Ageo City

The shrine and its bearers end up in mud.

Hirakata doroinkyo

Photo by 京浜にけ (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Doroinkyo

A plain wooden shrine,rolled through muddy yards.

At the Gion festival of Yaeda Shrine (八枝神社) in Hirakata-Kamishuku, the undecorated white-wood inkyo mikoshi (いんきょ神輿) is rolled in yards soaked with water, until the portable shrine and its bearers are covered in mud. The joint procession of four districts ended after 1923, and Kamishuku fully revived it in 1973. Since 2011 it has been an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Saitama Prefecture.

Plain white-wood inkyo mikoshi
Revived by Kamishuku in 1973
Prefectural cultural property since 2011

02 ／ Half marathon

Run the same roadas Hakone Ekiden regulars.

The Ageo City Half Marathon (上尾シティハーフマラソン) holds its 39th race in 2026. The half takes 5,500 runners, and many universities that regularly run the Hakone Ekiden enter the university men's division. The flat out-and-back course through the city is certified by World Athletics and the JAAF, finishing at the Ageo Sports Park athletics stadium. The top two Japanese university runners are invited to the New York City Half.

39th race in 2026
5,500 places in the half
World Athletics and JAAF certified

03 ／ Park

They drained the pondand caught 5,000 bluegill.

Ageo Maruyama Park (上尾丸山公園) opened in 1978, and its Big Pond covers about 2 ha. In December 2019, the city and about 270 people, including the volunteer group Ageo Mizubemori (上尾水辺守), drained the ponds and caught the fish, removing 5,160 bluegill and other non-native species. The next year, little grebes were confirmed breeding on the Big Pond for the first time.

About 270 people caught the fish
5,160 bluegill
Little grebes first bred in 2020

Living here

42 minutes to Tokyo, 38 to Shinjuku.

about 230,000 people

From Ageo Station on the JR Takasaki Line, trains reach Tokyo Station in about 42 minutes and Shinjuku Station in about 38, both without changing. City Hall is about an 8-minute walk from the east exit of Ageo Station. In the east of the city are Haraichi and Shonan stations on the Saitama New Urban Transit (New Shuttle), and the city counts 146 urban parks, large and small.

People living here: 226,940people
Area: 45.51km²
Households: 96,559households
Rent (average for rentals): 55,574yen
Healthcare: 5 hospitals ／ 123 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —35 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.

Ageo City in Japan35.977°N 139.593°E

to TokyoJR Ueno-Tokyo Line and Takasaki Line42min
to ShinjukuJR Shonan-Shinjuku Line38min

Travel times follow 市公式「市勢要覧テキストデータ」（2023-12-22 更新）の「ＪＲ高崎線の上尾駅から東京駅まで約42分、新宿駅まで約38分」。JR東日本の上尾駅の時刻表（2026年10月版・平日の上り）で、東京行き（上野東京ライン）と新宿行き（湘南新宿ライン）の直通があることと、列車ごとの時刻を確かめた (checked 2026-09-24). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 6 municipalities.

Territory of Ageo City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

9.3km

さいたま市, 桶川市, 伊奈町, 川越市, 川島町, 蓮田市

Ageo City isthis kind of town.

01The Hirakata doroinkyo, in which a plain wooden portable shrine is rolled through muddy yards, lives on in the Gion festival of Yaeda Shrine in Hirakata-Kamishuku
02The Ageo City Half Marathon, where students from Hakone Ekiden regular universities also run, reaches its 39th race in 2026
03At Ageo Maruyama Park, citizens drained the pond to catch non-native fish and are turning it back into a home for native wildlife

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Ageo City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗