九州各地域の隠れた資源を磨き上げ、国内外へ発信

The Kikuchi River flows through the northern part of the Kumamoto Prefecture. It is the main river of the Kikuchi Basin and an A-Class river designated by the Government of Japan. Four municipalities, i.e., Tamana City, Yamaga City, Kikuchi City, and Nagomi Town, succeeded in having the Kikuchi Basin designated as a Japan Heritage by the Agency of Cultural Affairs of Japan in 2017. The Japan Heritage project was started in 2015 by the Agency in order to promote, in Japan and abroad, Japan’s tangible and intangible cultural properties preserved through narratives based on unique regional histories and traditions. The four municipalities joined efforts in presenting a story with the theme of "two thousand years of rice farming." It says that the Kikuchi Basin is a witness to the history of rice farming since the Yayoi period and unique culture developed with it and the Basin is "a microcosm of Japan's rice farming culture from antiquity to today and is a rare place where you see unique performing arts and culinary culture that developed in association with the rice farming."