It was warriors who had lost their posts that opened this town. The Owari domain’s samurai, who lost their stipends in the Restoration, were moved here as a whole group and made to open the land by their former lord. The town’s name was taken by that lord from an ancient verse. And a little over a century later, by merger, this town became the only town in Japan facing two seas — the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan. Without knowing the pioneering by out-of-work warriors and how it came to hold two seas, this vast town’s numbers cannot be read. Yakumo-cho’s numbers record a town inscribed with the history of how out-of-work Owari samurai opened it and it came to hold two seas.
A town on the Oshima Peninsula of Hokkaido, opened at the start of the Meiji era by the group migration of out-of-work Owari samurai. The pioneering was advanced by the head of the Owari Tokugawa family, who had been their former lord, and the town’s name too was taken from an ancient verse. In the Heisei era it merged with the neighboring town on the Sea of Japan side, and is now the only town in Japan facing two seas — the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan. The population fell from 20,131 in 2005, the year including the merger, to 15,826 in 2020. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign "the town of two seas," but the causal thread: how the history of pioneering by out-of-work warriors and two seas is translated into today’s population and area.
01 · See the present Yakumo-cho in its numbers
In the latest Population Census the population is about sixteen thousand (15,826 in 2020). From 20,131 in 2005, when the two towns merged, it fell to 15,826 in 2020. The share aged 65 and over rose from 24.2% in 2005 to 35.0% in 2020. Among the Oshima towns in this batch, the slope of aging is in a somewhat gentle class.
What catches the eye in this town’s numbers is that its area, at about 956 square kilometers, is by far the broadest of the eight in this batch. This is the consequence of taking both the Pacific side and the Sea of Japan side into the town area through merger. The Official Land Price of residential land is in the 13,000-yen-per-m² range, and the Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.30 in fiscal 2023. The employment rate was 58.6% in 2020, somewhat high even in this batch. Why these numbers come together in this town cannot be read without tracing the history of samurai-class pioneering and two seas.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Official Land Price / Prefectural Land Price Survey (MLIT) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC)
02 · Out-of-work Owari samurai, a lord’s pioneering, a merger into two seas — the history behind the numbers
What sets Yakumo down is the pioneering by the Owari domain’s samurai who lost their posts in the Restoration, the former lord who moved those samurai here as a whole group, and the merger that took two seas into the town area. The starting layer is the out-of-work warriors. The Meiji Restoration stripped the stipends from warriors across the land and left many domain samurai without posts. In the Owari domain too, the former retainers fell into hardship. Seeing this, their former lord — the head of the Owari Tokugawa family — at the start of the Meiji era settled those former domain samurai here as a group and had them advance a full-scale pioneering. A society of out-of-work warriors was moved, as a whole, to the northern land. The town’s name, it is handed down, was given by that lord, taken from an ancient verse of myth.
To that pioneered land, a later age added one folk craft. Based on a folk-craft object the head of the Tokugawa family bought in Europe, he encouraged the farmers to carve wooden bears — this is held to be the beginning of a folk craft representing Hokkaido. And in the Heisei era, this town merged with the neighboring town on the Sea of Japan side. The old town pioneered on the Pacific side, and the town carrying on the tradition of a port on the Sea of Japan side, became one, and this town became the only town in Japan facing two seas — the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan. The land that out-of-work warriors opened as a whole came, through merger, to hold two seas — Yakumo’s present stands atop that history.
Source: The opening of Yakumo by the Owari Tokugawa family (in 1878 Tokugawa Yoshikatsu, former lord of the Owari domain, settled his former retainers — who had lost their posts in the Meiji Restoration — here as a group to open the land, a samurai-class pioneering; the town’s name derives from the ancient verse of Susanoo, "Yakumo tatsu…" — overview) / Overview of Yakumo Town (in 2005 the old Yakumo Town and Kumaishi Town [on the Sea of Japan side] merged, making it the only town in Japan facing both the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan [Futami District]; the wood-carved bear began in 1921 when Tokugawa Yoshichika encouraged farmers to make them, based on a Swiss folk craft — overview)
03 · The broad town area holding two seas remains in the employment rate and daily life
In this town, which holds a broad town area facing both the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan, the indicators of daily life also mirror that breadth and the thickness of industry. The employment rate was 58.6% in 2020, somewhat high among the Oshima towns in this batch. This can be read as the expression of holding industries that generate diverse work within the town — fishing on two seas, and farming and dairy on a broad town area. Facing not one sea but two and holding a broad land gives this town a breadth of industry.
The childcare capacity was 365 in both 2024 and 2025, with a Childcare Waitlist of zero in both years. The elementary schools numbered seven in 2023 — still many, reflecting the town area widened by merger. The share of households with children was 14.8% in 2020. Because settlements are scattered through the broad town area, schools and daycare facilities too are kept dispersed. The structure of two seas and a broad land brings this town both a breadth of industry and dispersed living infrastructure.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency) / School Basic Survey (MEXT, via e-Stat System of Social and Demographic Statistics)
04 · A town opened by out-of-work warriors that came to hold two seas
In Yakumo, two histories are inscribed. One is its starting point: a land of samurai-class pioneering, opened by the Owari domain’s samurai who lost their posts in the Restoration, moved here as a whole group by the hand of their former lord. The other is its character of having become, through the Heisei merger, the only town in Japan facing two seas — the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan. An old layer, the pioneering by out-of-work warriors, and the merger holding two seas, give this town an outline of its own and a town area broad beyond compare.
That said, holding two seas and a broad town area means, at the same time as the strength of a breadth of industry, the difficulty of binding scattered settlements into one town. Each settlement and industry of the Pacific side and the Sea of Japan side is supported by a single administration. The land that out-of-work warriors opened as a whole now carries, as a vast town holding two seas, both the breadth of industry and the task of dispersion.
Source: The opening of Yakumo by the Owari Tokugawa family (in 1878 Tokugawa Yoshikatsu, former lord of the Owari domain, settled his former retainers — who had lost their posts in the Meiji Restoration — here as a group to open the land, a samurai-class pioneering; the town’s name derives from the ancient verse of Susanoo, "Yakumo tatsu…" — overview) / Overview of Yakumo Town (in 2005 the old Yakumo Town and Kumaishi Town [on the Sea of Japan side] merged, making it the only town in Japan facing both the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan [Futami District]; the wood-carved bear began in 1921 when Tokugawa Yoshichika encouraged farmers to make them, based on a Swiss folk craft — overview)
05 · Atlas note — a town opened by out-of-work warriors that came to face two seas
Lay out Yakumo’s numbers and the indicators of a port town on Funka Bay line up: a population fallen since the merger, an aging rate of 35.0%, a land price in the 13,000-yen range, fiscal capacity of 0.30, an employment rate of 58.6%. But, to put it in the habit by which I (Atlas), as a certified public accountant, trace back to a town’s very formation, what I want to read first here is the history that this town is "a land that out-of-work warriors opened as a whole." The Owari domain’s samurai, who had lost their stipends, were seen and pitied by their former lord, who moved them as a group to this northern land and had them open it. A society of out-of-work warriors moved, as a whole, to the north — and the town so born continues even now. In a town’s formation is often inscribed the most pressing circumstance of its age.
One more thing to weigh is the town area of about 956 square kilometers, by far the broadest in this batch. In my view, this breadth is the consequence of taking both the Pacific side and the Sea of Japan side into the town area in the Heisei merger and becoming the only town in Japan facing two seas. The high employment rate of 58.6% too can be read as the expression of a breadth of industry — fishing on two seas and farming on a broad land. Holding not one sea but two means both the strength of a breadth of industry and the difficulty of binding a broad town area. Whether to read this town — opened as a whole by out-of-work warriors and now facing both the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan — as a depth of industrial reach or as a breadth hard to bind, that judgment I leave in the hands of you, the reader.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / The opening of Yakumo by the Owari Tokugawa family (in 1878 Tokugawa Yoshikatsu, former lord of the Owari domain, settled his former retainers — who had lost their posts in the Meiji Restoration — here as a group to open the land, a samurai-class pioneering; the town’s name derives from the ancient verse of Susanoo, "Yakumo tatsu…" — overview) / Overview of Yakumo Town (in 2005 the old Yakumo Town and Kumaishi Town [on the Sea of Japan side] merged, making it the only town in Japan facing both the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan [Futami District]; the wood-carved bear began in 1921 when Tokugawa Yoshichika encouraged farmers to make them, based on a Swiss folk craft — overview)
Editor’s note: all figures and sources are drawn from official statistics. The prose follows Atlas’s voice, and AI (atlas-handcrafted-reverse-v1 (wave29-east 2026-06-04)) handled the shaping of the text. Evaluative or predictive language (such as “a good buy” or “attractive”) is intentionally left out. Revision id: w29e_b3d