Taga Town

A shrine bridge named after Hideyoshi.

Taiko Bridge, Taga Taisha

Photo by Saigen Jiro (CC0)

01 ／ Akebono elephant

The right forefoot came outwith its digit bones still joined.

In 1993, while an industrial park was being graded in Shide, Taga, bones of an Akebono elephant (Stegodon aurorae) came out of the Kobiwako Group, a layer about 1.8 million years old. They make up about 70% of the skeleton, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs calls the right forefoot, found with its digit bones still articulated, a rare case worldwide. It became a national Natural Monument in 2022.

Layer about 1.8 million years old
About 70% of the skeleton
National Natural Monument, 2022

02 ／ Stone Buddha valley

Stone Buddhas and pagodas lieexposed across the whole slope.

A medieval graveyard on the western foot of Mount Seiryu, about 180 m above sea level, in the valley south of Konomiya Shrine. The Agency for Cultural Affairs says the stone Buddhas and stone monuments number about 1,600. The urns for cremated bones are mostly Seto-Mino and Tokoname ware, with some from Shigaraki, Bizen, Echizen and Suzu. Designated a national Historic Site in 2005; normally closed because restoration is under way.

About 1,600 stone Buddhas and monuments
Graves from the 13th to late 16th century
National Historic Site, 2005

03 ／ Kawachi wind cave

The entrance is about 1 m high.Inside, a great hall opens up.

A limestone cave in Kawachi, Taga, designated a Shiga Prefecture Natural Monument in 1959. The entrance is only about 1 m high, but inside is a broad space called the Ohiroma, or Great Hall. The prefecture's public relations page says the air inside stays at about 12°C all year and that cool wind blows out from the cave at the entrance.

Entrance about 1 m high
Inside about 12°C
Prefectural Natural Monument, 1959

Living here

A town of the Suzuka mountains and two rivers.

about 7,000 people
Rural district town

Taga is in Inukami District. The town says it is embraced by the green Suzuka mountains, with fine forests and the clear streams of the Seri and Inukami rivers. The only railway station in town is Taga Taisha-mae, the terminus of the Ohmi Railway Taga Line, and it is the gateway. From JR, change at Hikone Station to the Ohmi Railway. The Meishin Expressway has the Taga Smart Interchange.

People living here: 7,274people
Area: 135.77km²
Households: 2,506households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 6 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —1 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 7 municipalities across 2 prefectures.

Taga Town in Japan35.222°N 136.292°E

Territory of Taga Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)Lakes: National Land Numerical Information (Lake Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari. Prepared with the approval of the Director-General of the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, using its Digital Map 25000 (Spatial Data Framework) and Digital Map 25000 (Place Names and Public Facilities). (承認番号平27情使、第585号)

North to south

17.4km

Shiga Prefecture: 東近江市, 彦根市, 愛荘町, 甲良町, 米原市
Gifu Prefecture: 大垣市
Mie Prefecture: いなべ市

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

Taga Town isthis kind of town.

01The Taiko Bridge in the grounds of Taga Taisha is a town-designated arched bridge that portable shrines cross at the annual festival; the town records it as built in the Kanei 15 (1638) reconstruction, and the Taga Tourism Association says it is high to hide the worship hall
02The Akebono elephant fossil found in 1993 during industrial park construction makes up about 70% of a skeleton and was designated a national Natural Monument in 2022
03South of Konomiya Shrine lies a medieval graveyard with exposed stone Buddhas and pagodas, a national Historic Site, and in Kawachi a prefectural Natural Monument cave whose entrance is about 1 m high

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Taga Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗