Minami-Alps City

Seen from above, a shogi-piece dike.

Shogigashira, Midai River dikes

Photo by ChiefHira (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ Main house

The main house of a family of hereditary village headsis thatched and comes with a Hoei 5 ridge tablet.

The Ando family were village heads of Nishinanko for generations in the Edo period. The main house, 22.7 m long and thatched in the irimoya-zukuri hip-and-gable style, is thought from its ridge tablet to date from Hoei 5 (1708). A front gate and the south, north and document storehouses also stand, and the prefecture calls it a valuable example of an old upper-class farmhouse of the area. It became an Important Cultural Property in 1976.

Ridge tablet points to Hoei 5 (1708)
22.7 m long, irimoya-zukuri, thatched
Important Cultural Property, 1976

02 ／ Kagura hall

A kagura hall with irimoya-zukuri roofs on four sides,where Daidai Kagura is offered at night.

Takao is a hamlet at 800 m on the north-eastern slope of Mt. Kushigata. The kagura hall of Homi Shrine, built in 1891, is a city cultural property, and on the night of the festival on 22 November, kagura performers from the parishioners have offered Daidai Kagura there. The main hall, built in 1665 according to its ridge tablets, is a prefectural cultural property. The Onishi-Hosaka house, home of the shrine's priestly family, is a nationally registered tangible cultural property.

Kagura hall built 1891
Main hall built 1665
Priestly family house, nationally registered, 2017

03 ／ Kiriko

Mino paper is stacked and cut through,with an asa-no-ha pattern carved into the design.

Sawanobori's kiriko is a paper-cutting craft. About five to ten sheets of Mino paper are stacked and cut through with blades called kiridashi and tsukinomi, and it is also known as osukashi. The asa-no-ha (hemp-leaf) pattern is carved as a rule, and at three hours a day it can take about half a year to finish. Offered at the Rokkakudo festival each October, the pieces are handed out to households afterwards.

About five to ten sheets of Mino paper
About half a year, at three hours a day
Prefectural designation, 1996

Living here

From Shinjuku, 156 minutes by express bus.

about 70,000 people

There is no railway station in the city. The Yamanashi Kotsu express bus, the Minobu and Minami Alps to Shinjuku line, links Shinjuku with the Minami Alps City Office stop, and the fastest run in the timetable takes 156 minutes from Shinjuku. The city guides visitors from the Kofu Station bus terminal by Yamanashi Kotsu route bus to the Ogasawara stop, 40 to 50 minutes.

People living here: 69,459people
Area: 264.14km²
Households: 26,059households
Rent (average for rentals): 43,992yen
Healthcare: 5 hospitals ／ 36 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —19 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.

Minami-Alps City in Japan35.608°N 138.465°E

to ShinjukuHighway bus156min

Travel times follow 山梨交通の公式ページ「身延・南アルプス⇔新宿線」（https://ykbus.jp/highway_bus/minobu_shinjuku/ 、2026-10-08 に取得。ページ内に更新日の表示なし）の時刻表。『黒字標記の便のみ運行』の注記があり、灰色の便は運休。**新宿→南アルプス市役所**は 7:45→10:31（KO1771・166分）・16:25→19:01（YK1703・156分）・17:45→20:21（YK1705・156分）の3便、**南アルプス市役所→新宿**は 6:45→9:21（YK1702・156分）・8:25→11:01（YK1704・156分）・16:05→18:51（KO1772・166分）の3便が運行。最速はどちらの向きも156分で往復が一致した。市公式『南アルプス市へのアクセス』（秘書課。ページ内に更新日の表示なし・2026-10-08 閲覧）も『高速バス山梨交通身延・南アルプスから新宿間』として新宿西口高速バスターミナルから南アルプス市役所への到着時刻を載せる。 (checked 2026-10-08). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 10 municipalities across 2 prefectures.

Territory of Minami-Alps City

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

21.1km

Yamanashi Prefecture: 韮崎市, 早川町, 富士川町, 北杜市, 中央市, 甲斐市, 市川三郷町, 昭和町
Nagano Prefecture: 伊那市
Shizuoka Prefecture: 静岡市

Minami-Alps City isthis kind of town.

01The Old Dikes of the Midai River, a national historic site, are said to have been built by Takeda Shingen. Shogigashira, seen from above, is a dike shaped like a shogi piece that protects the fields and settlements of Rokka from floods, and the Masugata dike is a stone-built dike that guards the sluice of the Tokushima weir
02The main house of the Ando residence is a national Important Cultural Property thought, from its ridge tablet, to date from Hoei 5. Homi Shrine at Takao has a prefecture-designated main hall and a city-designated kagura hall, and a house of its priestly family is a nationally registered tangible cultural property
03The Sawanobori Rokkakudo kiriko is a prefecture-designated Intangible Folk Cultural Property. The city also has two national natural monuments, the Mitsue Great Zelkova and the Byakushin (Chinese juniper) trees of Kochozen-ji Temple

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Minami-Alps City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗