Tashibu no Sho Osaki
Tashibu no Sho Osaki is a stretch of countryside inland from Bungotakada in the southwestern part of the Kunisaki Peninsula. Throughout the Heian period (794–1185) the area was maintained by the Usa Shrine in Oita prefecture. Today, the land is used to grow rice and the landscape has remained mostly unchanged, looking just as it did back in the eleventh century.
Following an archaeological survey begun in 1981, the area has been kept free from commercial development. In 2010, Tashibu no Sho Osaki was designated an Important Cultural Landscape. The basin has since been studied for its unique landscape which features unevenly shaped rice paddies that are reminiscent of rice fields from ancient times and that illuminate the rich history of the area. Apart from its scenic significance, the preservation of the district also reveals how people who once lived in the area interacted with their environment.
The area hosts both a Rice Planting Festival and Harvest Festival in which visitors can dress up in traditional costumes while enjoying the first-hand experience of rice planting and harvesting alongside local residents. The annual Rice Planting Festival usually takes place in June, while the Harvest Festival happens in October. Other popular times to visit include the autumn and winter months when the fields of Tashibu Basin are often illuminated with festive lights, and in June when countless fireflies light up the sky.