and 3 ken deep. A gogura was a building for storing tribute rice and grain against crop failure, and became especially common in the Edo period. In the same Hongo, a group of burial mounds from the late Kofun period is a town-designated historic site.

Town-designated, June 11, 1970
2 ken wide, 3 ken deep
Tenpo era (Hachijuni Cultural Foundation)

03 ／ Ishinoyu Genji Fireflies

On a plateau 1,580 to 1,620 m up,Genji fireflies appear for a long season.

The area around Ishinoyu and Iwakurasawa on the Shiga Kogen plateau is a National Natural Monument, the Shiga Kogen Ishinoyu Genji Firefly Habitat (designated March 28, 2008; 15.27 ha). The town board of education explains that clear water, abundant flow and welling-up hot spring water that warms the stream sustain the habitat, and records that fireflies appear from mid-May to early September, longer than the usual month or less.

Elevation 1,580 to 1,620 m
National Natural Monument, 2008
Fireflies from mid-May to early September

Yamanouchi Town 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–October 2024)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

88% of the town is forest and open land.

about 10,000 people
Rural district town

The town's own site says it lies in the northeast of Nagano Prefecture, that forest and open land make up 88% of it (more than 70% of that is Shiga Kogen), and that its settlements grew on gentle slopes of river terraces and alluvial fans. It borders Gunma Prefecture to the east. The gateway is Yudanaka Station on the Nagano Electric Railway Nagano Line, five minutes' walk from the town hall.

People living here: 11,352people
Area: 265.9km²
Households: 4,419households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 5 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —5 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 5 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Yamanouchi Town in Japan36.745°N 138.413°E

Territory of Yamanouchi Town

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

17.6km

Nagano Prefecture: Kijimadaira Village, Nakano City, Sakae Village, Takayama Village
Gunma Prefecture: Nakanojo Town

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

Yamanouchi Town isthis kind of town.

01Tanohara Marsh on Shiga Kogen is a raised bog formed where sphagnum piled up on the bed of the former Lake Shiga, created when lava from the Shigayama volcano dammed the Kakuma River; it is a prefectural natural monument (designated 1973)
02The Late Jomon Sano Site is a National Historic Site, and its pottery gave the name to Sano-shiki; in Hongo, Yomase, a town-designated gogura stands for storing tribute rice and reserves against crop failure
03The Ishinoyu Genji firefly habitat is a National Natural Monument; the town lies in the northeast of Nagano Prefecture, and forest and open land make up 88% of it

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Yamanouchi Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

From this town's themes