Saza Town

All mines shut; next year, ayu returned.

Saza River, called Zenzai-gawa

Photo by ふうけ (Public domain)

01 ／ Ichinose Kiln Site

Seto potter Kato Tamikichilearned white porcelain at this kiln.

In 1751, Fukumoto Shinzaemon (福本新左衛門) and four other families of potters from Mikawachi (三川内) built a kiln here and fired porcelain until it closed in 1825, 75 years later. In 1804, Kato Tamikichi (加藤民吉) of Seto lived with the Fukumoto family and studied for two full years, the town records. The city of Seto calls him the "Pioneer of Porcelain" (磁祖).

1751: kiln built (town board of education)
1804: Kato Tamikichi lodges with the Fukumoto family (same)
Prefectural Historic Site

02 ／ Shirouo Fishing

Scaffolds along the riverbank holdyotsude-ami nets that catch shirouo.

The town's tourism site puts the scaffolds built along the bank at about 70. The fishing began around the middle of the Taisho era; shirouo (ice gobies) disappeared for a time because of coal mining, but fishing resumed around 1971. In autumn, eel mounds (うなぎ塚) are built in the river, and their sites were once decided by bidding, it is said.

About 70 scaffolds (town tourism site, updated 2019)
Season: mid-February to end of March (town overview booklet)
Resumed around 1971 (town's official LINE account)

03 ／ Saza Station

The town renovated the station and moved itstourist information office from about 800 m away.

In March 2022 the town renovated Matsuura Railway's Saza Station as the Saza Station Exchange Center (佐々駅舎交流センター) and moved in the tourist information office that had stood about 800 m away. The station's sub-name, "Village of Kawazu Cherries and Shirouo" (河津桜とシロウオの里), was chosen by Matsuura Railway in 2015 after a call for entries.

Renovated March 2022 (Nagasaki Shimbun)
Tourist information office moved from about 800 m away
Sub-name decided May 11, 2015 (Matsuura Railway)

Living here

Ringed by Sasebo, 6.5 km east to west.

about 10,000 people
Rural district town

The town's website says it is surrounded by Sasebo City. It measures 6.5 km east to west and 8.0 km north to south, with an area of 32.26 km². The 21.9-km Saza River (佐々川) runs through the middle of a valley between mountains, from northeast to south, and the town spreads along it. Matsuura Railway has four stations in town, and the Saza Interchange on the Nishi-Kyushu Expressway opened in 2011.

People living here: 13,912people
Area: 32.26km²
Households: 5,436households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 13 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —4 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 1 municipalities.

Saza Town in Japan33.238°N 129.650°E

Territory of Saza Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

8.0km

佐世保市

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

Saza Town isthis kind of town.

01The Saza River (佐々川), 21.9 km long, rises on Mt. Kunimi (国見山) and runs through the middle of town. The town's 2021 overview booklet says it once ran black with coal-washing water and was called the Zenzai River (ぜんざい川, after sweet red-bean soup). Shirouo and ayu (sweetfish) now live in it, and the town's tourism site calls it the second-longest river in Nagasaki Prefecture.
02The Ichinose Kiln Site (市の瀬窯跡) and the Tanukiyama Dolmen Group (狸山支石墓群) are both prefectural historic sites. The town explains that dolmens are found mostly on the Shandong Peninsula and in southern Korea, and records that a large jade bead was found in a 1957 excavation.
03Furukami-dake (古川岳), rising to the west of town, has long been revered as a mountain where gods descend, and is also known by another name (降神岳). A 3.3-km walking trail has been laid out on it, with Kannon statues enshrined along the way.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Saza Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗