is a
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...
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 n ...
. , the village 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 usi ...
of 4,688 in 1873 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 RosenberPopu ...
of 47 persons per km
2. The total area of the village is .
Geography
Chikuhoku is located in the center of Nagano Prefecture in the Matsumoto Basin.
Higashijo Dam
is a dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, indu ...
and
Onikuma Dam are located in Chikuhoku.
Climate
The village has a climate characterized by characterized by cool and humid summers, and cold 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, nota ...
''Dfa''. The average annual temperature in Chikuhoku is 9.6 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1227 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 22.8 °C, and lowest in January, at around -3.0 °C.
Surrounding municipalities
*Nagano Prefecture
**
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 ...
**
Azumino
is a city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 97,761 in 39744 households. and a population density of 290 persons per km2. Its total area is .
Etymology of Azumino
Azumino is a combination of two ...
**
Nagano
**
Chikuma
**
Ueda
**
Aoki
**
Omi
is a hereditary noble title ('' kabane'') of ancient Japan. It was given to the descendants of the Imperial Family before Emperor Kōgen. Along with ''Muraji'', ''Omi'' was reserved for the head of the most powerful clans during the Kofun period ...
**
Ikusaka
Demographics
Per Japanese census data, the population of Chikuhoku has decreased by more than half over the past 70 years.
History
The area of present-day Chikuhoku 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, w ...
. Most of the area was under the control of
Matsumoto 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 character ...
. The villages of
Honjō,
Sakakita, and
Sakai were created with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. The village of Chikuhoku was incorporated on October 11, 2005, by a merger of the three villages.
Education
Chikuhoku has three public elementary schools and one public middle school operated by the village government, and one middle school operated jointly between Chikuhoku and neighboring Omi village. The village does not have a high school.
Transportation
Railway
*
Shinano Railway -
Shinano Railway Line
** - - ' -
Highway
*
*
Local attractions
*Site of Aoyagi Castle
*
Mount Kamuriki, known in
Japanese folklore as the location of
Mount Ubasute
Notable people from Chikuhoku
*
Tomio Hora Tomio Hora (洞 富雄, ''Hora Tomio'', (born 14 November 1906 in Higashichikuma District, Nagano Prefecture, modern-day Chikuhoku; died 15 March 2000) was a Japanese historian and Waseda University professor, well known for his pioneering work o ...
, historian
References
External links
*
Official Website
Villages in Nagano Prefecture
{{Nagano-geo-stub