Soja City

A princess's grave, so named, had bats.

Koumorizuka Kofun

01 ／ Red Rice Offerings at the Two Kokushi Shrines of Shinpon

Parishioners grow red riceand offer it to the gods at the Shimotsuki festival.

Shinpon has two Kokushi shrines, one in Honjo and one in Shinjo. Parishioners grow red rice in the shrine fields and in the paddies of the year's festival hosts. At the Shimotsuki festival on the 15th day of the 11th lunar month, unhusked rice and cooked rice are offered to the gods, and worshippers are served red-rice amazake. It is a prefectural Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

Two Kokushi shrines, in Honjo and Shinjo
Shimotsuki festival on the 15th day of the 11th lunar month
Prefectural Intangible Folk Cultural Property (1985)

02 ／ Water Gates of Kinojo

The ancient mountain fortress, with four valleys inside,set six water gates.

Kinojo (鬼ノ城) has a wall of about 2.8 km around the mountaintop and four valleys inside. Six water gates handled the valley water; each has a stone-walled lower part and a rammed-earth upper part. The drainage channel was built at the very top of the stonework. The fortress is said to have been the stronghold of Ura.

Wall of about 2.8 km
Six water gates and four castle gates
National Historic Site (1986)

03 ／ Sōja Shrine

A shrine enshrining the gods of all Bitchū Provinceis the source of the city's name.

備中国総社宮三島式庭園.jpg — Photo by 高塚玲 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

A sōja was built near the provincial office so that officials would not have to visit every shrine in the province in turn, and gathered the gods in one place. Bitchū's Sōja Shrine enshrines the gods of 324 shrines. The upper part of the city emblem represents the shrine's chigi and katsuogi roof ornaments.

Gods of 324 shrines enshrined
Emblem represents chigi and katsuogi
Municipal Historic Site "Sōja-ato" (1994)

Living here

Graduates' workplaces, the city decided, are the city's to provide.

about 70,000 people

Sōja lies in southwestern Okayama, bordering Okayama City to the east and Kurashiki to the south. After a prefectural special-needs school was sited in Kurashiki instead, the city began an employment program for people with disabilities in fiscal 2011, reached its goal of 1,000 in May 2017, and now aims for 1,500.

People living here: 69,030people
Area: 211.9km²
Households: 27,110households
Rent (average for rentals): 47,198yen
Healthcare: 3 hospitals ／ 46 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: —14 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 6 municipalities.

Soja City in Japan34.673°N 133.746°E

Territory of Soja City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

17.7km

倉敷市, 岡山市, 吉備中央町, 高梁市, 矢掛町, 井原市

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

Soja City isthis kind of town.

01Koumorizuka Kofun (こうもり塚古墳) is a keyhole-shaped tomb of the late 6th century in Kanbayashi. It was once held to be the grave of Kurohime of Kibi and also called Kurohime-zuka, but took its present name because many bats lived in its stone chamber.
02The five-story pagoda of Bitchū Kokubunji has 104 painted panels in its ceiling and is the only one in the prefecture. Hōfukuji is said to be where Sesshū trained as a boy, with an anecdote of a mouse drawn in tears; its three-story pagoda is an Important Cultural Property.
03The Takahashi River runs north to south through the city, which borders Okayama City to the east and Kurashiki to the south. In 2005 Sōja, Yamate and Kiyone merged, and the city keeps a name derived from Bitchū's Sōja Shrine.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Soja City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗