Hita City

Rank came from grades, not birth or age.

Kangien, Hirose Tanso's academy

Photo by そらみみ (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Onta Ware

Over 300 years,the same technique has passed down.

In Sarayama, known as Onta Pottery Village (小鹿田焼の里), kilns are said to have opened in 1705. Today all nine kilns trace back to the families who opened them, and the tradition of a single son inheriting each kiln continues. Clay is crushed by water-powered trip hammers called karausu.

Over 300 years of continuous technique
Nine kilns operate today
Tradition: a single son inherits each kiln

02 ／ Mameda-machi

Three great firesprompted a switch to tiled roofs.

Mameda-machi (豆田町) prospered as a merchant quarter under shogunate rule. After fires in 1772, 1880 and 1887, thatched houses gave way to igura-zukuri (居蔵造), tile-roofed buildings with earthen-plastered timber frames. Its grid of streets still traces its early Edo layout, and in 2004 it became a national preservation district for traditional buildings.

Fires in 1772, 1880 and 1887
2004: national preservation district
Grid of 2 north-south, 5 east-west streets

03 ／ Hita Gion Floats

Suspended in 1961,four floats returned over 29 years.

Hita Gion (日田祇園) is part of UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage listing 'Yama, Hoko, Yatai, float festivals' (山・鉾・屋台行事). Nine floats are pulled through the Kuma, Taketa and Mameda districts. Mameda's floats stopped after 1961, then returned one by one, starting with Nakajo-machi in 1986 and ending with Kami-machi in 1990.

2016: added to UNESCO's list
Kuma, Taketa, Mameda: 3 districts, 9 floats
Suspended in 1961, four floats back by 1990

Living here

Cedar forest covers 83% of the city.

about 60,000 people

The cedar, known as Hita-sugi (日田杉), became wood for geta clogs and furniture. In the hills, Oyama's plum-and-chestnut farming is said to have started Oita's One Village One Product movement. In the Edo period, Hita was shogunate land, seat of the Saigoku-suji Gundai (西国筋郡代) magistrate.

People living here: 62,657people
Area: 666.03km²
Households: 25,139households
Rent (average for rentals): 42,102yen
Healthcare: 17 hospitals ／ 50 clinics

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

Population from 2005 onward (municipal boundary changed).2005-03-22 に合併。2005年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —20 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 12 municipalities across 2 prefectures.

Hita City in Japan33.321°N 130.941°E

Territory of Hita City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

48.2km

Oita Prefecture: 玖珠町, 中津市
Fukuoka Prefecture: 八女市, うきは市, 東峰村, 朝倉市, 添田町
Kumamoto Prefecture: 小国町, 菊池市, 南小国町, 阿蘇市, 山鹿市

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

Hita City isthis kind of town.

01Kangien (咸宜園) was Japan's largest private academy of its time, founded by Confucian scholar Hirose Tanso (広瀬淡窓). The sandatsu-ho (三奪法) admitted students regardless of background, and the monthly geppan-hyo (月旦評) posted their grades. About 5,000 students studied here before it closed in 1897. It is a National Historic Site and part of a Japan Heritage story.
02Onta Pottery Village (小鹿田焼の里), said to date from 1705, still keeps the tradition of a single son inheriting each kiln. Its clay-crushing technique, using water-powered karausu, holds both Important Intangible Cultural Property and Important Cultural Landscape designations.
03Mameda-machi (豆田町), a merchant quarter, gained its tile-roofed igura-zukuri houses after three great fires, and became a national preservation district in 2004. In summer, nine floats from the Kuma, Taketa and Mameda districts fill Hita Gion, a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage festival.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Hita City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗