Hidaka Town

Oxen and people changed shoes, it seems.

Kutsukake Oji site, Haratani

Photo by Indiana jo (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Toya lions

Demon lions of four districts take turns,the duty district's one is offered at the shrine.

高家王子.jpg — Photo by Indiana jo (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Taie Oji site is a prefectural historic site owned by Uchihara Oji Shrine. Locals call its annual festival the "autumn festival", and because the duty district's demon lion is offered, it is called the toya lion dance. Lion floats and yotsu-daiko drum teams enter the shrine, and a child shrine maiden performs a dance.

Prefectural historic site, 1958
Demon lions of four districts
Districts take turns as duty district

02 ／ Black bamboo

Planted in Haratani since the early Meiji era,black bamboo turns blackish brown in 1 to 2 years.

Haratani is the district the town describes as Japan's top black bamboo producer, where planting began in the early Meiji era. Cut canes are sorted by blackness and thickness, stripped of oil, straightened and shipped. A prefectural document says output has fallen sharply because of animal damage and disease.

Planting began in the early Meiji era
Blackish brown in 1 to 2 years
Prefecture: output sharply down

03 ／ Priest Tokuhon

The birthplace of a nenbutsu asceticwho walked across Japan is a prefectural site in Shiga.

The priest Tokuhon was born in Shiga in 1758 (Horeki 8) and travelled the country as a nenbutsu ascetic in the Edo period. Tanjoin was founded in 1824 (Bunsei 7), and his birthplace is a prefectural historic site, the Tokuhon Shonin Birthplace Remains. The town says his name-stone monuments number over a thousand nationwide.

Born in 1758 (Horeki 8)
Prefectural historic site, 1958
Name-stone monuments: over a thousand (town)

Living here

Change at Gobo, then 5 minutes on foot from Kii-Uchihara.

about 8,000 people
Rural district town

The town's JR Kisei Main Line station is Kii-Uchihara, where, by the station timetable of 14 October 2026, no limited express stops and only local trains run. The town says to take the limited express to Gobo Station, change to a local train, get off at Kii-Uchihara Station and walk 5 minutes to the town office. The town was formed in 1954 by the merger of three villages: Uchihara, Shiga and Hiizaki.

People living here: 7,673people
Area: 46.21km²
Households: 2,896households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 3 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 5 municipalities.

Hidaka Town in Japan33.926°N 135.141°E

Territory of Hidaka Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

11.6km

美浜町, 由良町, 御坊市, 広川町, 日高川町

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

Hidaka Town isthis kind of town.

01Kutsukake Oji site lies on the Kii-ji route of the Kumano Kodo in Haratani, where the town suggests people and oxen changed shoes to prepare for crossing the pass, and the Kii-ji in Haratani was added to the national historic site in November 2022
02Uchihara Oji Shrine at the Taie Oji site has the toya lion dance, in which demon lions of four districts are offered in turn, and Haratani is the black bamboo district the town calls Japan's top producer, though a prefectural document says output has fallen sharply from animal damage and disease
03Shiga is where the priest Tokuhon was born and his birthplace is a prefectural historic site, the Kii Oji Shrine sutra mound finds in Hii are a nationally designated archaeological material, and Ubuyu has the town-designated Ubuyu Nanatsui wells and banyan trees

See the town as it is now.

X@hidaka_town ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Hidaka Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗