Shimokomatsu Kofun Cluster, Kawanishi Town
Article

06382 ／ かわにしまち

Yamagata Prefecture 東置賜郡

Kawanishi Town

Seven autumn flowers grow among tombs.

Shimokomatsu Kofun Cluster

Photo by MChew (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Stone towers

Six town-designated towers for plants,erected between 1816 and 1868.

A somoku-to is a tower for holding memorial services for the souls that dwell in grass and trees, and the town says they are concentrated in the Okitama region. The town designated six in 2021. The one at Zuikoji Temple is recorded as built to commemorate cedars felled in the temple grounds on orders of the Yonezawa domain.

  • Town-designated folk property, March 26, 2021
  • Six towers, built 1816 to 1868
  • 22 confirmed town-wide (town page)

02 ／ Government site

Wooden tablets at the Doden Sitebear the year Kanpei 8.

The town's excavation report (1984) calls the Doden Site a government office site from the late Nara to mid Heian period, based on wooden tablets, votive horse tablets and ink-inscribed pottery, and says it may be the Okitama district office. It counts 505 inscribed pottery pieces with 43 kinds of characters.

  • Excavation report, 1984
  • 505 inscribed pieces, 43 characters
  • Tablet No. 1: Kanpei 8 (896)

03 ／ Burial mound

Tenjinmori Kofun is 75.5 m long,its front section flaring like a plectrum.

Burial mound in Kawanishi Town
Photo by Loup and Law (CC BY-SA 4.0)

A Yamagata Prefecture record describes this prefecturally designated site as a square-front, square-rear tomb raised with rammed earth, among the largest of its kind in the Tohoku region. The rear section is 43 m long, 56 m wide and 4.3 m high, and a jar with a hole in its base was found at the waist.

  • Prefectural historic site, July 17, 1984
  • 75.5 m long
  • Jar with a holed base found at the waist

Kawanishi Town from the sky

Now and 1974–78. Tap a photo to zoom in.

Wide (about 6 km across)

Close (about 1.5 km across)

Now (shot October 2013)Shot 1974–78

Source: Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) GSI Tiles（全国最新写真（シームレス）／国土画像情報（第一期：1974〜1978年撮影））

Open in GSI Maps (now)Open in GSI Maps (1974–78)

Living here

Uzen-Komatsu Station is 20 minutes from Yonezawa.

  • about 10,000 people
  • Rural district town

The town's access page directs visitors from Tokyo Station by the Yamagata Shinkansen to Yonezawa Station (2 hr 10 min), then by the JR Yonesaka Line to Uzen-Komatsu Station (18 min). In the JR East timetable (checked October 28, 2026), the fastest daily train from Yonezawa to Uzen-Komatsu takes 20 minutes.

People living here
14,558people
19952020

−7.6% since 2015

20,764 → 14,558

Area
166.6km²

86.46km² of it habitable

2024

Households
4,495households

3.2 people per household

2020

Rent (average for rentals)
—
Healthcare
2 hospitals ／ 9 clinics

7.6 per 10,000 people

2023

Area166.6km²Habitable land86.46km² ／ 52%
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.

Kawanishi Town in Japan38.005°N 140.046°E
TokyoOsakaKawanishi Town
Territory of Kawanishi Town
Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (Administrative Area Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari.

North to south

21.3km

Iide Town, Yonezawa City, Nanyo City, Takahata Town, Nagai City

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

Kawanishi Town isthis kind of town.

  1. 01The Shimokomatsu Kofun Cluster in Kawanishi Town is a National Historic Site; the prefecture records 179 mounds including 19 keyhole-shaped ones, and the town describes about 200. Autumn flowers and many other plants grow wild there, and a local group holds observation walks
  2. 02The town designated six somoku-to towers, built between 1816 and 1868. The Doden Site is a government site from the late Nara to mid Heian period, possibly the Okitama district office, and a wooden tablet there bears the year Kanpei 8
  3. 03Tenjinmori Kofun, a prefectural historic site, is 75.5 m long with a plectrum-shaped front section. From Yonezawa Station, the fastest train on the JR Yonesaka Line reaches Uzen-Komatsu Station, the town's gateway, in 20 minutes

See the town as it is now.

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Kawanishi Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗

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