Hidakagawa Town

Edo pagoda where an 8th-century one was.

Dojoji, pagoda and main hall

Photo by 663highland (CC BY 2.5)

01 ／ Nibu Festival (Laughing Festival)

The bell-shaker calls "Laugh, laugh,"and masu bearers with lucky boxes roar.

Of the Nibu Festival, a Prefectural Intangible Folk Cultural Property, the Wasa district's part is the Laughing Festival. On the way back from the otabisho (temporary shrine) to Nibu Shrine, the bell-shaker urges "Laugh, laugh," and 12 masu bearers (13 in leap years) hold up lucky boxes and laugh aloud. One origin is said to be villagers cheering up the goddess Niutsuhime.

Prefectural Intangible Folk Cultural Property
12 masu bearers (13 in leap years)
Every year, the Sunday before Sports Day

02 ／ Shimo-Ataki Shrine

In a shrine with a Muromachi-period hall,a New Year archery rite drives out evil.

The main hall of Shimo-Ataki Shrine in Minase is a prefecturally designated building from the Muromachi period (Meio 3), and the town cites its thick-board roof and frog-leg struts. At the Oyumi archery rite every January 3, also prefectural, people of Miyama, said to descend from samurai, shoot at targets, 16 in all.

Main hall: prefectural designation (Muromachi, Meio 3)
Archery rite every January 3
16 archers

03 ／ Kimichi Shrine

A shrine up a mountain path honorsthe provincial governor the temple's name recalls.

Across a bridge and up a mountain path, a great torii leads to the shrine of Ki no Michinari. The town says Michinari, governor of Kii Province, came to inspect timber for a temple's construction. The temple he meant to build is Dojoji, and its name recalls him.

Enshrines Ki no Michinari
Autumn festival: the Sunday before Sports Day
Galloping horses and a new float every year

Living here

The only station in town is JR Wasa.

about 9,000 people
Rural district town

Wasa Station on the JR Kisei Main Line is the only railway station in the town. On JR Odekake Net (shown October 14, 2026), the Limited Express Kuroshio and Nanki do not stop at Wasa. The town tourism association advises getting off at Dojoji Station (in Gobo) or Wasa Station.

People living here: 9,219people
Area: 331.59km²
Households: 3,592households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 9 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 6 municipalities.

Hidakagawa Town in Japan33.912°N 135.186°E

Territory of Hidakagawa Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

19.0km

田辺市, 有田川町, 印南町, 広川町, 御坊市, 日高町

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

Hidakagawa Town isthis kind of town.

01Dojoji, a temple in Kanemaki, has a main hall that is an Important Cultural Property, a prefecturally designated three-story pagoda, and grounds that are a national historic site. In the 8th-century layout revealed by excavation, the present pagoda stands at the pagoda's position. It is also known as the setting of the Anchin and Kiyohime tale
02The prefecturally designated Nibu Festival is known for the Laughing Festival of Wasa, where the bell-shaker and masu bearers draw laughter. Shimo-Ataki Shrine in Minase has a prefecturally designated main hall and archery rite
03Kimichi Shrine in Sanbyakuse honors Ki no Michinari, the Kii governor the name of Dojoji recalls. Habu Hachiman Shrine has a prefecturally designated ritual in which paired male and female demons dance with a spear and a sasara, and Takatsuo-obara is the birthplace of the kabuki onnagata Yoshizawa Ayame

See the town as it is now.

Facebookhidakagawa ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Hidakagawa Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗