270px, Sameura Dam reservoir is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

located in Tosa District,

Kōchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kōchi Prefecture has a population of 757,914 (1 December 2011) and has a geographic area of 7,103 km2 (2,742 sq mi). Kōchi Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the northwest and ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. , the village had an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 363 in 214 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of 3.8 persons per km². The total area of the village is . Okawa is the least populated municipality in Japan, excluding municipalities affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and municipalities on excluded islands.

Geography

Ōkawa is located in the

Shikoku Mountains Shikoku Mountains () is a mountain range that runs from east to west in the central part of the Shikoku in Japan. The length of the mountain range is about 250km. The highest peak in the mountain range is Mount Ishizuchi is a mountain on the ...

in the northern part of Kochi Prefecture, bordering Ehime. The Yoshino River flows through the village from west to east. The former center of the village was submerged due to the completion and flooding of the Sameura Dam, located in nearby Motoyama. Currently, the Komatsu area on the shore of the dam lake has the village office.

Neighbouring municipalities

Kōchi Prefecture * Tosa (town) *

Ino Ino or INO may refer to: Arts and music *I-No, a character in the ''Guilty Gear'' series of video games *Ino (Greek mythology), a queen of Thebes in Greek mythology *INO Records, an American Christian music label *Ino Yamanaka, a character in th ...

Ehime Prefecture *

Niihama 270px, Niihama City Hall 270px, Aerial View of Central Niihama is a city located in the eastern part of Ehime Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 115,824 in 57781 households and a population density of 490 persons per ...

Shikokuchūō is a city located in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 83,635 in 28876 households and a population density of 200 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Shikokuchūō is the leading producer of pape ...

Climate

Ōkawa has a

Humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light snowfall. The average annual temperature in Ōkawa is 11.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2536 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in January, at around 22.4 °C, and lowest in January, at around 0.0 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Ōkawa population statistics
/ref> the population of Ōkawa dropped precipitously in the 1960s and 1970s due to submergence the main inhabited portion of the village by the Sameura Dam.

History

As with all of Kōchi Prefecture, the area of Ōkawa was part of ancient

Tosa Province was a province of Japan in the area of southern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Tosa bordered on Awa to the northeast, and Iyo to the northwest. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō syste ...

. During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, the area was part of the holdings of

Tosa Domain The was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, controlling all of Tosa Province in what is now Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Kōchi Castle, and was ruled throughout its history by t ...

ruled by the

Yamauchi clan The Yamauchi clan (山内氏) were a family of rulers over what was then the Tosa Province which spanned the southern half of Shikoku island. The province was given to the family in 1600 after Yamauchi Kazutoyo led troops under Tokugawa Ieyasu a ...

from their seat at

Kōchi Castle is an Edo Period Japanese castle in the city of Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. It is located at Otakayama hill, at the center of Kōchi city, which in turn is located at the center of the Kōchi Plain, the most prosperous area of former ...

. The village of Ōkawa was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on October 1, 1889.

Government

Ōkawa has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...

village council of six members. Ōkawa, together with the other municipalities of Tosa District and Nagaoka District, contributes one member to the Kōchi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the village is part of Kōchi 1st district of the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paralle ...

Economy

The major industry in Ōkawa Village is logging; much of the town's mountains have been converted into a cedar tree farm. Additionally, the Shirataki copper mine (白滝鉱山) located in Ōkawa was in operation between 1919 and 1985.

Education

Ōkawa has one public combined elementary/middle school operated by the village government. The village does not have a high school. There is also a nature center which runs summer camps and a study abroad program which allows Japanese youth the opportunity to live in a very remote mountain village for Elementary and/or Junior High School.

Transportation

Railway

Ōkawa has no passenger railway service. The nearest station is Ōsugi Station on the JR Shikoku Dosan Line; however, most passengers travel to Kōchi Station by bus.

Highways

Ōkawa is not on any national highway.

Local attractions

Ōkawa is regionally famous for its Black Beef cows and the annual Ōkawa Black Beef Festival (大川村謝肉祭 ''Shanikusai, ''lit. 'Beef Gratitude Festival') has been known to draw up to a thousand-five hundred people from around Shikoku and

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separ ...

. There are also a few hiking trails located in the region that reward travelers with beautiful views of Shikoku.

References

External links

*
Official website

Shirataki-no-sato (Nature's Kingdom)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okawa, Kochi Villages in Kōchi Prefecture