Masuda City

Two gardens, said to be made by Sesshū.

Manpuku-ji and Ikō-ji gardens

Photo by **jpg (CC BY-SA 2.0)

01 ／ Takatsu Kakinomoto Shrine

Kakinomoto no Hitomaro is said to have ended his life here.Kamoshima, where he was enshrined, is said to have sunk in an earthquake and tsunami.

Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, a poet of the Man'yōshū, is said to have served as an official of the Iwami provincial government and ended his life at Kamoshima. The island, where a shrine to him once stood off the mouth of the Masuda River, is said to have sunk in an earthquake and tsunami in 1026 (Manju 3), his sacred image later drifting ashore at Takatsu-Matsuzaki. In recent years, traces of that event were scientifically surveyed, drawing public attention.

Said to have sunk in the 1026 earthquake and tsunami
Assigned to the Iwami provincial government after 701
Hassaku Festival, with yabusame, held every September 1

02 ／ Nakazu Higashihara Ruins

A landing stage was found at the mouth of the Masuda River.Ceramics from Korea and Thailand turned up there, too.

Nakazu Higashihara Ruins, the site of a medieval port town, became a National Historic Site in 2014. Along the shore of a former lagoon, a cobblestone landing stage about 40m long and up to 10m wide was uncovered. Finds include Chinese ceramics as well as 15th-century wares from the Korean Peninsula and Thailand, and the local Masuda clan is thought to have been involved.

2014: designated a National Historic Site
Cobblestone landing stage: about 40m long, up to 10m wide
Korean and Thai ceramics also found

03 ／ Hikimi Wasabi

Cultivation is said to have begun in the early Bunsei era.Now special-needs school students are working to revive the fields.

In Hikimi, wasabi cultivation is said to have begun in the early Bunsei era (around 1818), using wild wasabi that grew there. Techniques from Shizuoka were introduced in the Taishō era, and by the Showa era the wasabi was also shipped to the Hanshin region. Production declined for lack of successors, but since fiscal 2024 students from Masuda School for Special Needs Education have been working to revive wasabi fields in Sumikawa, Hikimi, aiming for their first harvest in spring 2027.

Cultivation said to have begun around 1818 (early Bunsei era)
FY1984: 20.163ha under cultivation (Hikimi Agricultural Cooperative survey)
Special-needs school students reviving the fields since FY2024

Living here

A town of two faces: the Sea of Japan and mountain valleys.

about 50,000 people

Masuda, the leading city of western Iwami, spans a coastal plain on the Sea of Japan and mountainous terrain reaching into the Chugoku Mountains. The Takatsu and other rivers flow through the city to the sea. In 2004 it merged with the former towns of Mito and Hikimi to form its present area. In the medieval period the Masuda clan ruled from Miyake Odoi and Nanao Castle, and along the coast lies Karaoto no Jagan, a national natural monument rock dike.

People living here: 45,003people
Area: 733.19km²
Households: 18,870households
Rent (average for rentals): 35,747yen
Healthcare: 3 hospitals ／ 47 clinics

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

Population from 2005 onward (municipal boundary changed).2004-11-01 に合併。2005年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —24 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.

Masuda City in Japan34.675°N 131.843°E

to OsakaHighway bus450min

Travel times follow JRバス中国公式サイト「浜田道エクスプレス（大阪-三次・浜田・江津・益田）」の路線詳細ページ。101号線：大阪駅（JR高速バスターミナル）9:20発→益田駅前16:50着 (checked 2026-09-26). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 8 municipalities across 2 prefectures.

Territory of Masuda City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

43.0km

Shimane Prefecture: 津和野町, 浜田市, 吉賀町
Hiroshima Prefecture: 廿日市市, 安芸太田町, 北広島町
Yamaguchi Prefecture: 萩市, 岩国市

Masuda City isthis kind of town.

01Masuda is home to the gardens of Manpuku-ji and Ikō-ji temples, both said to have been made by the painter-priest Sesshū and both National Historic Sites and Scenic Spots.
02Takatsu Kakinomoto Shrine enshrines the Man'yōshū poet Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, and keeps the legend of Kamoshima, an island said to have sunk in an earthquake and tsunami. Nearby, the Nakazu Higashihara Ruins mark the site of a medieval port town.
03In Hikimi, wasabi cultivation said to date from the early Bunsei era is now something special-needs school students are working to revive.

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Masuda City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗