Kamimine Town

Irrigation, defense, road? Views split.

Tsutsumi Earthwork, hill barrier

Photo by Peka (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Chinzeizan Castle Ruins

"When and by whom the castle was built" is unknown,the town says: no records from the time.

On the summit area of Mt. Chinzei (鎮西山, 202 m) lie the ruins of a medieval mountain castle with moats and earthen banks. Excavations mainly turned up Chinese ceramics from the mid-12th to early 13th century, including a Southern Song Taihi tenmoku tea bowl (玳玻天目茶碗). The town board of education raises the possibility that a facility tied to a mountain temple or Shugendo stood here before the castle.

Summit: 202 m above sea level
Celadon-white porcelain lidded boxes: 5 pieces' worth
Finds mainly from the mid-12th to early 13th century

02 ／ Futatsukayama Gohondani Site

Found in excavations for an industrial park,the burial ground's near-center was preserved as green space.

The Futatsukayama Gohondani Site (二塚山五本谷遺跡) is a prefectural historic site where excavations for an industrial park in 1973-78 confirmed a cemetery from the Yayoi to Nara periods. It has 40 jar-coffin graves and 76 earthen-pit graves, and three bronze mirrors including a Seihaku mirror (清白鏡) were buried with the dead. Finds from the Futatsukayama Site (二塚山遺跡), which straddles Yoshinogari Town, are a national Important Cultural Property.

40 jar-coffin graves, 76 earthen-pit graves
Grave goods: 3 bronze mirrors including a Seihaku mirror
Futatsukayama Site finds: national Important Cultural Property

03 ／ Buried forest of the Yato Hills

About 3 m under a rice paddy lay a forestfelled by a pyroclastic flow.

In February 1993, digging down about 3 m to prepare a paddy field turned up a giant tree 22 m long and 1.5 m across. The trees lay with roots to the east and tops to the west, and the town explains them as the remains of a forest felled by the Aso-4 pyroclastic flow about 90,000 years ago. The giant tree's age is estimated at 700-800 years.

Aso-4 pyroclastic flow: about 90,000 years ago
Giant tree: 22 m long, 1.5 m across, estimated 700-800 years old
Part of the materials on display at the Kamimine Furusato Gakkan

Living here

12.5 km north to south, 1 km at its narrowest east to west.

about 9,000 people
Rural district town

The town lies near the center of eastern Saga Prefecture, a long band running north to south, with hills and uplands in the north and an alluvial plain in the south. The town's own site says its shape looks like "a sword pointing at the sky." Its area is 12.80 km² and its population 9,286 (2020 census). There is no railway station in town; the town site gives the nearest JR stations, Yoshinogari-koen and Nakahara, as about 10 minutes away by car. Four villages merged in 1889 to form Kamimine Village, which became a town in 1989.

People living here: 9,286people
Area: 12.8km²
Households: 3,598households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 7 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.

Kamimine Town in Japan33.320°N 130.426°E

to SagaLocal bus44min

Travel times follow 西日本鉄道『にしてつ時刻表』（https://jik.nishitetsu.jp/）の経路検索。2026-10-05（月）の平日ダイヤ（10月1日以降の日付）で、40番（西鉄久留米行き。佐賀駅バスセンター→神埼→目達原→長門石→JR久留米）が 9:14発→下津毛（佐賀県上峰町）9:58着＝44分（10:04→10:48、11:04→11:48、12:04→12:48 も44分）。乗り換えなしで町内の停留所に着く (checked 2026-09-30). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 3 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Kamimine Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

11.6km

Saga Prefecture: みやき町, 吉野ヶ里町
Fukuoka Prefecture: 那珂川市

Kamimine Town isthis kind of town.

01Tsutsumi Earthwork (堤土塁跡) is a bank built to close off the Yato Hills (八藤丘陵) and Futatsukayama Hills (二塚山丘陵) extending south from Mt. Chinzei, 300 m in total, and a Saga Prefecture historic site. It was built with the hanchiku rammed-earth technique of stacking different soils in layers and pounding them, and is estimated to date from around the 7th to 8th century. Theories on its purpose include an irrigation facility, a defensive facility, a road and a combination of these.
02In the grounds of Funaishi-gu Tenjin Shrine (船石宮天神社) at the Funaishi Site (船石遺跡, a prefectural historic site) stand huge stones called Funaishi, Kameishi and Hanaji-ishi. Funaishi gave the district its name. The town also has the Tsukimeka Royal Tomb (都紀女加王墓), a 50 m keyhole-shaped tumulus that is now the town's tumulus park.
03Meta Furyu (米多浮立) is a prefectural Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, dedicated every two years at the autumn festival of Oimatsu Shrine (老松神社) in the Maemuta district. The town site announces the 2026 dedication for October 24 and 25.

See the town as it is now.

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Source: Wikidata (P2002, P2003, P2013, P2397)

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Kamimine Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗