Higashisonogi Town

Landed whales were sent across Kyushu.

Genroku wharf site, Sonogi Port

Photo by STA3816 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Hisagozuka Burial Mound (彼杵の古墳)

A mound whose front section pinches in sharplyis popularly called Hisagozuka.

Standing on a gravel ridge facing Omura Bay, this keyhole-shaped tomb is 58.8 m long, with a rear circular mound 37.7 m across, and dates from around the first half of the 5th century. The prefecture's cultural property database calls it among the largest in the prefecture. A bronze mirror and about 300 small glass beads were among the grave goods, and the mound has been restored.

58.8 m long; rear mound 37.7 m across
Built around the first half of the 5th century
1950: Prefectural Historic Site

02 ／ Ryūtōsen (龍頭泉)

A gorge of 48 falls and pools was likened to a dragonby the Confucian scholar Hirose Tansō.

Along the Chiwata River, 48 waterfalls and pools line the gorge. The town website says that in 1845 Hirose Tansō (広瀬淡窓) called it Chiwata-kei Yonjūhachi-tan, likened the whole gorge to one dragon, and named the largest upstream fall Ryūtōsen (龍頭泉, "Dragon-Head Spring"). The town's museum also gives the name to the whole gorge.

48 waterfalls and pools
1845: Tansō calls it Chiwata-kei Yonjūhachi-tan
Part of Taradake Prefectural Park

03 ／ Chiwata Puppet Theatre (千綿の人形芝居)

Puppets shaped like a Shinto priest's danceare said to be the theatre's origin.

Handed down in Chiwata Shukugō, its origin is unclear, the prefecture says. It is said to have begun when puppets modelled on a priest's dance were worked before the local deity. In the Edo period, with support from the Omura domain, it once had a large troupe of 40. In 2023 the town recruited puppeteer supporters.

1977: Prefectural Intangible Folk Cultural Property
Three puppeteers per puppet (museum)
44 sets of puppet heads survive (museum)

Living here

74.29 km², ringed by mountains and facing Omura Bay.

about 8,000 people
Rural district town

The town covers 74.29 km². Mountains centred on Mt. Kunimi, Mt. Tōme and Mt. Kokūzō ring it on three sides, and its southwest faces Omura Bay. Most of the town is forest, with little flat land and well-developed terraced rice fields. It was once a post town on the Nagasaki Kaidō and the starting point of the Hirado Kaidō, the town website says. The JR Omura Line stops at Sonogi and Chiwata stations, and the town office is a five-minute walk from Sonogi Station.

People living here: 7,721people
Area: 74.29km²
Households: 2,705households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 6 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —3 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 3 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Higashisonogi Town in Japan33.037°N 129.917°E

Territory of Higashisonogi Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

11.9km

Nagasaki Prefecture: 大村市, 川棚町
Saga Prefecture: 嬉野市

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

Higashisonogi Town isthis kind of town.

01The town website says whales were landed at Sonogi Port and sent across Kyushu from the early Edo period into the Meiji era. The town's history museum says a wharf built in the Genroku era remains as it was
02Hisagozuka, from around the first half of the 5th century, and Ryūtōsen, the gorge of Chiwata-kei likened to a dragon, are in the town. The town website says Omura Bay can be seen in full from the platform at Chiwata Station
03The Chiwata puppet theatre and Sakamoto Furyū are prefectural intangible folk cultural properties, and a Christian gravestone dated Genna 7 (1621) stands in Shōya Park. The museum says the boundary stone at the prefectural border, Tawarazaka Pass, is broken at the top and was originally carved "from here south, Omura domain"

See the town as it is now.

Instagram@higashisonogi_official ↗

Source: Wikidata (P2002, P2003, P2013, P2397)

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Higashisonogi Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗