Iwami Town

A lord reportedly offered 1,000 kan.

Sengan-Matsushima

Photo by Hashi photo (CC BY 3.0)

01 ／ Stone Road at Shichiyama Pass

The itinerant monk Tajūrō raised fundsand laid a 2m-wide stone road over the pass.

The old road over Shichiyama Pass (駟馳山峠) was a steep slope of red clay in the Edo period. In 1811, Tajūrō, a rokubu (a monk who wandered the provinces) from Bizen, raised donations to help the villagers and laid a stone road 2m wide. People are said to have chanted the nenbutsu as they passed. 152m survives today, known as Rokubu-san Road.

1811: work began
2m wide, 152m surviving
Town-designated historic site

02 ／ Squid Drying at Ajiro and Tajiri Ports

Two ports in one towndry squid in different ways.

At Ajiro Port, squid landed at that morning's market is hung on ropes stretched across the harbor. The belly is dried first, then the back, and the ears last, in a style called "hinnaka-boshi" (ひん中干し). At Tajiri Port, bamboo blinds are laid out from before dawn, and each squid is sun-dried one by one. When rain looms, the blinds are rolled up and taken in.

Ajiro Port: on ropes, "hinnaka-boshi"
Tajiri Port: sun-dried on bamboo blinds

03 ／ Karakawa Iris Colony

In a valley 370 to 400m up,a wetland where irises bloom.

Karakawa Wetland lies in a valley 370 to 400m above sea level and is described as a representative wetland of the Chūgoku region. Small and large wetlands spread along streams and ponds over an area 200m east to west and 800m north to south, and about 100 kinds of wetland plants grow wild. The iris colony blooms from late May to early June and is a national Natural Monument.

370 to 400m above sea level
About 100 kinds of wetland plants
National Natural Monument (designated 1944)

Living here

A hot-spring town where you pour water over a towel-topped head.

about 10,000 people
Rural district town

Iwai Onsen grew up along the Gamo River and is designated a National Recreation Hot Spring. There, a custom called yukamuri (湯かむり) lives on: bathers put a towel on their head and pour hot water over themselves with a ladle. The town faces the Sea of Japan, where the Uradome Coast runs about 15 kilometers east to west.

People living here: 10,799people
Area: 122.31km²
Households: 3,926households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 5 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —3 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 2 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Iwami Town in Japan35.576°N 134.332°E

Territory of Iwami Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

15.9km

Tottori Prefecture: 鳥取市
Hyogo Prefecture: 新温泉町

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

Iwami Town isthis kind of town.

01Sengan-Matsushima (千貫松島) in Ajiro, Iwami, is an island of granite with a sea arch about 10m high, and a single pine grows on top. In the Edo period, Ikeda Tsunakiyo, lord of the Tottori domain, is said to have promised a stipend of 1,000 kan to anyone who could move the pine to his garden, and the island is said to be named for that.
02The stone road over Shichiyama Pass is a 2m-wide old road built by Tajūrō, a rokubu from Bizen, with donations he raised. At Ajiro and Tajiri ports, the same kind of squid is dried differently: on ropes at Ajiro and on bamboo blinds at Tajiri.
03The Karakawa Wetland iris colony is a national Natural Monument, and the iris is also the town flower. At Iwai Onsen, a custom called yukamuri, pouring hot water over a towel-topped head, is handed down.

See the town as it is now.

X@iwami_town ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Iwami Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗