Kyushu Mountains, Hinokage River Mimi River／View of stone village and height difference of 200m 

Walk around the mountain village, Kyushu Mountains, Hinokage River Mimi River／View of stone village and height difference of 200m
Hinokage Town Togawa
The Hinokage Town Togawa Village is a "Ishigaki Village" consisting of seven houses in the mountains along the Hinokage River that flows north and south through Hinokage Town. The oldest stone wall in the few records is said to have been built from Kaei during the Ansei era. Two representative masons are said to have been called in anticipation of masonry techniques for the stone wall restoration work of Edo Castle, which collapsed in the great earthquake of Ansei 2nd year. A huge stone wall that would have been built by all the villagers using rollers and levers made of giant stones of about one tatami mat. The magnificent stone wall, which is made by patience with small stones, formed the entire village with residential land development, cultivated land development, stone warehouse, and windbreak fence, and has carved history together with the village.
It is the main building of each house and the two brick warehouses that do not use stones in this village. In the main building, the tea on the board wall is in harmony with the stones, and the bricks in the brick warehouse are covered with blue-green glaze on the surface, which is in harmony with the greenery of the mountains and rice fields. Togawa is a cultural heritage and a work of art that is designed as a whole, including the components of the village and the surrounding environment.
Morotsuka Eshiro / Kawanokuchi
The mountain village of the Kyushu Mountains, "Tenkai no Mura," overlaps with the area that was once called the isolated mountain village as a village where the legend of the Heike deceased remains. The eastern part of the Kyushu Mountains is Shiiba, Yonera, and Takachiho in Miyazaki Prefecture, and the western part of the Kyushu Mountains is the Gokaso and Itsuki areas in Kumamoto Prefecture. The area where the village of Heaven in Miyazaki Prefecture is located borders on the border of Kumamoto Prefecture, where mountains over 1000m including Mt. Ichifusa are lined up. Is formed. Therefore, the settlements are scattered on small flatlands in the valley and on gentle slopes on the hillside.
The "heavenly village" of the Mimi River system is centered on Shiiba village, but it can also be found in Morotsuka village, which is to the east of it. The first is the Ieshiro village. From here, there is nothing that can be called a heavenly village in the downstream direction of the Mimi River, so it can be said that it is the most downstream village in the Mimi River system. The border with Hinokage Town and Misato Town on the east side of Morotsuka Village is a ridgeline that continues from Mt. Morotsuka, which is over 1000 m above sea level. The Kawanokuchi village, which I will introduce at the end, has been formed. The industry of the Ieyo village is tea production, and there is a sencha processing plant in the village. When viewed from the bottom of the valley, a village with a height difference of about 200 m is formed from 150 m to 350 m.
On the other hand, there is a river mouth village upstream of the Yanagihara River, a tributary of the left bank of the Mimi River. At the mouth of the river, you can see tea fields, but most of them are rice terraces. The reason why there are paddy fields in spite of the height of 100m or more from the valley is that they were cultivated by drawing water at a certain time, like Togawa in Hinokage Town. It is a village landscape created by the efforts of our predecessors.