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 Shisō District,

Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...

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 2003, 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 3,876 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematical ...

of 37.07 persons per km². The total area was 104.57 km². On April 1, 2005, Chikusa, along with the towns of Haga,

Ichinomiya is a Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth. ''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retrieved 2013-5-14. The term gave rise t ...

and Yamasaki (all from Shisō District), was merged to create the city of Shisō and 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 ...

. The town offered a reward for any sightings of a legendary being called a

Tsuchinoko In Japanese folklore, the , literally translating to "child of hammer", is a snake-like being. The name ''tsuchinoko'' is prevalent in Western Japan, including Kansai and Shikoku; the creature is known as in Northeastern Japan. Tsuchinoko are ...

( :ja:ツチノコ) and still has a mascot calle
Tsuchi-kun
based on the legend.

External links

Official website of Shisō
in Japanese
Article about various Tsuchinoko in the region.
Dissolved municipalities of Hyōgo Prefecture Shisō, Hyōgo Populated places disestablished in 2005 2005 disestablishments in Japan {{Hyogo-geo-stub