Shinkamigoto Town

Many houses keep stone-slab lower walls.

Akao settlement, koshi-ita-ishi

Photo by Indiana jo (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Kitauonome Cultural Landscape

Fishing villages cluster by the sea,farming villages scatter up the slopes.

Two nationally designated Important Cultural Landscapes in one town is rare even nationwide, the town says. In one of them, Kitauonome (北魚目), the original residents, the "jige" (地下), packed their houses along the shore. The "itsuki" (居付), who came in the late Edo period from the Sotome (外海) area of the Omura domain and elsewhere, scattered theirs across the mid-slopes. In Ebukuro (江袋), drying racks called "yagura" (やぐら) stood in the yards for kanko (かんころ), dried sweet potato.

Selected Jan. 24, 2012 as an Important Cultural Landscape
About 17 km north to south (12 km selected)
Yagura racks for drying kanko in Ebukuro yards

02 ／ Torii of Enohama Shrine

Three torii lead to the main hall,each of a different stone.

Three torii stand in a row toward the main hall of Enohama Shrine (江ノ浜神社). The town's materials record the nearest as stone from near Arikawa, the middle one as Sakiura sandstone, and the outermost as Takashima stone (鷹島石) from Matsuura. They say it reflects the change when Takashima stone replaced sandstone for gravestones and monuments.

3 torii toward the main hall
Stone from near Arikawa, Sakiura sandstone, Takashima stone
Enohama was the processing and carving village (national)

03 ／ The Akō Tree of Narao

From about 7 m above ground down,the great Akō splits into two large trunks.

A national natural monument in the precincts of Narao Shrine (奈良尾神社). The town gives its height as about 25 m and its girth as about 14 m. The national description says that below about 7 m above ground it divides into two great trunks, about 6 m and 7 m around at breast height. It was designated in 1961.

About 25 m tall, about 14 m girth (town)
1961: designated a national natural monument
Trunks about 6 m and 7 m around (national)

Living here

85 minutes from Sasebo by high-speed boat.

about 20,000 people
Rural district town

The town spans seven inhabited islands, led by Nakadori Island and Wakamatsu Island. Its gateway, Arikawa Port (有川港), is about 1 hour 25 minutes from Sasebo Port by Kyushu Shosen high-speed boat.

People living here: 17,503people
Area: 214km²
Households: 8,397households
Rent (average for rentals): 22,465yen
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 20 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —9 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.

Shinkamigoto Town in Japan32.984°N 129.073°E

to SaseboKyushu Shosen85min

Travel times follow 島の町の決め（駅の無い町のバスの起点と同じ扱い。町内の玄関口の港へ乗り換えなしで着く船の起点を都市名にする。上島町〈愛媛〉・直島町〈香川〉と同じ）。事業者公式・九州商船の『運航ダイヤ・運賃』（kyusho.co.jp/schedule?start=日付&shuppatsu=sasebo&touchaku=arikawa）を、2026-10-07・10-10・10-14・11-03 の4日で開くと、佐世保→有川の高速船は、どの日も『1便 8:35 発 → 10:00 着』『2便 16:55 発 → 18:20 着』（どちらも85分）。フェリーは『8:00 発 → 10:35 着』『13:45 発 → 16:20 着』（155分）。事業者公式『航路・所要時間』（kyusho.co.jp/routes）は佐世保→有川を『高速船最短1時間25分／フェリー最短2時間35分』と書き、85分・155分と一致する。町の観光公式『新上五島町観光なび』（shinkamigoto.nagasaki-tabinet.com/access）も『佐世保港～有川港所要時間：約1時間25分（九州商船〈高速船〉）』『佐世保港～有川港2 約2時間35分（九州商船〈フェリー〉）』。同じ便が有川港に着く（佐世保で乗り換えなし）。 (checked 2026-09-30). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 0 municipalities.

Territory of Shinkamigoto Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

39.0km

Shinkamigoto Town isthis kind of town.

01In Akao, in the Sakiura area, many houses have sandstone slabs (koshi-ita-ishi, 腰板石) set around the lower wall. The town's materials note that such houses are also found off the island, near Neshiko (根獅子) in Hirado.
02The village of Kashiragashima is a World Heritage component, and Kashiragashima Church (頭ヶ島天主堂), whose walls use Goto stone (sandstone), became a national Important Cultural Property in 2001. The brick Aosagaura Church (青砂ヶ浦天主堂, completed in 1910) is also one, both designed and built by Tetsukawa Yosuke (鉄川与助).
03In Arikawa Bay, whaling groups began operating in the early Edo period. In Narao, a town-designated group of 159 gravestones (奈良尾妙典無縁墓碑群) marks fishermen who came from the Hirokawa area of Wakayama around the end of the 16th century, as confirmed in a 1969 survey. The stone pagodas of Hinoshima (日島の石塔群) are a component of a Japan Heritage story.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Shinkamigoto Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗