was a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

located in the Higashimatsuura District of

Saga Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. Saga Prefecture has a population of roughly 780,000 and has a geographic area of . Saga Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northeast and Nagasaki Prefect ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Ōchi is also

romanized In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

as Ouchi and is often referred to that way in Japan. Ōchi was founded as Ōchi-mura (Ōchi-village) by the amalgamation of 16 smaller villages in 1889. It became Ōchi-town (Ōchi-chō) in 1935. Ōchi thus had its own town hall. As of 2003, the town had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 8,890 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

of 136.60 persons per km². The total area was 65.08 km². On January 1, 2005, Ōchi, along with the towns of Chinzei, Hamatama, Hizen, Kyūragi and Yobuko, and the village of Kitahata (all from Higashimatsuura District), were merged into the expanded city of Karatsu. The old town hall became the Ōchi branch office of Karatsu City Hall. Ōchi contains the Memorial Hall of

Hideo Murata was a Japanese rōkyoku and enka singer. He took part in the Kōhaku Uta Gassen 27 times. Murata was born as a son of rōkyoku singer and . However, he was immediately adopted by and became his stepfather. His real name was . He studied rōk ...

who was a famous Japanese rōkyoku and

enka is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than ''ryūkōka'' music, pop ...

singer. A major attraction are th
Udonoiwaya
Buddhist rock carvings. The scores of images of Buddha date from as early as the 7th century. Also popular is the nearb
Mikaerinotaki
(Looking Back Waterfall). Th

said to be the highest in Japan, are located on the northern slopes of Mount Hachimandake in Ōchi. A major event is the harvest festival, th
Ōchi-kunchi
This is a smaller version of the famous Karatsu Kunchi. Beginning on the 3rd Friday of October each year the town has a weekend in which there are a series of parades, day and night, where children and adults pull two large floats and dress in period costumes with much music and lively chanting. Ōchi was coal mining town before World War II. These days the mine site has been transformed into Ōchi park, th
Saga Royal golf course
and a sports complex. Ōchi has become something of a bedroom community, with considerable new housing developments on the north side of the Kyuragi river. The main train station, Ōchi Station ( 相知駅), is on the

Karatsu Line The is a regional railway line in Saga Prefecture, Japan, owned and operated by Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). It connects in Saga, Saga, Saga City to in Karatsu, Saga, Karatsu City, both in Saga Prefecture, Japan. The line was originally ...

Kyushu Railway Company The , also referred to as , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services within Kyushu, Japan. It formerly operated the Beetle (JR Kyushu), Beetle hydrofoil service across th ...

(JR Kyushu) running from Nishi-Karatsu Station in Karatsu to Kubota Station in

Saga Sagas are prose stories and histories, composed in Iceland and to a lesser extent elsewhere in Scandinavia. The most famous saga-genre is the (sagas concerning Icelanders), which feature Viking voyages, migration to Iceland, and feuds between ...

. A smaller line, part of the Chikuhi Line, runs from Yamamoto Station of Karatsu City, through Nishi-Ōchi Station (West-Ōchi) to Imari Station in Imari City, a notable pottery centre in Saga Prefecture, along with Karatsu and Arita. The next station south from Nishi-Ōchi is Sari Station. Ōchi has become home to the new 21 M
Saga Ouchi Solar
farm just southwest o
Oshigawa
in southeast Ōchi. The solar farm is one of the biggest in Kyushu and opened in April 2018.

Environs

*Ōchi Post office *Karatsu City Hall Ōchi Branch *Ōchi Library *Karatsu City Ōchi Elementary School *Karatsu City Ōchi Junior High School *Memorial Hall of

References

Ōchi History
(相知町史), Tanpei Endo, in two parts: 〈1971, 上巻〉ASIN: B000J9EDH8,〈1977, 下巻〉ASIN: B000J8ZH5Q, and a supplementary volume〈1978, 付巻〉ASIN: B000J8L2NC.

Environs

References

External links