Ōchi was a town located in the Higashimatsuura District of Saga Prefecture, Japan. Ōchi is also romanized as Ouchi, and is often referred to that way in Japan. Ōchi was founded as Ōchi-mura by the amalgamation of 16 smaller villages in 1889. It became Ōchi-town in 1935. Ōchi thus had its own town hall. As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 8,890 and a density of 136.60 persons per km². The total area was 65.08 km². On January 1, 2005, Ōchi, along with the towns of Chinzei, Hamatama, Hizen, Kyūragi and Yobuko, and the village of Kitahata, were merged into the expanded city ofKaratsu. The old town hall became the Ōchi branch office of Karatsu City Hall. Ōchi contains the Memorial Hall of Hideo Murata who was a famous Japanese rōkyoku and enka singer. A major attraction are the Buddhist rock carvings. The scores of images of Buddha date from as early as the 7th century. Also popular is the nearby . The , said to be the highest in Japan, are located on the northern slopes of Mount Hachimandake in Ōchi. A major event is the harvest festival, the . This is a smaller version of the famous Karatsu Kunchi. Beginning on the 3rd Friday of October each year the town has a weekend in which there are a series of parades, day and night, where children and adults pull two large floats and dress in period costumes with much music and lively chanting. Ōchi was coal mining town before World War II. These days the mine site has been transformed into Ōchi park, the , and a sports complex. Ōchi has become something of a bedroom community, with considerable new developments on the north side of the Kyuragi river. The main train station, Ōchi Station, is on the Karatsu Line of Kyushu Railway Company running from Nishi-Karatsu Station in Karatsu to Kubota Station in Saga. A smaller line, part of the Chikuhi Line, runs from Yamamoto Station of Karatsu City, through Nishi-Ōchi Station to Imari Station in Imari City, a notable pottery centre in Saga Prefecture, along with Karatsu and Arita. The next station south from Nishi-Ōchi is Sari Station. Ōchi has become home to the new 21 MW farm just southwest of in southeast Ōchi. The solar farm is one of the biggest in Kyushu and opened in April 2018.
