was 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 Higashiokitama District,

Yamagata Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Yamagata Prefecture has a population of 1,079,950 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 9,325 km² (3,600 sq mi). Yamagata Prefecture borders Akita Prefecture to the north, ...

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 ...

. As of 1967, 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 12,860 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 313 persons per km². The total area was 41.10 km². On April 1, 1967, Akayu was merged into the expanded city of Nan'yō and thus no longer exists as an independent

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

History

The village of Akayu was established on April 1, 1889, with the establishment of the municipalities system. It was raised to town status on December 12, 1895. On June 10, 1955, the village of Nakagawa was annexed by Akayu. On March 21, 1957, the Nakayama neighborhood of Akayu was annexed by the neighboring city of

Kaminoyama 250px, Hayama neighborhood in Kaminoyama is a city located in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 29,617 in 11278 households, and a population density of 120 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . G ...

. On April 1, 1967, the town of Akayu merged with the town of Miyauchi and the village of Wagō to form the city of Nan'yō.

Isabella Bird

English travel writer

Isabella Bird Isabella Lucy Bird, married name Bishop (15 October 1831 – 7 October 1904), was a nineteenth-century British explorer, writer, photographer, and naturalist. With Fanny Jane Butler she founded the John Bishop Memorial Hospital in Srinagar ...

visited Akayu on her travels in Japan in 1878. In ''Unbeaten Tracks in Japan'' she wrote of Akayu:

the frequented watering-place of Akayu in the north, is a perfect garden of Eden, 'tilled with a pencil instead of a plough,' growing in rich profusion rice, cotton, maize, tobacco, hemp, indigo, beans, egg-plants, walnuts, melons, cucumbers, persimmons, apricots, pomegranates; a smiling and plenteous land, an Asiatic Arcadia, prosperous and independent, all its bounteous acres belonging to those who cultivate them, who live under their vines, figs, and pomegranates, free from oppression--a remarkable spectacle under an Asiatic despotism.

Local attractions

Akayu is most famous for '' Akayu Onsen'' (赤湯温泉), a series of ''

ryokan A is a type of traditional Japanese inn that typically features ''tatami''-matted rooms, communal baths, and other public areas where visitors may wear yukata and talk with the owner. Ryokan have existed since the eighth century A.D. du ...

'' famed for their natural hot-springs which are believed to have medicinal properties. The town's name, which is literally translated as "red hot water", derives from a story in 1093. It is said that the feudal chief of

Mutsu Province was an old province of Japan in the area of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori Prefectures and the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture. Mutsu Province is also known as or . The term is often used to refer to the comb ...

Minamoto no Yoshitsuna Minamoto no Yoshitsuna (源義綱) ( 1042 – 1134), also called Kamo Jirō (鴨次郎), was a samurai of the Minamoto clan. He was son of Minamoto no Yoriyoshi and brother of Minamoto no Yoshiie. In 1181 he fought in the Gosannen War along wit ...

took a wounded soldier to a hot spring bath. His blood immediately turned the water red and the wound closed. is regarded as one of the top 100 cherry blossom viewing sites in Japan, and in 2000, an estimated 25,000 people came to the town in April to enjoy ''

hanami is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the transient beauty of flowers; in this case almost always refer to those of the or, less frequently, trees. From the end of March to early May, cherry trees bloom all over Japan, and around ...

'' ("flower viewing") parties. The district also has an internationally recognised hang-gliding venue, the ''Sky Park'', which hosted the Third Women's Hang Gliding Championships in 1993. Akayu's most famous ex-resident is Toyotarō Yūki, a former governor of the

Bank of Japan The is the central bank of Japan.Louis Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in The bank is often called for short. It has its headquarters in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. History Like most modern Japanese instituti ...

, and the town has a museum devoted to his life.

Transportation

Highway

Japan National Route 13 is a highway in Japan on the island of Honshū which runs from Fukushima in Fukushima Prefecture to Akita in Akita Prefecture. Route data *Length: *Origin: Fukushima (originates at junction with Route 4) *Terminus: Akita (ends at Junction wit ...

Japan National Route 113 is a highway in Japan on the island of Honshū which runs from Niigata City in Niigata Prefecture to Sōma in Fukushima Prefecture. Route data *Length: 232.7 km (145 mi) *Origin: Chuo-ku, Niigata (originates at junction with Route ...

Rail

JR East 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 ...

–

Ōu Main Line The is a railway line in Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Fukushima Station through Akita Station to Aomori Station. Since the opening of the Yamagata Shinkansen on July 1, 1992, the Fukushima–Yamag ...

** –

External links

Akayu Onsen website
{{in lang, ja Dissolved municipalities of Yamagata Prefecture Hot springs of Japan Tourist attractions in Yamagata Prefecture Nan'yō, Yamagata