Mashiko Town

The line ended; retainers kept watch.

Utsunomiya clan graves, Kami-Ōba

Photo by C2revenge (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Three-storied pagoda

First tier Wayō, third tier Karayō:two styles in one pagoda.

The prefecture's commentary attributes Saimyō-ji's pagoda to a lord of the Mashiko clan. Each of its three tiers is three bays wide; the first tier is Wayō and the third Karayō. For the second, the prefecture says Wayō, while the town and the temple say Setchūyō. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to 1537, and the finial base bears the inscription Tenbun 7.

First tier Wayō, third Karayō
Dated 1537 by the Agency for Cultural Affairs
Finial inscription: Tenbun 7

02 ／ Burial mound

One of 28 mounds,thought to be the chief one.

Twenty-eight mounds have been confirmed on Arakyūdai, and Tennōzuka is thought to be the chief of them. Waseda University excavated it in three rounds in 1954-55. The mound holds a stone chamber entered by a passage, its ceiling stone about 2.2 m below the top. The burial chamber is 4.55 m long. Ring-pommel swords and a helmet came out, and the mound is thought to date from the late 5th to early 6th century.

28 mounds on Arakyūdai
Burial chamber 4.55 m long
Late 5th to early 6th century

03 ／ Pottery

In 1903, a training school openedin a borrowed kiln yard.

The Mashiko Tōki Denshūjo, a school for training potters, opened in 1903 (Meiji 36), together with the founding of the pottery trade association. The town says it borrowed the kiln yard of the association head, Ōtsuka, who served as principal and taught ceramic techniques. It became a town school in 1913 and a prefectural ceramics institute in 1939.

Opened 1903
Town school, 1913
Prefectural, 1939

Living here

150 minutes from Akihabara by express bus.

about 20,000 people
Rural district town

The town divides into Nanai in the north, Mashiko in the middle and Tano in the south, and covers 89.40 km². The Moka Railway serves Mashiko and Nanai stations. From Akihabara, an Ibaraki Kotsu express bus on a daily run takes 150 minutes to Mashiko Station; the town's migration site also says about two and a half hours.

People living here: 21,898people
Area: 89.4km²
Households: 7,813households
Rent (average for rentals): 46,455yen
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 15 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.

Mashiko Town in Japan36.467°N 140.093°E

to AkihabaraHighway bus150min

Travel times follow 茨城交通（事業者公式）『関東やきものライナー益子・笠間─秋葉原駅』の時刻表（2026年7月18日改正）。秋葉原駅発の下り『毎日』運行便は 15:10発→益子駅 17:40着、17:10発→益子駅 19:40着（いずれも150分）。益子町の移住定住サイト『ましこの暮らし』の『益子町までのアクセス』も『高速バス（茨城交通「関東やきものライナー」）：片道約2時間30分（秋葉原⇔益子）』と書く (checked 2026-10-08). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 4 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Mashiko 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

14.3km

Tochigi Prefecture: 茂木町, 真岡市, 市貝町
Ibaraki Prefecture: 桜川市

Mashiko Town isthis kind of town.

01The Utsunomiya clan graves in Kami-Ōba, a prefectural historic site, hold 29 gorintō. The prefecture and the town say retainers living in Ōba kept watch over them after the line ended. Kami-Ōba also has three nationally designated Important Cultural Properties, including the Jizō-in main hall
02Saimyō-ji's three-storied pagoda, an Important Cultural Property, has a Wayō first tier and a Karayō third tier. Tennōzuka tomb on Arakyūdai has a stone chamber with a 4.55 m burial chamber
03The Mashiko Tōki Denshūjo, opened in 1903, trained craftsmen, later became a town school and then a prefectural ceramics institute, and is certified as one of the town's Mashiko Seken Isan

See the town as it is now.

Facebooktown.mashiko ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Mashiko Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗