Toyosato Town

Harsh drought: steam pumped groundwater.

Tatsugaike pumping station

Photo by 晴耕雨読と夜 (CC0)

01 ／ Ajiki Shrine garden

A pond garden set with islands,said to be made by an immigrant clan.

At Ajiki Shrine there is a garden with many islands in its pond, in a style called pond-with-many-islands. The prefecture designated it a Place of Scenic Beauty in 1960, and the designated area is 16,162 square meters. The town describes the Ajiki clan as immigrants from Baekje, and it is said that Wani was invited to help make the garden.

Prefectural scenic place (1960)
Pond with many islands
Designated area 16,162 sq m

02 ／ Former Toyosato Elementary School

On the staircase railings,there are statues of the hare and the tortoise.

The school building went up in 1937 to a design by William Merrell Vories. Statues of the hare and the tortoise from the fable are set on the stair railings. The official site that the town links to calls this story the most important thing in the school's history. The building became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2013.

1937, designed by Vories
Hare and tortoise statues
Registered 2013

03 ／ Senju-ji Temple and Goshu ondo

A priest chanted sutras to a beat,and the crowd danced all night, it is said.

According to the town, at the dedication ceremony of the rebuilt Senju-ji Temple, the priest chanted a sutra to an ondo tune and began to dance. The onlookers danced on into the night, and that is said to be the start of Goshu ondo. In 1993 Goshu ondo, the fan dance, the painted-parasol dance and the Kannon bon dance were designated an intangible folk cultural property of the town.

At the rebuilding ceremony
Town-designated, 1993
Fan and parasol dances

Living here

One Ohmi Railway station, and 7.80 square kilometers.

about 7,000 people
Rural district town

Toyosato lies in Inukami District, and its area of 7.80 square kilometers is the smallest of any city or town in Shiga. The only station in the town is Toyosato Station on the Ohmi Railway Main Line, which serves as its gateway. The old Nakasendō road runs through the town from north to south, and the former school buildings are about a 10-minute walk from the station.

People living here: 7,132people
Area: 7.8km²
Households: 2,629households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 4 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —2 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

Surrounded by 3 municipalities, and almost entirely flat.

Toyosato Town in Japan35.200°N 136.230°E

Territory of Toyosato 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

4.7km

愛荘町, 彦根市, 甲良町

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

Toyosato Town isthis kind of town.

01Tatsugaike pumping station was built after the severe drought of 1909 to draw up groundwater with a steam pump, was completed in 1913, and was registered as a World Heritage Irrigation Structure in 2024
02Ajiki Shrine has a prefecturally designated garden of a pond with many islands, and the stairs of the former Toyosato Elementary School have statues of the hare and the tortoise
03The town says that Goshu ondo began when a priest at the rebuilding ceremony of Senju-ji Temple set a sutra to a tune and began to dance

See the town as it is now.

YouTubeChannel ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Toyosato Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗