Katsuragi Town

Flowers for a mountain that banned them.

Hanazono, Koyamaki altar flowers

Photo by Indiana jo (CC0)

01 ／ Kono Amida-do Hall

Writing thought to be by Shugendo practitionersremains in the three-bay Amida hall.

Kono is a hamlet in the Katsuragi mountains. Its Amida hall, said to date from 1686, is a component of the Japan Heritage story Katsuragi Shugen. The tourism association writes that goma tags are kept inside and writing thought to be by Shugendo practitioners remains on the building. The Matoba family house main building (1805) in the same Higashitani area is thatched; both are national Registered Tangible Cultural Properties.

Said to date from 1686
National Registered Tangible Cultural Property, 2019
Matoba family house main building, 1805

02 ／ Kaseda Estate map

Fields, forests and 23 residences drawn distinctly:an estate map kept at a shrine.

The map of the Kaseda Estate in Kii Province is held by Horaisan Shrine and became a national Important Cultural Property in 1975. The Agency for Cultural Affairs writes that the estate was donated in 1183 by Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa to Jingo-ji Temple, and that the map, with north at the top, shows the estate between rivers and the halls of a Hachiman shrine. The tourism association writes the estate's name with a different first character. The photo shows the shrine's worship hall.

Important Cultural Property, designated 1975
Donated to Jingo-ji Temple in 1183
23 residences depicted

03 ／ Kasa-ishi

A stone stupa whose shaft piercesa slab made to look like its cap.

Mitanizaka is a pilgrimage road that starts at Niusakadono Shrine and leads to the Choishimichi road. Kasa-ishi, a stupa about 20 minutes' walk from the shrine, has Amida Buddha carved on the west face of its upper shaft, and the town considers it to date from the Nanbokucho period. It is said that Kukai's hat was blown off by the wind and caught on it. Hokire Jizo, higher up the slope, is a town-designated cultural property.

About 20 minutes on foot from the shrine
Considered Nanbokucho period
Hokire Jizo is town-designated

Living here

From Osaka Station, 1 hour 40 minutes with transfers.

about 20,000 people
Rural district town

The town's website gives 1 hour 40 minutes from Osaka Station to Myoji and Kaseda stations by the Osaka Loop Line, the Nankai Koya Line and the JR Wakayama Line (updated 13 June 2024). To reach Hanazono, the town's community bus (daily) runs from Kaseda Station, and by its timetable the 8:00 departure arrives at 9:05.

People living here: 15,967people
Area: 151.69km²
Households: 6,223households
Rent (average for rentals): 29,990yen
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 18 clinics

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

Population from 2005 onward (municipal boundary changed).2005-10-01 に編入合併（花園村）。2005年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —2 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 10 municipalities across 2 prefectures.

Katsuragi Town in Japan34.297°N 135.504°E

Territory of Katsuragi Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

29.5km

Wakayama Prefecture: 高野町, 紀の川市, 有田川町, 九度山町, 紀美野町, 橋本市
Osaka Prefecture: 河内長野市, 和泉市, 岸和田市
Nara Prefecture: 野迫川村

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

Katsuragi Town isthis kind of town.

01The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries writes that on Mt. Koya, where growing flowering trees was banned, koyamaki (Japanese umbrella pine) was used as Buddhist altar flowers, that Hanazono is where it was grown, and that the place name is said to come from this history. With Koya Town and Shimizu in Arida River Town, Hanazono is part of a region certified in February 2021 as a Japanese Nationally Important Agricultural Heritage System
02Kono Amida-do Hall and the Matoba family house main building became national Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2019. The Kaseda Estate map and the Koya-masu measure, owned by the Kashiwagi district, are national Important Cultural Properties, and Hanazono's Onda-mai is a national Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property
03The town lists Mitanizaka, Choishimichi and the Niutsuhime Shrine precinct as components of the World Heritage site Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range. Three structures of the Odai irrigation canal, including the Nakatanigawa Sluice and the Koniwadanigawa Toi aqueduct bridge, became national Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2006

See the town as it is now.

YouTubeChannel ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Katsuragi Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗