250px, Bandai Town Hall Panorama of Bandai town 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 Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , 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 3,533 in 1195 households, and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), 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 ...

of 60.3 persons per km². The total area of the town was .

Geography

Bandai is located in the northeastern part of the Aizu Basin, bordered by

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 nor ...

to the north. About 70% of the town is occupied by forests, with agricultural land and settlements along the hills at the southern foot of the mountains and along the Otani River. Much of the tow is within the borders of the

Bandai-Asahi National Park is a national park in the Tōhoku region, Honshū, Japan. The park site straddles over Fukushima Prefecture, Yamagata Prefecture, and Niigata Prefecture. The park was designated as a national park on September 5, 1950. The park encompasses ...

. *Mountains :

Mount Bandai is a stratovolcano located in Inawashiro-town, Bandai-town, and Kitashiobara village, in Yama-Gun, Fukushima prefecture. It is an active stratovolcano located to the north of Lake Inawashiro. Mount Bandai, including the Bandai heights, belo ...

Mount Nekomadake is a stratovolcano located west of Mount Bandai, close to Bandai town and Kitashiobara village in the Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. It is 1,403.6 metres high, and close to Lake Inawashiro and Oguni-numa Pond. See also *List of volcanoes in ...

*Rivers : Nippashi-gawa, Oya-gawa

Neighboring municipalities

Fukushima Prefecture * Kitakata *

Aizuwakamatsu is a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 118,159 in 50,365 households, and a population density of 310 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Geography Aizuwakamatsu is located in the west ...

Inawashiro is a town located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 13,810 in 5309 households, and a population density of 35 persons per km². The total area of the town was . It is noted as the birthplace of the famous ...

* Kitashiobara

Climate

Bandai has a

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 ''Dfb'') characterized by warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Bandai is 9.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1467 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 22.7 °C, and lowest in January, at around -3.3 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Bandai has declined steadily over the past 60 years and is now much less than it was a century ago.

History

The area of present-day Bandai was part of ancient Mutsu Province. It was the center of a mountain cult based on Mount Bandai and numerous Buddhist temples were founded from the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese ...

. These temples grew to have a strong military and economic power towards the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

, and were only suppressed in the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

. The area formed part of the holdings of Aizu Domain 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 characte ...

. After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, it was organized as part of Yama District, Fukushima Prefecture. Bandai village was created on March 31, 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system, and was raised to town status in 1960.

Economy

From the early modern period, hydroelectric power generation and chemical production by Nippon Soda Co., Ltd. had been mainstays of the local economy. However, the local economy has now shifted to precision machinery production and seasonal tourism, especially golf courses and ski resorts.

Education

Bandai has two public elementary schools and one public junior high school operated by the town government. The town does not have a high school.

Transportation

Railway

JR East –

Ban'etsu West Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Kōriyama Station in Kōriyama, Fukushima Prefecture, and Niitsu Station in Akiha Ward, Niigata, Niigata Prefecture. The name "Banetsu" is taken fr ...

Highway

Sister city relations

–

Oliver, British Columbia Oliver is a town near the south end of the Okanagan Valley in the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, with a population of nearly 5,000 people. It is located along the Okanagan River by Tuc-el-nuit Lake between Osoyoos and Okanagan ...

, Canada

Local attractions

Enichi-ji is a Buddhist temple of the Shingon-shu Buzan-ha sect in the town of Bandai, Yama District, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The temple was founded in the Heian period as , and the ruins of its previous incarnation were designated a National Histor ...

, noted Buddhist temple and National Historic Site

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Towns in Fukushima Prefecture