Hokkaido Places

Town Kamikawa Subprefecture

Shimokawa 下川町

しもかわちょう

Shimokawa is a forest town of about 2,700 people in the hills of northern Kamikawa.1 Nearly 90% of its land is forest.2 Once a copper- and gold-mining town, it now builds its future on a 60-year forest rotation and woody-biomass heating, and in 2017 it won the Prime Minister's Prize at Japan's first SDGs Awards.3 It is also where Japan's ice candles began4 and the home town of ski jumper Noriaki Kasai, the first athlete to compete at eight Winter Olympics.5

Population (2020 Census)
3,126
Area
644.54 km²
District
Kamikawa District (上川郡)
Official website
www.town.shimokawa.hokkaido.jp

Known for

  • A sustainable forest town: Shimokawa manages about 4,431 ha of town-owned forest.2 It cuts and replants about 50 ha a year on a 60-year cycle.12 In 2003 it became the first place in Hokkaido to gain FSC forest certification, and wood-chip boilers now heat schools, the town hall and the public onsen.3 Its forest practice was named a Hokkaido Heritage (北海道遺産), "Shimokawa's Recycling-Based Forest Culture" (しもかわの循環型森林文化), in October 2022.122
  • SDGs pioneer: It was named an Environmental Model City in 2008, an Environmental Future City in 2011 and an SDGs Future City in 2018. In 2017 it won the Prime Minister's Prize at the first Japan SDGs Awards.3
  • Birthplace of ice candles (アイスキャンドル): Local youth made the first ice candles in 1986, inspired by a Finnish kindergarten game. "Ice Candle" (アイスキャンドル) was registered as a trademark in 1996. The Ice Candle Museum is held every February.4
  • Ski jumping: The jump hills on the edge of town produced Noriaki Kasai, who won Olympic silver in 2014 at age 41,5 Takanobu Okabe (1998 Nagano team gold), Daiki Ito and Yuki Ito.2
  • Shimokawa's "Great Wall" (万里長城): Residents built this 2 km stone wall by hand between 1986 and 2000, using more than 150,000 stones.13
  • Hand-stretched udon (手延べうどん): The tourism association calls the town Japan's northernmost home of hand-stretched noodles. The Udon Festival is held every September.14
  • Fruit tomatoes (フルーツトマト): Very sweet tomatoes (sugar content of 8° Brix or more) are shipped through JA Kita-Haruka. The town says its summer shipments are the largest in Hokkaido.15
  • Gomi Onsen (五味温泉): The spring was found in 1905. Its carbonated, CO₂-rich water is rare in Hokkaido.16

Sights & activities

Nature & scenery

  • Great Wall and Sakuragaoka Park (万里長城・桜ヶ丘公園) (Nishi-machi 1026, open at all times): The wall is 2,000 m long, one ten-thousandth the length of China's. Residents carried more than 150,000 stones by hand from 1986 to 2000, using stones dug up when farmland and pasture were cleared. Visitors engraved more than 125,000 of them with names and messages; the engraving service is now suspended. The Chinese consulate in Sapporo approved the "Great Wall" name in 1990, and the Memorial Gate was finished in 1994.3213
  • Sanru Dam and Lake Shimokawa Sanru (サンルダム・しもかわ珊瑠湖): The management office (Sanru 1595) hands out dam cards from 9:00 to 17:00, weekends and holidays included.33 Look for the stepped fish ladder built for cherry salmon.18
  • Zō-no-Hana Forest Park Observatory (象の鼻森林公園展望台) (Kita-machi 1164-15): An elephant-trunk-shaped lookout on a hill about 238 m high, with views over the lake and the whole town. It is closed in winter.34

Onsen

  • Gomi Onsen (五味温泉) (Panke 2893): Gomi Kanzaburō, who looked after imperial estate land, found the spring in the winter of 1905 when he saw a single spot of melted snow in a snowfield. The water is a CO₂-rich sodium-magnesium-calcium bicarbonate spring, known as a "beauty bath," and it is heated with woody biomass. Day bathing costs ¥500 for adults and ¥300 for children aged 5 to elementary school, from 10:00 to 21:30 (last entry 20:30). There are indoor baths, an open-air bath and a sauna.16 It is closed one Monday a month.35 Its restaurant, Rindō (りんどう), serves nabeyaki udon all year (last orders 13:30 and 19:30; closed third Mondays).36 The self-catering Eco-House Mikuwa (エコハウス美桑) is two minutes' walk away.37

Museums & heritage

  • Furusato Kōryūkan (ふるさと交流館) (Nishi-machi 1026): A local history museum designed by Kushiro-born architect Kiko Mozuna (毛綱毅曠). Its 27.5 m tower has a spiral staircase up to a viewing deck. Admission is ¥209 for adults and ¥110 for high-school age and under. In summer, book with the board of education at least two weekdays ahead.38
  • Keirinkan (恵林館) (Midori-machi 222-2): The former Shimokawa forestry office, with forestry exhibits and a small lending library. Open 10:00–17:00; closed Mondays and from November to April.39

Outdoor & seasonal activities

  • Shimokawa Ski Area (下川町スキー場) (Minami-machi 444-2): A free children's slope with a rope tow, open 10:00–21:00 in season (closed April to the end of November). The ski jumps where Kasai, Okabe and Yuki Ito trained stand next to it, and young jumpers still practice here.40 The tourism association counts three jump hills there. Japanese Wikipedia lists four around town, with K-points of 65 m, 40 m, 26 m and 8 m.6
  • Fir-oil distilling (森の精油づくり): Gather Sakhalin fir branches in the forest, then distill about 3 ml of pure oil to take home. It takes 2.5 hours and costs ¥4,500 for one person (¥2,500 for each extra person), for groups of 1–4. Book through the organizer, Noraneko-ya (のらねこ屋); the tourism association at the Komorebi center is the contact point.29
  • Make your own chopsticks (マイはしづくり): At Kinokokoro (木子精), plane your own chopsticks from reclaimed pagoda tree, yew, walnut or cherry wood. Book a week ahead.31
  • Other activities: Seasonal forest walks, a cycling guide, the "Gurutto Shimokawa" everyday-life tour, and park golf at the Great Wall course (paid) or the Nayoro River course (free).41

Food experiences

  • Try hand-stretched udon at Minamiya (みなみ家), run by a chef trained in Japanese cuisine in Kyoto. Kyōritsu Biyori (古民家レストラン・共立日和) serves French food in an old house using local seasonal produce, and Restaurant Morena (レストラン モレーナ) serves North Indian curry.24 For afternoon snacks there are Yanai Kashiho's cream anpan27 and Abe Poultry Farm's egg pudding.26 In the evening, Beer Stand Ale pours local craft beer.28

Roadside stations (Michi-no-Eki)

No Michi-no-Eki is located in Shimokawa. The official list of Hokkaido roadside stations has none in the town.42 The nearest ones are:

  • Mochigome no Sato ☆ Nayoro (道の駅もち米の里☆なよろ) in Nayoro: In Furen-chō, on National Route 40 at Nayoro's southern entrance. It sells local mochi-rice products such as cream daifuku and soft daifuku, plus soba and fresh local produce. You can watch rice cakes being pounded by machine. The restaurant Kaze no Yorimichi (風の寄り道) serves mochi and soba dishes, and the snack corner has mochi-rice croquettes and milk soft-serve. It was registered on 17 April 2008.43
  • Nishiokoppe Kamu (道の駅にしおこっぺ花夢) in Nishiokoppe: At Kami-Okoppe on National Route 239, the road that also runs through Shimokawa,6 about 30 km inland from the Sea of Okhotsk. It has a flower park of about 6 ha, an 18-hole park-golf course and a mechanical street organ. The shop sells canned venison, deer-leather crafts, wild vegetables and dairy products, and grass-fed soft-serve is on the menu. It was registered on 18 August 2000, and the stamp is available 24 hours.44
  • Others in the area: Kaori no Sato Takinoue in Takinoue, Okoppe in Okoppe, Ōmu in Omu, Bifuka in Bifuka and Hitsuji no Machi Samurai Shibetsu in Shibetsu.42

Getting there & around

  • Rail: No railway runs through the town. The nearest station is Nayoro on the JR Soya Main Line.6 Limited expresses take about 2 h 15 min from Sapporo to Nayoro and about 45 min from Asahikawa.45
  • Bus: Meishi Bus (名士バス) runs the Shimokawa and Okoppe lines from Nayoro Station to Shimokawa Bus Terminal.46 The 20 km trip takes about 30 min. For the town hall, get off at Shinkin-mae (信金前). The town notes that since the September 2020 timetable the last bus from Nayoro Station leaves at 20:22, and it suggests trains from Asahikawa that connect with it.45 The Okoppe line continues east to Nishiokoppe and Okoppe.6 The tourism association also points visitors to the Kōsoku Nayoro (高速なよろ号) highway bus to Nayoro.46 A community bus links the bus terminal and Gomi Onsen five times a day (¥100 for adults; the last run does not operate on Sundays).35
  • Road: National Route 239 runs through the town. Prefectural Road 60 goes to Omu and Road 101 to Aibetsu.6 By car, Sapporo is about 240 km away: about 4.5 hours on ordinary roads, or about 3 hours using the expressway as far as Shibetsu. Asahikawa is about 100 km, about 2 hours (1.5 hours with the expressway). Nayoro is about 20 km, 20 minutes.45 The tourism association gives about 3.5 hours from central Sapporo.46 The Sanru Dam is about 50 minutes from the Shibetsu-Kenbuchi IC.18
  • Air: The nearest airport is Asahikawa. Monbetsu is also within reach.6 Gomi Onsen is about 2 hours by car from Asahikawa Airport and about 4 hours from New Chitose.37
  • In town: There is a taxi company, Shimokawa Hire (下川ハイヤー), open 8:00–17:00, or until 23:30 on Fridays and Saturdays. A car rental office stands in front of the town hall, and rental bicycles are available.46

Practical tips

  • When to go: February for the Ice Candle Museum,4 May for the Great Wall Festival,13 and September for the Udon Festival.14 Fruit tomatoes are in season from June,15 and the observatory and forestry museum are open only in the warmer months.3439
  • Visitor center: The NPO Shimokawa Tourism Association (しもかわ観光協会) is in the Machiokoshi Center Komorebi (まちおこしセンター コモレビ, Kyōei-chō 1-1). It is open 9:00–17:30 and closed 31 December–6 January (tel. 01655-4-2718). It sells local brands and specialties30 and rents snowshoes and rubber boots.29 It can also arrange guided visits to the town forest and biomass facilities.12
  • Winter: Lows below −30 °C still occur; −30.4 °C was recorded on 9 February 2020.6 The average maximum snow depth is over 1 m in February and March.19 Drive with winter tires and allow extra time.
  • Seasonal closures and bookings: The Zō-no-Hana observatory is closed in winter,34 Keirinkan from November to April,39 and the ski area from April to November.40 Book the Furusato Kōryūkan in summer,38 and check Gomi Onsen's monthly closing day before you go.37
  • Wildlife: Brown bears live in the surrounding forests. In March 2026 the town adopted a brown-bear zoning plan under Hokkaido's bear management plan to separate bear and human areas and prevent injuries.17 On forest walks, carry a bell, make noise and never leave food out.
  • Evenings: According to the town's 2020 notice, the last bus from Nayoro leaves at 20:22, so check the current timetable before planning a late arrival. Beer Stand Ale opens only Thursday to Saturday.4528

More about Shimokawa

At a glance
Field Details
Type Town (町)
Subprefecture Kamikawa (上川総合振興局)
District Kamikawa District (上川郡), in the former Teshio Province (天塩国)6
Population 3,126 in 1,473 households at the 2020 Census, down 11.9% from 3,547 in 2015. The town's resident register showed 2,725 people (54 of them foreign residents) in 1,563 households on 1 September 2026.1 The Hokkaido Government's register total for 1 January 2026 was 2,764.7 The population peaked at 15,555 in the 1960 Census.1
Area 644.54 km².8 The town measures 20.6 km east–west and 31.4 km north–south. The town gives its elevation range as 110–987 m.9 Forest covers 89.5% of the land.2
Density About 4.2 people/km² (2,725 residents); 4.9/km² at the 2020 Census
Municipal history Organized settlement began in 1901, which the town counts as its founding year. Shimokawa Village (下川村) split from Nayoro Town on 1 January 1924 and became Shimokawa Town on 1 December 1949.6 The town has never merged. A six-municipality merger council for northern Kamikawa dissolved in January 2004, and in March 2004 the mayor told the council that Shimokawa would not merge under the merger special-measures law.2
Neighboring municipalities Nayoro and Shibetsu in Kamikawa. Takinoue, Nishiokoppe and Omu in Okhotsk Subprefecture.6
Symbols Tree: Sakhalin fir (トドマツ). Flower: Ezo gentian (エゾリンドウ). Both were adopted on 1 January 1978. The emblem (1958) is a stylized form of the character 下.10 No town bird was found.
Mascot Shimorin (しもりん), the town's image character, introduced in July 2014211
Official website https://www.town.shimokawa.hokkaido.jp/

Name origin
  • Two tributaries enter the Nayoro River here. Their Ainu names were Panke-Nukanan (パンケヌカナン, "the lower Nukanan River") and Penke-Nukanan (ペンケヌカナン, "the upper Nukanan River"). The town's name comes from the first. Its panke ("lower") was translated as 下 and the river as 川, giving Shimokawa, "the lower river."6
  • The meaning of nukanan itself has been lost. Japanese Wikipedia cites place-name scholar Yamada Hidezō's Hokkaido no Chimei (2nd ed., 2018) for this. The same article, in its entry on Mt. Nukanan (奴可難山), glosses nukanan as "a stream where birds lay eggs" (鳥の卵を産む沢), but gives no source for it (unverified).6
  • The name first came into use through a post relay station (駅逓). The Panke-Nukanan relay station opened in 1903, and on 26 February 1905 it was renamed the Shimokawa relay station. This is the first recorded use of "Shimokawa."6 Shops and inns grew up around the station and became the core of today's town center.2
  • The Ainu names live on. The rivers are now the Shimokawa Panke (下川パンケ川, 20.5 km) and Shimokawa Penke (下川ペンケ川, 16.0 km). The Panke (班渓) district was formed in the 1984 address reform from former areas including Panke and Panke-Nukanan.6

History
  • Prehistory: The oldest site in the town is thought to date from around the end of the last glacial period.6 The Mosanru site (モサンル遺跡) was excavated in October 1979.2
  • Early exploration: In Ansei 4 (1857), Matsuura Takeshirō surveyed the Teshio River basin as far as the Nayoro and Sanru rivers, and later wrote Teshio Nisshi (天塩日誌). Japanese Wikipedia gives the year as 1859, which does not match Ansei 4. In 1872–73 the Kaitakushi official Satō Masakatsu spent the winter surveying along the Nayoro River.6
  • Gifu settlers (1901): In April 1901, 25 households from Takasu and Hokunō villages in Gujō District, Gifu Prefecture (now Gujō City), settled lines 16–19 of the Nayoro plain. The town counts 1901 as its founding year.6 A second Gifu group and a group from Hachijō-jima arrived in 1902.2 Folk songs including Gujō-bushi are still preserved in the town (see Culture).6
  • Railway and village (1903–1924): Rice was first grown successfully in 1903.2 Gomi Onsen was discovered in the winter of 1905.16 The Nayoro Line reached Shimokawa on 20 October 1919 and was extended to Kami-Okoppe in 1920.6 On 1 January 1924, Shimokawa Village split from Nayoro Town with 3,684 people in 703 households.2
  • Mines and timber: Mitsui's Sanru gold mine opened in December 1926. It closed in 1944 and reopened in 1951. Mitsubishi's Shimokawa mine began work in December 1941.2 It produced copper and zinc.6 Timber shipped by rail boomed with rebuilding demand after the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake.6
  • Town status and the town forest (1949–1960): Shimokawa became a town on 1 December 1949.6 In 1953 it bought 1,213 ha of national forest.2 The purchase cost more than ¥88 million, when the town's whole annual budget was about ¥120 million. The next year a record typhoon destroyed almost all of this natural forest, so the town replanted it with conifers.3 Great fires burned 213 houses in Ichinohashi in 1956 and 121 in central Shimokawa in 1957.2 The population peaked at 15,555 in 1960.1
  • Decline: The Shimokawa copper mine was suspended in February 1983 and the Sanru mine in March 1986.2 JR's Nayoro Main Line was abolished on 1 May 1989 and replaced by Meishi Bus services.6 By the 1990 Census the population had fallen to 5,065.1
  • Home-made tourism: Residents began building the "Great Wall" in 1986.13 The same year, local youth made the first ice candles for the Shimokawa Winter Festival.4 Suzuki began cold-weather car testing in the town in 1987, and its Shimokawa test course opened in 1997.2
  • The forest-town model (2003–2018): The town gained FSC certification in 2003.2 It was named an Environmental Model City in 2008, an Environmental Future City in 2011 and an SDGs Future City in 2018.3 From 2013 the depopulated Ichinohashi district was rebuilt as a model of energy self-sufficiency for an aging community. It has clustered housing heated by biomass, and the boiler heat is also used to grow shiitake mushrooms.3 In 2012, for the first time, more people moved into the town than left it.3
  • Recent: A downpour of 78 mm in four hours caused widespread damage in August 2014. The Sanru Dam was completed in March 2019. The town declared itself a "Zero Carbon City" in March 2022. A new regional development foundation (しもかわ財団) was set up in 2024.2 In March 2026 the town adopted a brown bear zoning plan to keep bears and people apart.17

Geography & climate
  • Shimokawa is on the eastern edge of the Nayoro Basin, in the upper reaches of the Nayoro River, a tributary of the Teshio. The basin is enclosed by the Kitami and Teshio mountains, and most of the town is on the slopes of the Kitami Mountains.6
  • Rivers: Besides the Nayoro River, the main rivers are the Sanru (サンル川, 33.2 km), Shimokawa Panke (20.5 km), Shimokawa Penke (16.0 km), Shikaribetsu (14.5 km) and Mosanru (14.0 km).6 English Wikipedia notes that the Sanru is a spawning river for cherry salmon and that fly fishing is popular.11
  • Mountains: Japanese Wikipedia lists Uenshiri-dake (ウエンシリ岳, 1,142 m), Poronaipo-dake (about 1,110 m), Ikuyama-dake (1,030 m), Sattaki-dake (993 m), Piyashiri-yama (ピヤシリ山, 989 m) and Itoi-dake (914 m).6 The town's own figures give a maximum elevation of 987 m, which is lower than several of these peaks.9
  • Lake Shimokawa Sanru (しもかわ珊瑠湖): The Sanru Dam on the Sanru River is 46 m high and built as a trapezoidal CSG dam. Its fish ladder is 300 m long and climbs 24 m so that cherry salmon (サクラマス) can still reach their spawning grounds upstream. Japanese Wikipedia calls it Japan's northernmost dam run directly by the national land ministry, but gives no source (unverified).18
  • Land use: Of 64,454 ha, forest covers 57,667 ha (89.5%), fields 2,555 ha and rice paddies 808 ha.2 Of the forest, 48,110 ha is national forest, 4,431 ha is town-owned and 3,914 ha is private.2 No national, quasi-national or prefectural natural park in the town was found in the sources consulted.
  • Climate: Shimokawa has a humid continental climate (Dfb) and is a designated special heavy-snowfall area.6 The 1991–2020 normals give a yearly mean of 5.4 °C. January averages −8.8 °C, with a mean daily low of −15.7 °C. August averages 19.4 °C, with a mean daily high of 25.0 °C. Annual precipitation is 964.8 mm and total snowfall is 820 cm. Snow depth peaks at 116 cm in March on average.19 The record high is 37.3 °C (28 July 2021), the record low is −36.1 °C (17 February 1978) and the deepest snow was 175 cm (12 March 2013).20

Economy & industry
  • Jobs: The 2020 Census counted 1,547 employed residents. Of these, 401 worked in primary industries (339 in farming, 62 in forestry), 284 in secondary industries and 862 in services and other tertiary work.2
  • Agriculture: Gross farm output in 2024 was ¥3.923 billion. Livestock accounted for ¥2.911 billion (dairy ¥2.322 billion, beef cattle ¥557 million) and crops for ¥1.012 billion (vegetables ¥826 million, rice ¥73 million). There were 132 farm households working 3,630 ha, of which 440 ha is pasture.2 Dairy farming leads. Other crops include tomatoes for juice and fruit tomatoes, snow peas, wheat, buckwheat and glutinous (mochi) rice.6
  • Fruit tomatoes: JA Kita-Haruka (JA北はるか) was the first in Hokkaido to grade tomatoes with an optical sensor. It ships fruit of 8° Brix or more across Japan, and the town says its summer shipments are the largest in Hokkaido. Seedlings start growing in heated greenhouses in February, when it can be −30 °C outside, and harvest begins in June. Growers use IoT monitoring.15
  • Forestry and wood: Each year about 50 ha of town forest is cut and replanted on a 60-year cycle.12 In 2024 six wood-products businesses employed 123 people.2 Wood industries include the Woody Shimokawa laminated-timber plant, which began operating in 1998,2 and the chopstick maker Shimokawa Seihashi (下川製箸).6
  • Energy: Offcuts, unused thinnings and forest residues fuel wood-chip boilers that heat public buildings. The savings on heating in this cold town pay for child-rearing support.3 Gomi Onsen switched to a wood-biomass boiler in March 2005.2
  • Other industry: Suzuki runs a vehicle test course in the town (opened 1997).2 A plant there makes optical and precision glass parts.6
  • Tourism (2024): Gomi Onsen drew 78,532 visitors. The Udon Festival drew 8,200 and the Ice Candle Museum 5,100. The Great Wall drew 978 and the Great Wall Festival about 900.2
  • Population and aging: At the 2020 Census, 40.6% of residents (1,269 people) were 65 or older and only 8.0% were aged 15–29. In fiscal 2024 the town had 4 births, 54 deaths, 119 people moving in and 135 moving out, a net loss of 67.2
  • Revitalization: The town runs relocation support through the "tanoshimo" website and an entrepreneur track of the regional revitalization cooperator program, "Shimokawa Bears" (シモカワベアーズ).6 It has partnership agreements with Yoshimoto Kogyo (2018) and Seicomart (2021).2 Furusato nozei donations fund training for young ski jumpers, forest management and the SDGs projects.21

Local specialties
Specialty Category Details & where to get it
Hand-stretched udon (手延べうどん), "Piyashiri Shigure" (ピヤシリしぐれ) Noodles In 1956 Kuramoto Hiroshi (倉本博) learned the hand-stretching method in Hyōgo, home of Ibo-no-Ito noodles, and the town's noodles were first sold under the Kikusui label. The "Piyashiri Shigure" brand dates from 1982.14 Japanese Wikipedia instead dates the arrival of the technique from Hyōgo to 1970.6 Four makers sell direct: Sanga Seimen (さんが製麺, Nishi-machi 439), Tabata Seimen (たばた製麺), Nakagawa Seimen (中川製麺) and Haruo Seimen (はるお製麺, which also makes dried soba).2223 Eat it at Minamiya (みなみ家), an udon restaurant, or at Kushitatsu (串辰).24
Fruit tomatoes (フルーツトマト) Produce Medium-sized tomatoes of 8° Brix or more, harvested from June.15 A 1.5 kg box of cosmetically flawed fruit is a furusato nozei gift from ¥5,000.21
Tomato juice (トマトジュース) Drink Sold with hand-stretched udon and Shimorin goods at the Shimokawa Business Cooperative shop (下川事業協同組合, Nishiki-chō 107), which also ships.25
Green and white asparagus (アスパラガス) Produce The top furusato nozei gifts, taken as pre-orders for the next spring's harvest.21
Shimokawa 60 Enzyme Eggs (下川六〇酵素卵), smoked eggs and egg pudding Eggs & sweets Abe Poultry Farm (あべ養鶏場, founded 1962, Panke 1386) sells eggs with lemon-yellow yolks. Its smoked eggs are made with Gomi Onsen water and local wood chips, and it also sells Egg Pudding (えっぐぷりん). The farm shop is open 9:00–18:00 and closed Sundays. The eggs are also sold at Q-Mart.26
Cream anpan and Yukifuri Purin (雪ふりプリン) Bakery & sweets Yanai Kashiho (矢内菓子舗, Nishiki-chō 81) bakes a cream-filled bean-paste bun that "the Legend" of ski jumping says he loves. Its Yukifuri ("falling snow") pudding uses milk from the local Suzuki Farm and won a special gold prize at a pudding fair. Open 9:00–18:00, closed Sundays and Mondays.27
Craft beer (クラフトビール) Beer Beer Stand Ale (ビアスタンド エール, Nishiki-chō 24-1) is the taproom of Shimokawa Mori no Brewery (しもかわ森のブルワリー), which brews on site with Shimokawa-grown hops. It sells bottles and fills growlers. Open 18:00–23:00, closed Sunday–Wednesday.28
Sakhalin fir (todomatsu) essential oil (トドマツ精油) Aroma Distill your own from branches gathered in the forest (see Sights & activities).29
Local brands (町内ブランド) Various The tourism association shop stocks Shimokawa brands and specialties. Its product tags include Hup no Mori (フプの森), SORRY KOUBOU, honey, kumazasa (bamboo grass), tomato juice and hand-stretched udon.30
Woodcraft (木工品) Crafts Furusato nozei lists 11 wood and bamboo craft items.21 Make your own chopsticks at Kinokokoro (木子精).31
Herbal cosmetics Crafts SORRY KOUBOU makes natural cosmetics from pesticide-free herbs grown in Shimokawa.22
Venison and game (ジビエ) Meat Served at Jibie Bistro Shikaku (ジビエビストロ シカク).24

Culture & festivals
Event When Highlights
Shimokawa Ice Candle Museum (しもかわアイスキャンドルミュージアム) Mid-February; the 52nd was held 14–15 February 2026 Ice candles glow at Nigiwai Square, the bus terminal, the Komorebi town center and along the shopping street on the national route. Residents also light them outside homes and shops, so the whole town becomes the "museum." Local youth began it in 1986 at the Shimokawa Winter Festival. It was renamed the Ice Candle Festival in 1988 and took its present name in 2003.4 About 5,100 visitors came in 2024.2
Great Wall Festival (万里長城祭) May; 17 May 2026 Held at Sakuragaoka Park. Tickets (¥2,000) include a Genghis Khan lamb barbecue and a lottery ticket, and there are dance and brass-band stages.13 It was the cherry-blossom festival until it was renamed in 1988.2
Great Wall cross-country race (万里長城クロスカントリー大会) May Held since 19896
Chainsaw art contest and Mori Jam (チェンソーアート大会＆森ジャム) July Listed by the Hokkaido Heritage Council.12 Hokkaido's first chainsaw art contest was held in Shimokawa in August 2011.2 Check the current schedule.
Shimokawa Udon Festival (しもかわうどん祭り) September; the 23rd was held 12–13 September 2026 More than 30 stalls at Nigiwai Square. Events include grabbing hand-stretched udon, an udon speed-eating race in two-person ninin-baori style, a stage show and a flea market.14 It was renamed from the Furusato Festival in 2004.2 Japanese Wikipedia still lists it in August.6 About 8,200 visitors came in 2024.2
All-Hokkaido Nordic skiing meet (全道ノルディックスキー競技大会) December Held since 19856
  • Gujō folk songs: The Kami-Nayoro Folk Performing Arts (上名寄郷土芸能) preserve Mugiya-bushi, Gujō-bushi and Kodaijin. They were designated the town's first intangible cultural property in 1964.6 That the songs came with the first settlers from Gujō in Gifu is likely but was not confirmed in the sources consulted (unverified).
  • Shrine: Shimokawa Shrine (下川神社) was formed in 1941 by merging three shrines. In 1916 its festival was fixed on 8 August; the current dates are unverified.2
  • Cultural properties: A Japanese elm (ハルニレ) in the Shimokawa Elementary School grounds (1964) and the Shimokawa "ringing stones" (下川鳴る石, 1982) are designated natural monuments. The ringing stones are Miocene volcanic nodules that rattle when shaken because of quartz crystals inside.6
  • Museums: Furusato Kōryūkan covers local history, and Keirinkan covers forestry (see Sights & activities). The Sattenzan Collection Hall (札天山収蔵館) stands on the site of the former Ichinohashi Elementary School.6

Ainu heritage
  • Ainu heritage in Shimokawa survives mainly in place names, above all Panke- and Penke-Nukanan (see Name origin).6 Katakana river names such as Sanru, Mosanru and Shikaribetsu also look Ainu in origin, but their meanings were not confirmed in the sources consulted (unverified).
  • Japanese Wikipedia traces several mountain names to Ainu. Mt. Panke (班毛山) is named after the Shimokawa Panke River, panke meaning "downstream." Mt. Satten (札天山) is named after a stream called Isatteushunai, and Mt. Yabumi (矢文山) takes its kanji from an older name, Shipun-otochishi. Mt. Maeda (前田山) was once called Nukanan-potōtomushipe. The meanings of these last three names are unknown.6
  • Archaeological sites include the Mosanru site, excavated in 1979,2 and a site believed to date from the end of the last glacial period.6 No Ainu cultural facility or living-tradition group in the town was found in the sources consulted.

Sister & friendship cities
  • Kenora, Ontario, Canada: Friendship city since 16 February 2001, when an 11-member delegation led by Mayor David Canfield signed the agreement in Shimokawa. Ties began in 1992 through Stephen Pan, an English teacher from Kenora. Mutual visits started in 1995 and have included 26 exchange students.47
  • Kyotamba, Kyoto Prefecture: Friendship exchange agreement, March 201326
  • Takasu Village, Gifu Prefecture: A former sister municipality and the home village of some of the first settlers. The tie ended when Takasu merged into Gujō City. The year it was established was not found.6
  • Kawakami district, Totsuka Ward, Yokohama: Friendship agreement with the district's federation of neighborhood associations, August 20112
  • Other partners: In 2014 Shimokawa formed an alliance of sustainable small municipalities with Yusuhara (Kōchi) and Oguni (Kumamoto).2

Notable people
  • Noriaki Kasai (葛西紀明, born 1972), ski jumper, born in Shimokawa. He was the first athlete to compete at eight Winter Olympics (1992–2018) and won the large-hill silver at Sochi 2014, becoming the oldest Olympic ski-jumping medalist.5 He received the town's special honor award.6
  • Takanobu Okabe (岡部孝信, born 1970), ski jumper, born in Shimokawa.48 He won the 1995 world title on the normal hill and team gold at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. In 1995 he became the first recipient of the town's honor award.2
  • Daiki Ito (伊東大貴), ski jumper, winner of team bronze at Sochi 2014, and Yuki Ito (伊藤有希), ski jumper, who competed at the 2014, 2018 and 2022 Olympics according to the town's records. Both received the town's honor award.26
  • Annenyama (安念山), sumo wrestler from Shimokawa, won the May 1957 tournament as a komusubi.2

Sources

Numbers in the text link to these sources. Figures as of 23 September 2026

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  3. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS（2030年における下川町のありたい姿） — Shimokawa Town JA accessed 2026-09-23
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  46. アクセス — Shimokawa Tourism Association JA accessed 2026-09-23
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