Kanegasaki, Iwate
Template:Nihongo is a town located in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. Template:As of, the town had an estimated population of 15,580, and a population density of 87 persons per km² in 6,155 households.<ref>Kanegasaki Town official statisticsTemplate:In lang</ref> The total area of the town is Template:Convert.<ref name=Machimura>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In June 2001, the 34.8 hectare old centre of town was protected as an Important Preservation District by the national government for its traditional samurai residences.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Geography
Kanegasaki is located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan at the confluence of the Kitakami and Isawa rivers and is bordered to the north by Kitakami-shi, to the east and south by Ōshū-shi. In the mountains to the west, there is a large reservoir known as Sengaishi that is dammed and used for irrigating the rice paddies in the plain below.
Kanegasaki is characterized by a variety of geographical features, including mountains and wide expanses of rice paddies to the west and a small merchant district and neighboring residential areas to the east. On the border of Kanegasaki and Esashi two neighborhoods (Jōnai and Suwa-kōji) were once the location of the border between the Nambu and Date domains, and several examples of gardens and houses from the Edo period that were residences of samurai prior to the 1868 Meiji Restoration remain.
Neighboring municipalities
Iwate Prefecture
Climate
Kanegasaki has a humid climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) bordering with warm summers and cold winters. The average annual temperature in Kanegasaki is 10.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1323 mm with September as the wettest month and January as the driest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.1 °C, and lowest in January, at around -2.7 °C.<ref>Kanegasaki climate data</ref>
Demographics
Per Japanese census data,<ref>Kanegasaki population statistics</ref> the population of Kanegasaki has remained relatively stable over the past 70 years.
Template:Historical populations
History
The area of present-day Kanegasaki was part of ancient Mutsu Province, and has been settled since at least the Jōmon period by the Emishi people. During the later portion of the Heian period, the area was ruled by the Northern Fujiwara. During the Sengoku period, the area was contested by various samurai clans before coming under the control of the Date clan of Sendai Domain during the Edo period, under the Tokugawa shogunate.
The village of Kanegasaki was founded on April 1, 1889, with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to town status on September 1, 1925. On March 1, 1955 Kanegasaki absorbed the neighboring village of Nagaoka, also from Isawa District.
Government
Kanegasaki has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral town council of 16 members.<ref>Kanegasaki Town official home page: Listing of town council membersTemplate:In lang</ref> Kanegasaki, together with the city of Ōshū contributes five seats to the Iwate Prefectural legislature. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Iwate 3rd district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.
Economy
Kanegasaki has a relatively diverse economy that includes rice paddies typical of the region, but also extensive dairy farms in the western portion of the town and a large industrial park. The industrial park has several different manufacturing facilities, such as a Toyota plant that produces Lexus automobiles (Kantō Jidōsha) and a Fujitsu semiconductor facility.
Education
Kanegasaki has five public elementary schools and one public junior high school operated by the town government and one public high school operated by the Iwate Prefectural Board of Education. In addition, the town is known for having developed a system of Life-Long Learning Centers situated throughout the town that provide educational and other opportunities for the local residents.
Transportation
Railway
File:JR logo (east).svg East Japan Railway Company (JR East) - Tōhoku Main Line
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Highway
International relations
- Template:Flagicon Amherst, Massachusetts, United States (since August 1993)
- Template:Flagicon Changchun, People's Republic of China (since February 1989)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Template:Flagicon Leinefelde-Worbis, Germany (since September 2002) <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Local attractions
- Nanbu-Date border mounds, Edo-period border markers between Morioka Domain and Sendai Domain, a National Historic Site<ref name= "Bunka2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Tonomi Palisade Site, ruins of a late Nara-period fortification, National Historic Monument <ref name = "Bunka1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Noted people from Kanegasaki
- Houko Kuwashima, voice actress
References
External links
Template:Commons category-inline
- Template:Official Template:In lang
- Official Promotion(in Japanese)
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