Mount Jonen and Mount Yokotoshi from the Azusa River

is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

located in

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...

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 city 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 97,761 in 39744 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 290 persons per km². Its total area is .

Etymology of Azumino

Azumino is a combination of two words, "Azumi" and "no". "Azumi" comes from the

Azumi people The were a warrior clan and tribe during the Jōmon period in Japan, whose cultures and beliefs are considered to be one of Japan’s earliest sea religions. Their existence dates back to the early 3rd – 7th centuries, when their extensive kno ...

, who are said to have moved to the "no" (plain) in ancient times. The Azumi people originally lived in northern

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

, and were famed for their skills in fishing and navigation. "The Azumi people" can be translated as "the people who live on the sea." The reason why the seafaring people migrated to this mountainous region is a mystery.

Geography

Azumino is located in the Azumino Plateau on the northwestern end of the Matsumoto Basin, between mountain ranges to the west and east. The range of mountains on the western border is known as the Northern Alps (

Hida Mountains The , or , is a Japanese mountain range which stretches through Nagano, Toyama and Gifu prefectures. A small portion of the mountains also reach into Niigata Prefecture. William Gowland coined the phrase "Japanese Alps" during his time in Japan, ...

) and is popular among hikers all over Japan. To the south is the city of

Matsumoto Matsumoto (松本 or 松元, "base of the pine tree") may refer to: Places * Matsumoto, Nagano (松本市), a city ** Matsumoto Airport, an airport southwest of Matsumoto, Nagano * Matsumoto, Kagoshima (松元町), a former town now part of the c ...

, Nagano prefecture's second largest city. To the north lies the city of Ōmachi, and north of Ōmachi is the village of

Hakuba is a village located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the village had an estimated population of 9,007 in 4267 households, and a population density of 48 persons per km2. The total area of the village is . Hakuba is an internationally renowned ...

. Hakuba was the site of many of the ski events during the 1998

Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were he ...

Mount Jōnen is one of the 100 Famous Japanese Mountains, reaching the height of . It is situated in Japan's Hida Mountains in Nagano Prefecture and in Chūbu-Sangaku National Park. The shape of the mountain looks like the triangle. It can be seen from ...

at is the highest elevation in the city.

Surrounding municipalities

*Nagano Prefecture **

** Ōmachi **

Ikeda Ikeda may refer to: * Ikeda (surname), a Japanese surname * Ikeda (comics), a character in ''Usagi Yojimbo'' * Ikeda clan, a Japanese clan * Ikeda map, chaotic attractor * Ikeda (annelid), ''Ikeda'' (annelid) a genus of the family Ikedidae Places< ...

** Matsukawa ** Chikuhoku ** Ikusaka

Climate

The city has a climate characterized by characterized by hot and humid summers, and relatively mild winters (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Azumino is . The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The mountainous portions of the city are considered part of the

snow country is a novel by the Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata. The novel is considered a classic work of Japanese literature and was among the three novels the Nobel Committee cited in 1968, when Kawabata was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Writ ...

of Japan, with heavy accumulations of snow in winter.

History

The area of present-day Azumino was part of ancient

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

. The area was part of the holdings of

Matsumoto Domain 250px, Matsumoto Castle, administrative headquarters of Matsumoto Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It is located in Shinano Province, Honshū. The domain was centered at Matsumoto Castle, located in ...

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 modern city of Azumino was established on October 1, 2005, by the merger of the town of Akashina (from Higashichikuma District), the towns of Hotaka and Toyoshina, and the villages of Horigane and Misato (all from Minamiazumi District).

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Azumino has recently plateaued after several decades of growth.

Government

Azumino 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 ...

city legislature of 22 members.

Education

Azumino has ten public elementary schools and seven public middle schools. The city has four public high schools operated by the Nagano Prefectural Board of Education.

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 ...

Ōito Line The is a railway line in Japan which connects Matsumoto Station in Nagano Prefecture with Itoigawa Station in Niigata Prefecture. There are two operators on the line: East Japan Railway Company (JR East) operates the section north of Minami-Ot ...

** - - - - - - - - * JR logo (east)

Shinonoi Line The is a railway line in Nagano Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Shinonoi Station in Nagano with Shiojiri Station in Shiojiri. The line is a corridor between the Shinetsu Main Line and the Ch ...

** -

Highway

Nagano Expressway The is a 4-laned national expressway in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. It is owned and operated by East Nippon Expressway Company and Central Nippon Expressway Company. Naming The expressway is officially referred to as the Chūō Expressway Nagano ...

* * * *

Sister cities

Domestic

* Misato, Saitama,

Saitama Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 km2 (1,466 sq mi). Saitama Prefecture borders Tochigi Prefecture ...

Edogawa, Tokyo is a special ward located in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. It takes its name from the Edo River that runs from north to south along the eastern edge of the ward. In English, it uses the name Edogawa City. The easternmost of the wards, it shares ...

Musashino, Tokyo is a city located in the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 147,492 in 77,779 households, and a population density of 13,000 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Based on the 2015 Ka ...

Manazuru, Kanagawa is a town located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 6,949 and a population density of 1000 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Located in the southeast of Mount Hakone, the consist ...

Sangō, Nara is a List of towns in Japan, town located in Ikoma District, Nara, Ikoma District, Nara Prefecture, Japan. As of November 1, 2017, the town has a population of 23,185 people, 10,985 males and 12,200 females and a population density, density of ...

Higashi-ku, Fukuoka is one of the seven Wards of Japan, wards of Fukuoka in Japan. As of 1 March 2012, it has a population of 296,576, with 136,133 households and an area of 66.68 km2. Its name literally means "east ward". Kashii, Japan, Kashii is in this ...

International

* -

Kramsach Kramsach is a municipality in the Kufstein district in the Austrian state of Tyrol located 27 km southwest of Kufstein and 16.5 km west of Wörgl, at the northern side of the Inn River. Its main sources of income are the marble, timber a ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, since November 25, 1993 * - Collierville,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, United States

Local attractions

*Azumino is home to the world's largest

wasabi Wasabi (Japanese: , , or , ; ''Eutrema japonicum'' or ''Wasabia japonica'') or Japanese horseradish is a plant of the family Brassicaceae, which also includes horseradish and mustard in other genera. The plant is native to Japan and the Russian ...

farm,

Daio Wasabi Farm The is a wasabi farm established in 1915 and located in Azumino, Nagano Prefecture near the center of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It is a popular tourist spot due to its watermills and for the river that runs through it. A restaurant of ...

. * Jōkyō Gimin Memorial Museum * Hotaka Jinja

Notable people from Azumino

* Keikoku Fujimori (1835–1905), artist & educator * Kigenji Iguchi (1870–1938), educator * Kiyoshi Kiyosawa (1890–1945), journalist *

Kei Kumai was a Japanese film director from Azumino, Nagano prefecture. After his studies in literature at Shinshu University, he began work as a director's assistant. He won the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award for his first film, '' Nihon r ...

(1930–2007), film director * Kyūsaku Matsuzawa (1855–1887), people's rights activist * Risaku Mutai (1890–1974), philosopher *

Rokuzan Ogiwara was a sculptor active in Meiji period Japan. His real name was . He is regarded as one of the pioneers of modern western-style bronze sculpture in Japan. Early life Ogiwara was born in Azumino in Nagano Prefecture in the mountains of central Jap ...

(1879–1910), sculptor *

Aizō Sōma was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, patron of the arts, and advocate of Pan-Asianism in the Empire of Japan. He is known as the founder of Nakamura-ya, a noted bakery in Tokyo. Biography Sōma was born in a wealthy farming family in what is now ...

(1870–1954), founded Nakamuraya *

Tada Kasuke (date of birth unknown—died January 1, 1687, or in the third year of the Jōkyō era) was a Japanese farmer who led a failed appeal for lowered taxes in Azumidaira, a part of the Matsumoto Domain under the control of the Tokugawa shogunate. He ...

(?–1687), executed farmer * Setsuro Takahashi (1914–2007), lacquerware artist *

Etsujirō Uehara was a politician and bureaucrat in the early Shōwa period Japan, who subsequently was a politician and cabinet minister in the immediate post-war era. Biography Uehara was born in what is now the city of Azumino, Nagano. He lost his parents wh ...

(1877–1962), political scientist & politician *

Yoshimi Usui was a Japanese writer and critic from Azumino, Nagano prefecture. Usui won the 1974 10th Tanizaki Prize for ''Azumino'' (安曇野). In 1977 he published a novelised account of Kawabata's death that led to a law-suit against him by the Nobel P ...

(1905–1987), editor & writer *

Masaaki Iinuma was a Japanese aviator. Iinuma was born in Toyoshina (now part of Azumino, Nagano Prefecture), and was a graduate of the Imperial Japanese Army flying school at Tokorozawa. At age 24 he gained fame as the pilot on the , a Mitsubishi Ki-15 ...

(1912–1941), pilot & aviation pioneer

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Nagano Prefecture