is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

located in

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, ...

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 town 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 9,613 in 4542 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 28 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Ajigasawa is in

Nishitsugaru District, Aomori is a rural district located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. As of September 2013, the district had an estimated population of 19,666 and an area of 831.85 km2. All of the city of Tsugaru was formerly part of Nishitsugaru District. In terms of ...

southwestern corner of Aomori Prefecture on the border with

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is approximately 966,000 (as of 1 October 2019) and its ge ...

, facing the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

to the northwest, and the slopes of Mount Iwaki to the southeast. Part of the town is located within the borders of the

Shirakami-Sanchi 270px, Shirakami Mountains Relief Map (with UNESCO World Heritage Site) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Tōhoku region of northern Honshū, Japan. This mountainous area includes the last virgin forest of Siebold's beech which once cover ...

, a

UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

, and some coastal areas of the town are within the

Tsugaru Quasi-National Park is a quasi-national park in Aomori Prefecture in the far northern Tōhoku region of Honshū in Japan. It is rated a protected landscape (category V) according to the IUCN. The park includes a number of discontinuous areas on Tsugaru Peninsula, ...

. The Akaishi Keiryū Anmon no Taki Prefectural Natural Park is also partly located within the borders of Ajigasawa.

Neighbouring municipalities

Aomori Prefecture *

Hirosaki is a city located in western Aomori Prefecture, Japan. On 1 April 2020, the city had an estimated population of 168,739 in 71,716 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Hirosaki developed as a castle town fo ...

Tsugaru Tsugaru (津軽) may refer to: * Tsugaru, Aomori, a city of Aomori Prefecture, Japan * Tsugaru Peninsula * Tsugaru Strait, between Honshū and Hokkaidō ** Tsugaru Kaikyō Ferry, a ferry crossing this strait * Tsugaru-jamisen, a traditional style of ...

Fukaura is a List of towns in Japan, town located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 7,903 in 3695 households, and a population density of 16 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Fukaura is i ...

* Nishimeya Akita Prefecture * Happō * Fujisato

Climate

The town has a cold

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Dfb'') characterized by warm short summers and long cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Ajigasawa is 10.7 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1480 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 22.9 °C, and lowest in January, at around -3.1 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Ajigasawa has decreased by more than half over the past 60 years.

History

Oura Mitsunobu, the founder of the

Tsugaru clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled the northwestern half of what is now Aomori Prefecture in the Tōhoku region of Japan under the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate. The Tsugaru were ''daimyō'' of Hirosaki Domain and its semi-subsidiary, ...

, settled in Tanesato (now part of Ajigasawa) in 1491, which developed into a port for the Tsugaru region. The area around Ajigasawa was controlled by the

Hirosaki Domain Hirosaki Castle, the seat of the Hirosaki Domain , also known as , was a '' tozama'' feudal domain of Edo period JapanRavina, Mark. (1998) ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan,'' p. 222 It is located in Mutsu Province, in northern Honsh� ...

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 ...

. Ajigasawa became a village in

with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889, and was elevated to town status on March 31, 1955 by annexing the neighboring villages of Akaishi, Nakamura, Narusawa and Maido.

Government

Ajigasawa 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 ...

town legislature of 12 members. Nishitsugaru District contributes one member to the Aomori Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Aomori 3rd 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 economy of Ajigasawa is heavily dependent on agriculture (rice and horticulture) and on

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...

, especially for

squid True squid are molluscs with an elongated soft body, large eyes, eight arms, and two tentacles in the superorder Decapodiformes, though many other molluscs within the broader Neocoleoidea are also called squid despite not strictly fitting t ...

. Other species commonly caught in the local waters include the Japanese flounder,

Japanese horse mackerel The Japanese jack mackerel (''Trachurus japonicus''), also known as the Japanese horse mackerel or Japanese scad, is a species named after its resemblance to mackerel but which is in the family Carangidae, the jacks, pompanos, trevallies and scad ...

Atka mackerel The Atka mackerel (''Pleurogrammus monopterygius'') is a mackerel in the family Hexagrammidae. Atka mackerel are common in the northern Pacific ocean, and are one of only two members of the genus '' Pleurogrammus'' - the other being the Arabe ...

red snapper Red snapper is a common name of several fish species. It may refer to: * Several species from the genus ''Lutjanus'': ** ''Lutjanus campechanus'', Northern red snapper, commonly referred to as red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico and western Atlanti ...

cod Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus '' Gadus'', belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gadus'' is commonly not call ...

angler fish The anglerfish are fish of the teleost order (biology), order Lophiiformes (). They are Osteichthyes, bony fish named for their characteristic mode of predation, in which a modified luminescent Fish_fin#Ray-fins, fin ray (the esca or illicium) a ...

octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttle ...

shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...

s and

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

Education

Ajigasawa has three public elementary schools and three public junior high schools operated by the town government and one public high school operated by the Aomori Prefectural Board of Education. The Shirakami Nature School is a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

that is housed in a 19th-century wooden building that was used as an elementary school until the spring of 2003. The Shirakami Nature School hosts a wide variety of environmental education including classroom activities and open-air classes to people of all ages.

Transportation

Railway

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

(JR East) -

Gonō Line The is a railway line in Japan linking Higashi-Noshiro Station in Akita Prefecture with Kawabe Station in Aomori Prefecture, in the northern Tōhoku region of Honshu. The line stretches 147.2 km (91.5 mi) along the Sea of Japan coast ...

* - -

Highway

Tsugaru Expressway The is a two-lane national expressway in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. The expressway connects the prefecture's capital, Aomori, and the Tōhoku Expressway to the municipalities of Goshogawara, Tsugaru and, Ajigasawa. It is owned and operated by ...

International relations

* –

São Sebastião, São Paulo São Sebastião (Portuguese for Saint Sebastian) is a Brazilian municipality, located on the southeast coast of Brazil, in the state of São Paulo. The population in 2020 was 90,328, its density was 185/km² and the area is 403 km². The Trop ...

, Brazil since October 26, 1984

Local attractions

* The Kikuya squid stand on the outskirts of town is the home of Wasao, an Akita dog that garnered nationwide attention after starring in a 2011 feature film which was filmed on location in the town.
Aomori Spring Ski Resort
(formerly known as NAQUA Shirakami Ski Resort).
Aomori Spring Golf ClubRockwood Hotel & Spa
*Ajigasawa Beach is about a ten-minute walk from the train station and has both grass and sand areas with a view of the

. *Umi No Eki “Wando” is a collection of stores, much like a market, that sells local goods directly from the farmers and fishermen. The products sold here are all local, and very fresh. *

–

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site *Otaka-yama park is open to the public and includes a multipurpose stadium, tennis courts, amphitheater, go-carts and an elaborate playground. *, gets its name from its appearance; it looks like a standing black bear. It is one of

Japan’s Top 100 Waterfalls is a list of waterfalls in Japan compiled by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment in 1990. Background According to the Japanese government, there are 517 named waterfalls in Japan. Many of these waterfalls are located in remote mountain lo ...

. * Tanesato Castle ruins, a National Historic SiteAgency for Cultural Affairs
* Akaishi Keiryū Anmon no Taki Prefectural Natural Park

Noted people from Ajigasawa

* Hiyori Kon, sumo wrestler *

Homarefuji Yoshiyuki is a retired professional sumo wrestler from the town of Ajigasawa in Aomori prefecture, Japan. A former amateur champion, he made his professional debut in January 2008 and wrestled for Isegahama stable, one of the more successful stables in s ...

, sumo wrestler * Mainoumi Shuhei, sumo wrestler

Gallery

file:AjigasawaTownOffice.jpg, Formerly town office file:Wasao.jpg, Wasao file:Kurokuma Falls.jpg, Kurokuma Falls file: Minamikanazawa.jpg, Rice fields near Minami Kanazawa file:Dried Cuttlefish Curtain - panoramio.jpg, Dried Cuttlefish Curtain

References

External links

*
Shirakami Nature School Mountain Guide
{{Authority control Towns in Aomori Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan