Karatsu City

The stone wall took ten years from 1926.

Warabino, Nangawara high wall

Photo by gtknj (CC BY 2.0)

01 ／ Nakao Residence of a Whaling-Group Owner (鯨組主中尾家屋敷)

The north wing was the home, the south wing the whalers' office.Two wings make up one residence.

The Nakao family of Yobuko were owners of a whaling group who prospered on whaling based on Ogawajima (小川島). The main house consists of a north wing that served as a dwelling and a south wing that was the whaling group's office, and it took its present form by 1783 (Tenmei 3) at the latest. The group employed some 600 men, including harpooners and sailors.

Main house is a Saga Prefecture Important Cultural Property (designated 2012)
Present form by 1783 at the latest (city website)
Some 600 men employed (Japan Fisheries Infrastructure Association)

02 ／ Udono Stone Buddhas

A 1594 record says Kūkai carved them;the surviving statues date from the early 14th century or later.

A group of cliff-carved Buddhas cut into a hill along the middle Matsuura River. Tradition holds that Kūkai stopped here in 806 (Daidō 1) and carved three figures, an account recorded in 1594 (Bunroku 3). Yet none of the roughly 60 surviving statues dates to the Heian period; the oldest are of the early 14th century.

Saga Prefecture Historic Site (designated 1956)
Roughly 60 statues survive (city website)
Kūkai tradition recorded in 1594 (Bunroku 3) (city website)

03 ／ Kakarashima and the Legend of King Muryeong's Birth

According to the Nihon Shoki, Baekje's King Muryeongis said to have been born at Obiya Bay.

According to the Nihon Shoki, Obiya Bay (オビヤ浦) on Kakarashima (加唐島) is said to be where Muryeong, the 25th king of Baekje, was born. The island has a birth monument, and at the 24th birth festival in June 2025, 77 people gathered before it, including 35 visitors from Gongju.

25th king of Baekje (Saga Prefecture tourism site)
24th birth festival held on June 7, 2025 (city website)
35 visitors from Gongju; 77 people in all (city website)

Living here

About 36 km east to west and 30 km north to south; the city runs from mountains to islands.

about 120,000 people

The total area is about 487.60 km², roughly 20% of the prefecture. The Sefuri mountains lie in the east, the plain of the Matsuura River in the middle and hills in the west, and the city faces the Genkai Sea to the north, with islands such as Kamishima, Ogawajima and Kakarashima off its coast. It merged with surrounding towns and a village in 2005 and took in Nanayama village in 2006.

People living here: 117,373people
Area: 487.58km²
Households: 44,192households
Rent (average for rentals): 43,348yen
Healthcare: 15 hospitals ／ 101 clinics

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

Population from 2010 onward (municipal boundary changed).2005-01-01 に合併。2005年調査から市域が変わっている。2006-01-01 に編入合併（七山村）。2010年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —40 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 across 1 prefectures.

Karatsu City in Japan33.450°N 129.968°E

Territory of Karatsu City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

37.9km

Saga Prefecture: 伊万里市, 玄海町, 佐賀市, 多久市, 武雄市
Fukuoka Prefecture: 糸島市

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

Karatsu City isthis kind of town.

01Warabino's terraced rice fields spread over about 36 ha on the northern foot of Mt. Hachiman, and nearly 700 plots survive. The stone wall at Nangawara (南川原) stands 8.5 m high and was built from 1926 over ten years by stone masons called ishigaki tōryō (石垣棟梁) together with the communal work of temakō (手間講). The terraces are a nationally selected Important Cultural Landscape.
02The hikiyama float festival of Karatsu Kunchi (唐津くんち) is a nationally designated Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, Niji-no-Matsubara (虹の松原) is a Special Place of Scenic Beauty, and the Nagoya Castle Ruins and Camp Sites (名護屋城跡並陣跡) are a Special Historic Site. The Handōgameshimo kiln site (飯洞甕下窯跡) of Karatsu ware is one of the national Historic Sites known as the Hizen Pottery Kiln Sites (肥前陶器窯跡).
03The Yobuko Great Tug-of-War (呼子大綱引) is a nationally designated Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, held on the first Saturday of June and the following Sunday, with the town split into the Oka and Hama teams. The former Karatsu Bank Head Office (旧唐津銀行本店), a brick building of 1912 said to have been overseen by Tatsuno Kingo, is a Saga Prefecture Important Cultural Property.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Karatsu City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗