Hayakawa Town

Older strata ride up over newer strata.

Itoigawa-Shizuoka Tectonic Line

Photo by Sakaori (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Akasawa

In the early Meiji era, 9 of Akasawa's34 households ran pilgrims' inns.

Akasawa is a lodging village on the pilgrim road linking Mt. Minobu and Mt. Shichimen. The town records that in the early Meiji era 9 of its 34 households came to run inns. The inns were single-storey, but from the mid-Meiji to the Taisho era they were extended to two storeys with hip-and-gable roofs. In 1993 the village was selected as a national Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings.

9 of 34 households ran inns
Selected 1993
84 traditional buildings

02 ／ Slash-and-burn

Sleeping in mountain huts, they grewmillet and azuki by slash-and-burn.

Around Narada, slash-and-burn farming was done from mountain huts where the farmers slept, with millet and azuki beans as the main crops. The Agency for Cultural Affairs text quoted by the town notes crop rotation, careful burning and boar-hair pest deterrents. The 698 tools of the Nishiyama district became a national Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property in 1989.

698 slash-and-burn tools
Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property, 1989
Recording measures, 1984

03 ／ Amehata inkstone

A hard black slate is carved with thechisel handle braced on the shoulder.

The black, fine-grained slate called Amehata stone is hard, so it is hard to cut by arm strength alone. The prefecture records that the chisel handle is braced on the shoulder to carve the sea, hill and rim of the inkstone. It became a prefectural Intangible Cultural Property on 16 March 2023, and is also a prefectural traditional craft said to date from 1690.

Prefectural Intangible Cultural Property, 16 March 2023
Prefectural traditional craft, October 1994
Said to date from 1690

Living here

From Minobu Station, 49 minutes by bus.

about 1,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway station in the town. From Minobu Station (in Minobu Town) on the JR Minobu Line, the town-run Hayakawa shared bus takes 49 minutes to the town office (timetable as of 1 April 2026). The town's list shows 6 national, 5 prefectural and 16 town cultural properties.

People living here: 1,098people
Area: 369.96km²
Households: 675households
Rent (average for rentals): —
Healthcare: 0 hospitals ／ 7 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —0 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.

Hayakawa Town in Japan35.413°N 138.363°E

to MinobuLocal bus49min

Travel times follow 町公式「公共交通」（更新日2026年4月7日。https://www.town.hayakawa.yamanashi.jp/people/taffic.html）が「身延駅～奈良田温泉間『はやかわ乗合バス』の時刻表について（令和8年4月1日現在）」として掲げる時刻表の PDF（images/2026-0407-1627.pdf。スキャンでなく Excel 由来。目で読んだ）。身延駅発→早川町役場着は、第1便 7:05→7:54・第2便 11:25→12:14・第3便 13:45→14:34・第4便 16:45→17:34・第5便 18:30→19:19 のどれも49分。逆向き（早川町役場発→身延駅着）も 7:16→8:05・10:31→11:20・14:31→15:20・16:36→17:25 の49分。下に「早川町役場発下部温泉駅行（6:11発第0便）、身延駅発奈良田温泉行（18:30発第5便）は、土日祝及び年末年始（12月29日〜1月3日）は運休」とあり、毎日走るのは第1〜4便（身延駅発は 7:05・11:25・13:45・16:45） (checked 2026-10-08). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 4 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Hayakawa Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)Lakes: National Land Numerical Information (Lake Data), MLIT. Processed by Machigatari. Prepared with the approval of the Director-General of the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, using its Digital Map 25000 (Spatial Data Framework) and Digital Map 25000 (Place Names and Public Facilities). (承認番号平27情使、第585号)

North to south

38.4km

Yamanashi Prefecture: 身延町, 南アルプス市, 富士川町
Shizuoka Prefecture: 静岡市

Hayakawa Town isthis kind of town.

01On the left bank of a river at Arakura, a reverse fault of the Itoigawa-Shizuoka Tectonic Line is exposed, where an older black slate on the west rides up over newer tuffs on the east; it is a national Natural Monument
02Akasawa is a lodging village on the pilgrim road between Mt. Minobu and Mt. Shichimen, where the town records 9 of 34 households running inns in the early Meiji era; in Narada, 698 slash-and-burn tools are a national Important Tangible Folk Cultural Property
03Amehata inkstone is a prefectural Intangible Cultural Property; the town also has a prefectural natural monument cedar, a registered dam and a registered former village office, and the legend of the seven wonders of Narada

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Hayakawa Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗