Kamisato Town

Saitama's northern tip, facing Gunma.

Kanna River

Photo by Bakkai (CC BY 3.0)

01 ／ Battle

Sixteen days after Honnō-ji,great armies clashed at the border river.

In June 1582, on hearing of the Honnō-ji Incident, Takigawa Kazumasu set out from Kōzuke to return to Ise. The Hōjō armies of Ujikuni and Ujinao camped on the Kanna River. The Hōjō side lost the first clash on the 18th, but on the 19th some 30,000 Hōjō troops defeated some 18,000 under Takigawa. The fighting centred on Kanakubo in the town, so it is also called the Battle of Kanakubo-hara (金窪原の戦い).

18–19 June 1582
Hōjō army about 30,000
Takigawa army about 18,000

02 ／ River crossing

Nakasendō travellers crossed the Kannaon a plank bridge and a ferry.

The Nakasendō ran through Ishigami, Kanakubo and Teshigawara in the town, then crossed the Kanna River into Kōzuke Province at Shinmachi-juku. Keisai Eisen's 1835 print shows a plank bridge out to a sandbar, a ferry boat and a lantern at the bridge foot. That Mitōshi Tōrō (見透燈籠) lantern, built in 1815, was toppled by a flood and rebuilt, and now stands at Daikōji temple.

Lantern built 1815
Painted by Eisen, 1835
Town Cultural Property

03 ／ Pears

On gravel the Kanna carried down,pears grown since the Edo period.

The nashi pears grown in town are called Kamisato-nashi (上里梨). They are said to date from the Edo period, when Toya Saburozaemon of Shichihongi village grew them, and his grandson Saburō spread the techniques around the area. The gravel beds laid down by the Kanna River drain well and suit pear growing. The town introduces 13 varieties, including Kōsui, Hōsui and Saigyoku, sold at farm stands from summer into autumn.

Since the Edo period
A leading pear area in the prefecture
13 varieties

Living here

1 hour 42 minutes from Tokyo Station, no changes.

about 30,000 people
2 hours to a city centre
Rural district town

The town's station is Jimbohara on the JR Takasaki Line, about 1 hour 42 minutes from Tokyo Station on a through Ueno-Tokyo Line train, and a 10-minute walk from the town office. The Kamisato Smart IC on the Kan-etsu Expressway opened in 2015. The town makes nursery fees free for ages 0–2 on its own, and subsidises medical costs up to the end of the school year in which a child turns 18.

People living here: 30,343people
Area: 29.18km²
Households: 11,856households
Rent (average for rentals): 45,541yen
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 23 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —7 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.

Kamisato Town in Japan36.252°N 139.145°E

to TokyoJR Ueno-Tokyo Line and Takasaki Line102min

Travel times follow 埼玉県の移住サイト「住むなら埼玉」の上里町のページ（移住の問い合わせ先は上里町総務課）の「東京駅→（JR上野東京ライン・高崎線）→神保原駅約1時間42分」。JR東日本の神保原駅の時刻表（2026年10月版・平日下り）から列車ごとの時刻を開き、東京08:36発→神保原10:17着（101分）・東京19:09発→神保原20:51着（102分）・東京09:39発→神保原11:17着（98分）を確かめた（どれも上野・大宮を経る高崎線直通で、乗り換え無し） (checked 2026-09-24). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 5 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Kamisato Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

7.2km

Saitama Prefecture: 本庄市, 神川町
Gunma Prefecture: 玉村町, 高崎市, 藤岡市

Kamisato Town isthis kind of town.

01Saitama's northernmost town, bordering Gunma across the Kanna and Karasu rivers
02Site of the 1582 Battle of Kannagawa, fought by the Hōjō and Takigawa armies just after the Honnō-ji Incident
03The lantern from the Nakasendō's Kanna River crossing survives, and Kamisato-nashi pears have been grown since the Edo period

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Kamisato Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗