Yura Town

Rock fossils: "umeboshi" in dialect.

Monzen no Oiwa, urchin spines

Photo by さかおり (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Shirasaki coast

Exposed limestone reefs linethe Shirasaki shore.

白崎海岸.jpg — Photo by Ubuhouse (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Shirasaki Coast is a reef landscape of Mesozoic limestone laid bare. The prefecture has selected Shirasaki limestone as a notable geological feature. The limestone yields many fossils such as fusulinids and crinoids, and a breeding colony of black-tailed gulls lives on the reefs.

Mesozoic limestone
Selected by the prefecture as notable geology
Black-tailed gull breeding colony

02 ／ Kokoku-ji Temple

In a temple whose hall has a dragon-painted ceiling,the Obon fire festival Toro-yaki is handed down.

The Dharma hall of Rinzai-sect Kokoku-ji was built in 1797 (Kansei 9), a double-roofed hip-and-gable building with a karahafu (curved) gable and chidori-hafu (triangular) gables. It and four other buildings became Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 6 August 2025. The Obon Toro-yaki, in which kiriko lanterns are thrown into the fire, is a Prefectural Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

Dharma hall, 1797 (Kansei 9)
Five Registered Tangible Cultural Properties
Toro-yaki: Prefectural Intangible Folk Cultural Property

03 ／ Ena Festival

Kobiki has child sumo, Fukei the Tobune.Each district offers its own act to the shrine.

The autumn festival of Ena Hachiman Shrine, called the Ena Festival locally, is a prayer for a good catch and a rich harvest. It has been held on the second Saturday and Sunday of October. Each district offers drumming, plus Kobiki's child sumo, Kamiya's child dance, Fukei's Tobune float and more.

Second Saturday and Sunday of October
Ena Festival rites: prefectural designation
Festival order of 1664 (Kanbun 4)

Living here

From Osaka, change at Yuasa to reach Kii-Yura Station.

about 5,000 people
Rural district town

The town's station is Kii-Yura on the JR Kisei Main Line, and the timetable (JR Odekake Net, 14 October 2026) shows every Limited Express Kuroshio passing through. The town's tourist pamphlet (October 2025) says it takes 90 minutes from Osaka Station to Yuasa Station on the Limited Express Kuroshio, then 10 minutes from Yuasa to Kii-Yura on a rapid or local train.

People living here: 5,364people
Area: 30.93km²
Households: 2,261households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 5 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —1 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 2 municipalities.

Yura Town in Japan33.959°N 135.118°E

Territory of Yura Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

7.0km

日高町, 広川町

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

Yura Town isthis kind of town.

01Monzen no Oiwa is a nationally designated Natural Monument of limestone that the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes as rich in fossil spines of the sea urchin relative Cidaris, called "umeboshi" in dialect, and the offshore islet Kuroshima has the Prefectural Natural Monument Hakamakazura northern limit
02Kokoku-ji is a Rinzai-sect temple whose Dharma hall and four other buildings are Registered Tangible Cultural Properties, and the tourist association says its founding priest joined Zen with the shakuhachi and made soy sauce from Kinzanji miso
03Six Prefectural Intangible Folk Cultural Properties exist, among them Toro-yaki, the Ena Festival rites, Kobiki child sumo and Kamiya child dance, with the Yokohama and Ado lion dances offered at Usa Hachiman Shrine, and Yura Morimasa, who opened a horse-drawn omnibus service in 1874, was born in Monzen village

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Yura Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗