Kirikiri coast

Niiyama Plateau

A plateau with vast expanses of fields and romantic white birch forests. In early summer, alpine plants such as astragalus azalea and buttercup bloom.

Kirikiri Zenbei (Maekawa Zenbei) successive graves

It is said that the ancestors of Kirikiri Zenbei (Maekawa Zenbei) were from Sagami Province (present-day Kanagawa Prefecture), took the surname Shimizu, and served the Odawara Hojo clan. In the 18th year of Tensho, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi attacked Odawara and the castle fell, Maekawa's ancestors fled to Kesenura and eventually settled in Kirikiri. He then adopted the surname Maekawa, after his hometown of Maekawa Village in Sagami.

Otsuchi Castle Ruins

The ruins of Otsuchi Castle, which is familiar to the townspeople as a castle mountain, was the residence of the Otsuchi clan (actual height: 10,000 koku, economic power: 70,000 koku) for generations. It ruled this region for about 280 years, from the Middle Ages to the early Edo period, until the magistrate's office was established there. It is said that the lord of the castle, ``Otsuchi Magohachiro Masasada,'' sent the famous salted salmon to Edo, where it was prized and praised as the ``nose bent salmon'' of the southern part of Japan. The castle is built along a 140-meter-high mountain sandwiched between the Otsuchi River and the Kozuchi River, and this typical mountain castle was designated as a historic site by Iwate Prefecture in 1992.