On this town’s tableland, more than three hundred tumuli sleep in a group. On the tableland by the riverside, round burial mounds and keyhole-shaped burial mounds went on being built over a span of more than four hundred years. The tableland on which the tumuli gather became the very source of the city’s name, and now, as a tableland of flowers and history, it receives people. This land, a village of a tableland of more than three hundred tumuli, did not take part in the great mergers of the Heisei era; walking an independent path, it has quietly lost population. Saito’s numbers are the record of a town in which a tumulus group and an independent path are inscribed.
A city that opens onto a tableland by the Hitotsuse River, in central Miyazaki Prefecture. The population has decreased, from 35,381 in 2000 to 28,610 in 2020. Because this city did not take part in the great mergers of Heisei and walked an independent path, there is no merger-derived step in its recent population movement. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign "a city of the prefecture’s center," but the causal thread: how the past of a tumulus group and an independent path is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · Seeing the present Saito in its numbers
In the 2020 Population Census the population is 28,610 — about twenty-nine thousand. Because this city did not take part in the great mergers of Heisei and walked an independent path, there is no merger-derived step in its recent population movement. From the 35,381 of 2000 it has decreased, to 34,087 in 2005, 32,614 in 2010, 30,683 in 2015, and 28,610 in 2020.
Looking inside, the figure of a village holding a tableland of tumuli appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 34.0% in 2015 to 37.8% in 2020, drawing near four in ten. The household-with-children share is 18.5% in 2020, and the crude birth rate is 6.4 per thousand in 2020. The Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.38 in fiscal 2023 — a level able to cover only a little under four-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue, with a large degree of reliance on the local allocation tax. The figure shows in the numbers: a village of a tableland of more than three hundred tumuli, remaining independent while losing population and advancing its aging. Why it takes this form cannot be read without going back to the past of the tableland of tumuli and the independent path.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency) / Real Estate Information Library (MLIT)
02 · The tableland of tumuli by the riverside, the origin of the city name, the central town of Tsuma, the independent path — the history behind the numbers
What supports Saito’s frame is the tableland of tumuli by the riverside, the origin of the city name, the central town of Tsuma, and the independent path. The starting layer is the tableland of tumuli. On the riverside tableland of this land, from the latter half of the 3rd century to the 7th century, more than three hundred tumuli went on being built. That tableland, where round burial mounds and keyhole-shaped burial mounds sleep in a group, is counted a Special Historic Site of the nation and is also chosen as a Heritage of Japan. A tableland on which tumuli went on being built over a span of more than four hundred years was the old foundation of this town.
This tableland of tumuli became the origin of the city name. The tableland on which the tumuli gather holds an old appellation, and that name became the source of the present city name. The central town lies in a village that opens to the south of a shrine. The path to becoming a city, too, mirrors this town. In the middle of the Showa era the central village alone became a city, and afterward it incorporated part of a neighboring village; but it did not take part in the great mergers of the Heisei era and walked an independent path. The tableland of tumuli by the riverside, the origin of the city name, the central town of Tsuma, and the independent path — this town’s form stands upon the past of a tumulus group and an independent path that the riverside tableland of tumuli inscribed.
Source: Saito City / Saitobaru Kofun Group (on the Saitobaru tableland on the right bank of the Hitotsuse River, 319 tumuli were built from the late 3rd to the 7th century = a Special Historic Site / Japan Heritage "The Kofun Landscape of Southern Miyazaki" — overview) / Saito City / origin of the city name and Tsuma (the central town is the Tsuma district south of Tsuma Shrine; the city name derives from the Saitobaru tableland in the center of the city [anciently "Saito-no-haru"] — overview) / Saito City (on 1958-11-1 Tsuma Town alone attained city status as Saito City; in 1962 it incorporated Sanzai Village and others; the Koyu area in central Miyazaki Prefecture; it did not take part in the Heisei mergers and continued independently — overview)
03 · In the village of a tableland of more than three hundred tumuli, losing population while remaining independent
What characterizes Saito is that, while it holds the past of a village of a tableland of more than three hundred tumuli, it is losing population, independent and without a merger. From the 35,381 of 2000 to the 28,610 of 2020, some seven thousand were lost over twenty years. Even in this land where more than three hundred tumuli sleep in a group and which is counted a Special Historic Site of the nation, because it is a tableland village distant from the central city of the prefecture, one can read that some of the younger generation moved out of the town in search of work and study, and the town’s age as a whole rose. That the share aged 65 and over drew near four in ten at 37.8% in 2020 is an expression of that.
On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025, the household-with-children share is 18.5% in 2020, and the crude birth rate is 6.4 per thousand in 2020. The Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.38 is a level able to cover only a little under four-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue, showing the large degree of reliance on the local allocation tax seen in common across the tableland villages whose mainstay is farming. The village of a tableland of more than three hundred tumuli is now, without a merger and remaining independent, losing population and advancing its aging. A continually falling population, an aging drawing near four in ten, finances not thick on tax revenue alone — these look like separate numbers, yet upon the same past of a tableland of tumuli distant from the prefecture’s center they are bound to one another through the outflow of the younger generation. With a single number alone, the figure of the village cannot be drawn.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · A land where a riverside tableland held more than three hundred tumuli
The roles Saito has held on this tableland can be counted in several. One is that it holds the past of a tableland of tumuli — on the riverside tableland, more than three hundred tumuli built from the latter half of the 3rd century to the 7th century sleep in a group, counted a Special Historic Site of the nation. Another is that it bears the character of an origin of the city name — the old appellation of the tableland on which the tumuli gather became the source of the present city name. And it holds the face of an independent city — without taking part in the great mergers of the Heisei era, the central village walked alone. The landform of a riverside tableland has gathered here the group of tumuli that went on being built over more than four hundred years.
Saito is a town in which a riverside tableland held more than three hundred tumuli. From the riverside tableland of tumuli, to the origin of the city name, the central town of Tsuma, and the independent path — the geography of "a tableland by the Hitotsuse River" held the group of more than three hundred tumuli, made that name the city’s name, and set the form of the town. On this tableland by the Hitotsuse River in central Miyazaki Prefecture, more than three hundred tumuli are held, and their old appellation remains as the city’s very name.
Source: Saito City / Saitobaru Kofun Group (on the Saitobaru tableland on the right bank of the Hitotsuse River, 319 tumuli were built from the late 3rd to the 7th century = a Special Historic Site / Japan Heritage "The Kofun Landscape of Southern Miyazaki" — overview) / Saito City / origin of the city name and Tsuma (the central town is the Tsuma district south of Tsuma Shrine; the city name derives from the Saitobaru tableland in the center of the city [anciently "Saito-no-haru"] — overview) / Saito City (on 1958-11-1 Tsuma Town alone attained city status as Saito City; in 1962 it incorporated Sanzai Village and others; the Koyu area in central Miyazaki Prefecture; it did not take part in the Heisei mergers and continued independently — overview)
05 · Atlas’s note — a town that chose the name of the tableland of gathered tumuli as the very name of the city
Lay out Saito’s numbers and the indicators of a village holding a tableland of tumuli line up: a population falling while independent, an aging rate of 37.8%, a household-with-children share of 18.5%, and a fiscal capacity of 0.38. When, in my way, I (Atlas) read the numbers through with an accountant’s eye, what I want to follow here is the thickness of the gathering of people of an old age — that this town "went on building, over a span of more than four hundred years, more than three hundred tumuli on its riverside tableland from the latter half of the 3rd century to the 7th century." That so great a number of tumuli went on being built for so long shows that, in an old age, people with the power to govern this tableland dwelt here in long continuity. The fertile tableland by the riverside gathered people and power in an old age. Follow this chain, and the making of the town falls into place.
Another thing I want to consider is that the old appellation of the tableland on which the tumuli gather is the source of the present city name. While many towns make the name of a castle quarter, a post town or a port the city’s name, this town made the name of the tableland of gathered tumuli the city’s name. It inscribes the trace of the gathering of people of an old age into the city’s very name. A town that chose a tableland of tumuli as the city’s name — this view cannot be grasped while staring at a single number alone. Whether to read it off as the sign "a city of the prefecture’s center," or to see it as "a town in which a riverside tableland held more than three hundred tumuli," changes with the reader’s way of living. I (Atlas) only lay out facts and the past, and leave the measuring of it against one’s own commute, budget and family form to the very person who would live here. Because, in an old age, people and the power to govern gathered on this fertile tableland, more than three hundred tumuli went on being built over four hundred years. That thickness of the gathering of people left the city’s very name itself.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Saito City / Saitobaru Kofun Group (on the Saitobaru tableland on the right bank of the Hitotsuse River, 319 tumuli were built from the late 3rd to the 7th century = a Special Historic Site / Japan Heritage "The Kofun Landscape of Southern Miyazaki" — overview) / Saito City / origin of the city name and Tsuma (the central town is the Tsuma district south of Tsuma Shrine; the city name derives from the Saitobaru tableland in the center of the city [anciently "Saito-no-haru"] — overview) / Saito City (on 1958-11-1 Tsuma Town alone attained city status as Saito City; in 1962 it incorporated Sanzai Village and others; the Koyu area in central Miyazaki Prefecture; it did not take part in the Heisei mergers and continued independently — 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 (wave33-west 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: wave33w_