River gorge, Sanpei Iwaya legend, Oguni Town
Article

06401 / おぐにまち

Yamagata Prefecture 西置賜郡

Oguni Town

A gorge with a trout-spearing legend.

River gorge, Sanpei Iwaya legend

Photo by Triglav (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 / Giant tree

The Hisenji ginkgo was movedabout 100 m uphill, root ball and all.

This town-designated natural monument stood at the Hisenji temple site and is about 25 m tall with a 7 m trunk girth. Including its root ball and frame it weighed about 300 tons, and it was moved on rails over 24 days to a terrace about 100 m uphill and about 9 m higher.

  • Town-designated natural monument
  • About 300 tons in total
  • About 100 m in 24 days

02 / Waterway

A village of about ten households duga tunnel with funds from a mutual-aid society.

The hamlet, short of water, began work in Meiji 22 (1889) and finished a 112.5 m tunnel in Meiji 26 (1893). The town records it as a project of the village alone. A step of about 1 m inside shows it was dug from both ends, the town says, and it is still in use.

  • Town-designated historic site
  • 1889 to 1893
  • 112.5 m long

03 / Ritual

A mountain bear festival has been handeddown for 300 years, the town says.

Held in a mountain district on May 4 each year, it is described by the town as a ritual giving thanks to the mountain deity for the repose of the bear taken and for a good and safe hunt. Mountain deity shrines stand at over 80 places in town, and Oguni's matagi hunters did not shoot a bear with cubs and limited the hunting season.

  • May 4 each year
  • Handed down for 300 years, the town says
  • Over 80 mountain deity shrines in town

Oguni 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–December 2019)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

The second-largest town in the prefecture is about 90% forest.

  • about 7,000 people
  • Rural district town

There is no railway station in town. The town says its land, the second largest among the prefecture's 35 municipalities, is about 90% forest, and about 80% of that is natural broadleaf forest with a high share of beech. Winter brings heavy snow, and snow depth in the town center does not fall below 2 meters, it says.

People living here
7,107people
19952020

−9.7% since 2015

10,715 → 7,107

Area
737.56km²

78.62km² of it habitable

2024

Households
2,810households

2.5 people per household

2020

Rent (average for rentals)
—
Healthcare
1 hospital / 3 clinics

5.6 per 10,000 people

2023

Area737.56km²Habitable land78.62km² / 11%
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 9 municipalities across 2 prefectures.

Oguni Town in Japan38.061°N 139.743°E
TokyoOsakaOguni Town
Territory of Oguni Town
Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (Administrative Area Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari.

North to south

49.5km

Fukushima Prefecture
Kitakata City

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

Oguni Town isthis kind of town.

  1. 01Sanpei Iwaya is a town-designated historic rock shelter on a cliff above a river, said locally to have been home to the trout-spearing master Sanpei. The clear river rises in the Iide Mountains
  2. 02The Hisenji ginkgo is a town-designated giant tree moved about 100 m uphill with its root ball. The Tarukuchi tunnel weir is a 112.5 m tunnel dug by about ten households with a mutual-aid fund
  3. 03A mountain bear festival is a ritual to the mountain deity held on May 4 each year. The town is the second largest in the prefecture and about 90% forest

See the town as it is now.

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

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

From this town's themes