Kamikitayama Village

An iron fence rings an old tree's base.

Shishinran, Mikumari Shrine

Photo by さかおり (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Winter-retreat cave

In a rock face on Nihondake,a winter-retreat cave opens.

大普賢岳PB242420笙の窟.jpg — Photo by 南無観自在 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Sho-no-Iwaya is a natural cave in the south-facing rock of Nihondake and a training site on the Omine Okugakemichi route. The Agency for Cultural Affairs explains that a winter retreat in Sho-no-Iwaya was said to be among the types of mountain-entering rites by the end of the Kamakura period. A bronze standing statue of Fudo Myoo that came down in the cave, made in Kangi 4 (1232), is prefecturally designated and is now kept at the Nara National Museum.

Winter retreat in Sho-no-Iwaya
Fudo Myoo statue of Kangi 4 (1232)
Prefectural designation, 9 March 1990

02 ／ Waterfall

A straight fall, gentle at normal flow,that keeps people away in high water.

Kakure Falls lies in Higashinokawa, beside National Route 425 near the Mie border. The village writes that the pool can be reached about 100 m from the road, though the path is slippery, and that at normal flow it is a straight drop of gentle appearance but when the water is high it keeps people away. The way from the road to the falls is a mountain path across private land.

Beside Route 425 (Higashinokawa)
About 100 m from the road to the pool
A mountain path across private land

03 ／ Archery rite

A target of thinly shaved cedarhas a circle drawn in burnt willow ash.

Kawai's archery rite has been held on 8 January each year in the rear grounds of Keitoku-ji Temple, and is a prefecturally designated intangible folk cultural property. Four boys serve as archers; apart from the youth association's representative, they are boys from sixth grade to the third year of junior high, the prefecture writes. The village says the rite stems from military drills held by Heike clan members who settled there, hoping to revive their fortunes.

8 January each year
Prefectural designation, 29 March 2002
Four boys as archers

Living here

From Yamato-Kamiichi Station, 104 minutes by bus.

about 1,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway station in the village; the nearest is Yamato-Kamiichi Station on the Kintetsu Yoshino Line, in Yoshino. By the R169 Yuyu Bus timetable (revised October 2021), it is 104 minutes from the station to Kawai, including a 10-minute stop on the way, while the village's own guide says about one and a half hours on the bus.

People living here: 444people
Area: 274.22km²
Households: 265households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 1 clinic

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

Children waiting for childcare: —0 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.

Kamikitayama Village in Japan34.134°N 136.000°E

to Yamato-KamiichiLocal bus104min

Travel times follow 南部地域連携コミュニティバス（R169ゆうゆうバス。奈良交通の運行表示）の時刻表（令和3年10月1日改正）。村公式『バス検索・R169ゆうゆうバスについて』（更新日 2025-01-16）が掲げる PDF（https://www.vill.kamikitayama.nara.jp/material/files/group/1/169buszikokuhyou.pdf・Last-Modified 2024-01-19・保存 $SP/kamikitayama/bus169.pdf）と、奈良交通『コミュニティバス』のページ（https://navi.narakotsu.co.jp/lang/ja/community/・2026-10-14 取得）が掲げる PDF（nanbuchiikirenkei02.pdf・Last-Modified 2024-09-12）は、同じ内容（md5 が一致）。『大和上市駅発→河合着』は平日が上市駅16:00発→河合17:44着、土日祝日が上市駅8:30発→河合10:14着で、どちらも104分（途中の湯盛温泉杉の湯で10分の停車を含む：平日16:35着→16:45発、土日祝9:05着→9:15発。停車を除く乗車は94分）。運行日は『1月4日〜12月28日の平日・土日祝』（8月13日〜15日の平日は平日ダイヤ）で、年末年始（12月29日〜1月3日）は全便運休。村公式『アクセス』（更新日 2024-02-01）は『近鉄大和上市駅よりR169ゆうゆうバス（バス乗車時間約1時間30分）』、同ページのアクセスマップは大和上市駅を『ここから上北山村行きのバスに乗る事が出来ます』と示す。 (checked 2026-10-14). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 9 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Kamikitayama Village

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

23.8km

Nara Prefecture: 下北山村, 川上村, 天川村, 五條市, 十津川村
Mie Prefecture: 尾鷲市, 紀北町, 熊野市, 大台町

Kamikitayama Village isthis kind of town.

01The Shishinran colony is a stand of shishinran growing on an old tree (a tsukubane oak) in the grounds of Mikumari Shrine, designated a national Natural Monument in 1932; the village writes that it blooms with white flowers about 3 cm across around July and that Kamikitayama is the northern limit of its natural range
02Sho-no-Iwaya is one of the training sites where the Omine Okugakemichi, part of the World Heritage site Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range, passes through the village; the cave, the Shishinran colony and the Kawai archery rite of 8 January are components of the Japan Heritage story Yoshino
03About 97% of the village is mountainous. Nishi-Odaigahara, part of Odaigahara, is a use-control zone, and the village writes that a council was set up in 2013 to manage it; the village also keeps the Jizo Bosatsu seated statue of Ryusen-ji Temple (inscribed Oei 6, 1398) and a legend of a one-legged creature on a mountain pass

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Kamikitayama Village official site ↗Wikipedia ↗