Tanabe City

A stratum holds 'tortoiseshell' fossils.

Kurisugawa Kikkoseki Stratum

Photo by さかおり (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Isoma Rock Shelter Site

Eight stone chambers lie in a rock shelterat the head of Tanabe Bay.

In a rock shelter about 23 m wide at the innermost part of Tanabe Bay, eight stone chambers and five cremation sites were found. Judging from the grave goods, they are thought to date from the late 5th to the first half of the 7th century. Both antler-hilted iron swords from Chamber 1 bear chokkomon motifs. The finds are Important Cultural Properties.

8 chambers, 5 cremation sites
Late 5th to early 7th c.
National Historic Site, 1979

02 ／ Mud Dykes of Torinosu Peninsula

The mud dykes show horizontal sections on the reefand vertical sections in the cliffs.

The designation text says most of the dykes show long horizontal sections on the raised reef on the west side of Torinosu Peninsula, and quite a few show vertical sections in the coastal cliffs. It says the largest are over 2 m wide and that there are several hundred in all. The Tanabe tourism association says dykes run for about 1.5 km at low tide.

National Natural Monument, 1936
Several hundred dykes in all
About 1.5 km at low tide

03 ／ Ose Taiko Dance

Three drummers with drums slung from their necksin white cloth are ringed by dancers with fans.

It is a kind of furyu dance performed in the grounds of the Batokannon hall. The national description says many dance songs carry old-style ditties such as Otera-gayoi, Ocha-tsumi and Ise-odori, and that it keeps the old form of the Bon furyu dance well. The prefecture's folk-culture calendar lists August 13-15.

National selection, 1978
3 drummers
Aug 13-15 (prefecture calendar)

Living here

131 minutes from Osaka on the Limited Express Kuroshio.

about 70,000 people

The city has three JR Kisei Main Line (Kinokuni Line) stations: Kii-Tanabe, Haya and Kii-Shinjo. The Limited Express Kuroshio stops at Kii-Tanabe. From departure at Osaka Station to arrival at Kii-Tanabe Station, the fastest daily service takes 131 minutes (timetable revised October 2026).

People living here: 69,870people
Area: 1,026.89km²
Households: 31,215households
Rent (average for rentals): 39,865yen
Healthcare: 5 hospitals ／ 77 clinics

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

Population from 2005 onward (municipal boundary changed).2005-05-01 に新設合併（龍神村・中辺路町・大塔村・本宮町）。2005年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —17 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.

Tanabe City in Japan33.728°N 135.378°E

to OsakaLtd. exp. Kuroshio131min

Travel times follow JRおでかけネット（JR西日本の時刻検索 timetable.jr-odekake.net。改正日 2026-10-03・『JR時刻表』2026年10月号に基づく）の紀伊田辺駅の駅時刻表（きのくに線・白浜／串本／新宮方面＝station-timetable/3133070001、和歌山／天王寺／新大阪／京都方面＝同3133070002。2026-10-14 に表示）と、そこから開いた列車ごとの『列車時刻表』（運転日と各駅の着発時刻）。夜行バスは明光バス公式の『令和7年4月1日改正時刻表（PDF）』 (checked 2026-10-14). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 10 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Tanabe City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

47.1km

Wakayama Prefecture: みなべ町, 新宮市, 日高川町, 上富田町, 白浜町, 古座川町, 有田川町, 印南町
Nara Prefecture: 十津川村, 野迫川村

Tanabe City isthis kind of town.

01The Kurisugawa Kikkoseki stratum, in Kitago, Nakahechi, is a national Natural Monument; its designation text describes it as a Paleogene stratum containing a fossil of a kind of ancient 'amimo', known as kikkoseki
02The Isoma Rock Shelter Site at the head of Tanabe Bay is a national Historic Site, the mud dykes of Torinosu Peninsula are a national Natural Monument, and the Ose Taiko Dance in Ose, Hongu is a national selected intangible folk cultural property
03The city, merged in 2005 with Ryujin, Nakahechi, Oto and Hongu, also holds Kumano Hongu Taisha, the Nakahechi route of the Kumano pilgrimage roads, Ryujin Onsen, Kashima, a national Natural Monument, and Tenjinzaki

See the town as it is now.

X@tanabecity ↗

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Tanabe City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗