Tadaoka Town

Plover and sandbar haiku, set in stone.

Otsu River estuary, the river in the haiku

Photo by 切干大根 (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Byakushin

A prefectural natural monument:five byakushin junipers, all huge.

The byakushin junipers in the grounds of Eifukuji Temple are a natural monument designated by Osaka Prefecture. The prefecture writes that all five are huge trees in vigorous health, held up by thick cedar props, and that they were chosen for the Osaka Midori no Hyakusen (Osaka's Green 100). A tradition says a retainer of Kiso Yoshinaka brought them from Mt. Ibuki and replanted them; the town also calls them the five "ibuki" trees.

Osaka Prefecture natural monument
All five trees are huge
Osaka Midori no Hyakusen

02 ／ Hakamise

On 13 August, stalls line about 500 mof the road to the cemetery.

Hakamise ("grave stalls") is the town's name for the open-air stalls that appear every year on 13 August, during Obon. The town says families in Tadaoka had a custom of visiting graves from evening into the night, lantern in hand, to avoid the summer sun, and that stalls are also said to have begun appearing along the road one by one. Today they line both sides for about 500 m to the Tadaoka cemetery.

Every 13 August
About 500 m to the cemetery
Grave visits by lantern, from evening

03 ／ Town area

Since the town-and-village system of 1889,the town's area has not changed.

On 1 April 1889 (Meiji 22), when the town-and-village system took effect, Tadaoka and three neighbouring villages merged into Tadaoka Village, which became a town on 1 October 1939. The town says its area has not changed in the hundred-odd years since. With an area of 3.97 km², the town calls itself "the smallest town in Japan".

Town-and-village system, 1 April 1889
Town status, 1 October 1939
Area 3.97 km² (town)

Living here

To Namba, 33 minutes without changing.

about 20,000 people
Rural district town

The only railway station in the town is Tadaoka Station on the Nankai Main Line. By the Nankai timetable, the fastest daily train from Namba is a local at 33 minutes. Express and limited express trains pass through, and the semi-express stops only on weekday mornings. The town gives the town office as about 500 m east of the station, and also writes that central Osaka is about 30 minutes away.

People living here: 16,567people
Area: 3.97km²
Households: 6,749households
Rent (average for rentals): 49,324yen
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 14 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —3 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.

Tadaoka Town in Japan34.487°N 135.401°E

to OsakaNankai Main Line local33min

Travel times follow 南海電鉄『駅の時刻表』（kensaku.nankai.co.jp。ページに「2024年12月21日現在」）。忠岡駅（南海本線・slCode=306-18）の『なんば方面』の平日（2026-10-14 の表）91本・土休日（2026-10-17 の表）77本の全列車について、各列車の停車駅表（T7）を1本ずつ開いて、忠岡『発』→難波『着』を数えた。逆向きは、難波駅（slCode=306-0）の『和歌山市・関西空港方面』のうち忠岡に停まりうる種別（普通・区間急行）の平日81本・土休日74本の停車駅表を開き、難波『発』→忠岡『着』を数えた。 (checked 2026-10-14). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 3 municipalities.

Territory of Tadaoka Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

3.8km

岸和田市, 泉大津市, 和泉市

Tadaoka Town isthis kind of town.

01In the grounds of Tadaoka Shrine stand haiku monuments for three generations: Takahama Kyoshi, Takahama Toshio and Inahata Teiko. The town says the monuments of Kyoshi and Toshio were erected in 1971 (Showa 46) and Teiko's in 1989 (Heisei 1). The town's chamber of commerce guide says Kyoshi's haiku was composed at Sakai Ohama, and that the other two were written with the plovers that flocked on the Tadaoka shore and the sandbar of the Otsu River in mind
02The byakushin of Eifukuji Temple are a natural monument designated by Osaka Prefecture, five trees in the grounds. Hakamise is the collective name for the stalls that line the road of about 500 m to the Tadaoka cemetery every 13 August, during Obon; the town lists it as one of its traditional customs
03Tadaoka and three neighbouring villages merged in 1889 to form Tadaoka Village, which became a town in 1939. The town writes that its area has not changed since 1889. The only railway station in the town is Tadaoka Station on the Nankai Main Line

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Tadaoka Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗