Aridagawa Town

Locals call a river-bend paddy "island."

Aragijima, fan-shaped terraces

Photo by Kansai explorer (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Uwayu channel

The Uwayu channel, opened in 1655,is managed by the tado water association.

三田・清水の農山村景観8.JPG — Photo by Indiana jo (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Uwayu is an irrigation channel that Kasamatsu Sadayu opened in 1655 (Meireki 1) by building a weir; the Agency for Cultural Affairs writes that it made rice farming on Aragijima possible. It is 3.2 km long. Channels are called yu and the water associations tado; they choose a head (butou) and keep a water keeper to manage it.

Opened in Meireki 1 (1655)
3.2 km long, about 13.5 ha irrigated
Uwayu tado: about 50 households (2016 report)

02 ／ Omoko and Doto rite

Twelve omoko households approvea three-year-old's entry into the village.

This nationally designated Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property has been held on the 8th day of the first lunar month in Ao, in the former town of Shimizu. Its setting, the thatched three-bay Kichijoji Yakushido of Oei 34 (1427), is a national Important Cultural Property. The town's culture-award text says the rite proceeds in silence apart from the opening and closing greetings.

Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, 2005
Omoko: 12 households
Yakushido of Oei 34 (1427)

03 ／ Onda-mai

A field-play dance in which a father-in-lawand son-in-law act out rice farming.

The Onda-mai of Suginohara is a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. Led by father-in-law and son-in-law roles, it acts out farming from ploughing to hulling, on the stage of Ujakuji Amidado, an Important Cultural Property. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes a thatched five-bay hall said to have been moved in Eisho 11. The prefecture writes that public performances have been suspended since February 2018.

Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, 1987
Amida hall: about Eisho 11 (c. 1514)
Public performances suspended since February 2018

Living here

88 minutes from Osaka Station by limited express.

about 30,000 people
90 min to a city centre
Rural district town

The only railway station in the town is JR Fujinami Station on the Kinokuni Line, in the Kibi area. The town says some limited expresses from Shin-Osaka stop there. By the JR timetable, the daily Kuroshio takes 88 minutes from Osaka Station and 93 from Shin-Osaka. The town formed from the merger of Kibi, Kanaya and Shimizu in 2006 and says it is the largest town or village in the prefecture.

People living here: 25,258people
Area: 351.84km²
Households: 9,506households
Rent (average for rentals): 44,147yen
Healthcare: 3 hospitals ／ 28 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.

Aridagawa Town in Japan34.057°N 135.216°E

to OsakaLtd. exp. Kuroshio88min

Travel times follow JRおでかけネット（JR西日本の時刻検索 timetable.jr-odekake.net）の区間時刻表『きのくに線（紀勢本線）（京都／天王寺～新宮）』と『（新宮～天王寺／京都）』（2026-10-14〈水〉表示。JR時刻表2026年10月号に基づく）と、くろしお各列車の詳細ページ（運転日『毎日運転』と各駅の着発時刻） (checked 2026-10-14). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 9 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Aridagawa Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

17.0km

Wakayama Prefecture: 日高川町, 紀美野町, 海南市, 湯浅町, かつらぎ町, 田辺市, 広川町, 有田市
Nara Prefecture: 野迫川村

Aridagawa Town isthis kind of town.

01Aragijima is the terraced paddies of Aragi Island, on a fan-shaped terrace shaped by the sharply bending Arida River. The town gives about 2.4 ha of paddies in 54 plots and six farmers, and says locals simply call it "the island"
02The Aragijima and Mita-Shimizu farming-village landscape (110.7 ha), including the Uwayu channel, was selected as a national Important Cultural Landscape in 2013. The selection reasons also mention Yasuda paper, made from paper-mulberry, and sansho on the hill fields
03The town also has Fujinami Yakata Site, part of the national Historic Site of the Yuasa-to castles, shared with Yuasa; Yoshiwara Site, part of the national Historic Site of the Myoe Kishu sites and, the town says, Myoe's birthplace; and the Poppo-michi path on a former rail line (5.2 km)

See the town as it is now.

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Aridagawa Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗