Nanto-shi — Nanto-shi Map Poster & Print

ແຜນທີ່

Nanto-shi Map Poster & Print

Nanto was formed in 2004 by merging several towns and villages in south-western Toyama Prefecture, and its map is unusually varied as a result. The northern part lies on the edge of the Tonami plain, a flat expanse of rice paddies scattered with individual farmhouses, each ringed by its own windbreak of trees. Small town centres such as Fukumitsu sit within this open landscape.

To the south, the ground rises steeply into mountains cut by the Sho River. Deep in these valleys lie the Gokayama villages of Ainokura and Suganuma, known for their steep thatched gassho-zukuri houses. They are inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with Shirakawa-go. On the map they appear as tiny clusters beside the river, far from the plain.

A Nanto-shi map poster shows a place of strong contrasts: the even, dotted pattern of scattered farmsteads in the north, compact old town streets in the middle, and narrow valley settlements in the mountains. Centred on the city's northern districts, the composition shows the plain at its most distinctive, where paddies and tree-ringed houses form an almost pointillist pattern.