Minamioguni, southwestern Japan, boasts of harmonious coexistence of people and nature

Aug. 30, 2014

Minamioguni, southwestern Japan, boasts of harmonious coexistence of people and nature

Minamioguni Town, a mountainous region in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Kumamoto, is proud of being an original member of the Most Beautiful Villages in Japan union, a nonprofit organization launched in 2005.

The union is modeled after a similar grouping inaugurated in France in the 1980s. The movement then spread to other European countries. In Japan, seven towns and villages which have a population of 10,000 or less, including Minamioguni, got together to demonstrate themselves as communities who are out to preserve scenic landscapes and rich natural resources with the backing of environment-conscious local people.
The union accepted other eligible communities across Japan in later years. The number of member towns and villages increased to 54 in 2013.

Minamioguni, with a population of about 4,400 and an area of 11,000 hectares, has a lot of widely known tourist spots, notably the Kurokawa hot spa retreat and the Senomoto Heights which commands a good view of the active Aso volcanic mountains. But it also boasts of more casual spots which are attractive to nature-loving tourists.

The Hill of Oshitoishi, with mysterious rocks scattered around, is one of new handmade tourist spots in the town. The hill, at an elevation of 845 meters, had been little known to outside people until what appear to be petroglyphs, or rock engravings in the prehistorical age, were confirmed on some of the volcanic rocks in 1989 by local education board officials. Later, the petrolyphs were authorized by a UNESCO-affiliated rock art academy, and the site was found to be the remains with nine groups of artificially placed rocks. As an access road to the site was opened a few years ago, the hill has become famous as a “power-giving spot."

“If you are interested in our town as a Most Beautiful Village in Japan, I would say you should also visit the Hiranodai Heights,” a local tourist association official said. Hiranodai is located to the east of the Kurokawa hot spa valley. There are nature trails and a village of log houses in a quiet atmosphere on the foot of the heights. An observatory is high up to the heights.
Tourists may also be recommended to drop in at a farmers’ market with various vegetables fresh from the garden and dine at country-taste restaurants staffed with local people. Farmer-run inns are also available at some locations in the town.

The launch of the Most Beautiful Villages in Japan union came at a time when mergers of towns and villages were recommended across Japan from the 1990s under Japan’s local government realignment policy, which, critics say, made it difficult for small but nicely preserved communities to protect their natural landscape.

The Hill of Oshitoishi used to be a pasture co-owned by farmers to reap grass for cattle. Local people worshiped the rock garden as a sacred place for a god of water and held rites regularly on the top of the hill. They have inherited the site from generation to generation. Most people in the area still live on cattle growing. They have preserved the environment around the hill over years, burning off dead grass, improving paths and doing other jobs together.

The hill has no gates and fences. Handwritten guides, set up along the access road, read "Go forward carefully, please." or "Soft shoulders!." Tourists are asked to pay 200 yen as an “admission fee” at a reception house below the hill. Oshitoishi, the main rock so called, is marked with a sacred straw rope. The rock is 5.5 meters high and 15.3 meters around, and its vertex points to the North Star.

A rock on the western end of the hill, called Hasamiishi, has a slit through which the son can be seen setting on the winter solstice and from the other side, the sunrise can be seen on the summer solstice. A nearby rock, called Kagamiishi, has petroglyphs engraved on its face to the south. Because the main rock apparently has a magnetic force, compasses irregularly move, when placed near the rock. People had believed that it rains when the one climbs up the rock. “When I was a kid, we were always told by elders not to climb on the rock, particularly in the rice harvesting season,” said a farmer who mans the reception house.

Tourists can borrow small compasses at the reception house. While showing how to use the device, the reception house keeper, who is one of the 40 co-owner farmers, told visitors, “Please feel the force of Oshitoishi, and you will be empowered with its strength.”

It is uncertain if every visitor can feel the strength of the rock, but tourists should find themselves being refreshed while feeling smooth winds on the hill and thinking of the life of ancient people believed to have deified the rocks.