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 ...

in the

Okhotsk subprefecture is a subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. It was renamed from the earlier Abashiri Subprefecture on April 1, 2010. Abashiri Subprefecture was established in 1897. Etymology Abashiri Prefecture was named after the subprefectural office ...

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

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 name comes from the Ainu place name ''Inkar-us-i'' ("overlook-always doing-place"), meaning a lookout point. On October 1, 2005, the towns of Ikutahara and Maruseppu, and the village of Shirataki, all from Monbetsu District

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

into the expanded town of Engaru."遠軽町の沿革"
Engaru Town Hall As of September 2016, the town has 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 20,757. The total area is , making it the fifth largest municipality in Hokkaido. Engaru is known as the place where

Aikido Aikido ( , , , ) is a modern Japanese martial art that is split into many different styles, including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practiced in around 1 ...

originated, in the Shirataki area."合気道開祖・植芝盛平翁（Aikido Founder・Morihei Ueshiba）"
Tanabe City Hall It is also where the largest cosmos flower park in Japan is located. An

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories coin ...

site at Shirataki Site Group is the source of some

Yubetsu technique The is a special technique to make microblades, proposed by Japanese scholar Yoshizaki in 1961, based on his finds in some Upper Palaeolithic sites in Hokkaido, Japan, which date from c. 13,000 bp. The name comes from the , on the right bank of w ...

stone blades dating from approximately 13,000 years ago.

History

*1869: Current town area was part of the

Wakayama Domain Wakayama may refer to: *Wakayama Prefecture, a prefecture of Japan *Wakayama (city), the capital city of Wakayama Prefecture, Japan *Wakayama Station, a train station in Wakayama, Wakayama *Wakayama University , or , is a national university loc ...

(or

Kishū Domain , or , was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today Wakayama Prefecture, as well as the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kii''" in . Kii bordered Ise, Izumi, Kawachi, Shima, and Yamato Prov ...

) jurisdiction."旧遠軽町の沿革"
Engaru Town Hall There were expanses of plains. *1896: The Church of Christ in Japan established the Hokkaido Comrades Education Association, and planned a Christian university at Engaru."遠軽町百年史" Engaru Town Hall, August 1998
��The Church of Christ in Japan *1897: On 7 May, the first immigrant party of the Hokkaido Comrades Education Association arrived in Engaru, the first party to immigrate at Engaru. But the final construction of the university's plan did not materialize. *1919: The village of Engaru is split off from Kamiyūbetsu (now the town of Yūbetsu). *1925: The village of Ikutahara split off, becoming its own town in 1934. *1934: Engaru becomes a town. *1946: The villages of Maruseppu (later becoming a town) and Shirataki are split off. *2005: The towns of Engaru, Ikutahara, Maruseppu, and the village of Shirataki merge to form the new town of Engaru.

Notable geography

* Mountains: Mt. Murii, ; Mt. Hirayama, ; Mt. Shiyūbetsu, ; Mt. Chitokaniushi, ; Mt. Kitami-Fuji, * Major rivers:

Yūbetsu River is a river in Hokkaidō, Japan. As of 2005, some 34,000 people live in its watershed of . Course Yūbetsu River rises in the Kitami Mountains on the slopes of Mount Tengu. The river travels some to the Sea of Okhotsk. References R ...

; Ikutahara River; Maruseppu River; Setose River; Shanafuchi River; Murii River * Waterfalls: Yamabiko no Taki, Rokumei no Taki, Jūsan no Taki, Shirataki * Others: , a rocky hill made of underwater lava of andesitic (

hyaloclastite Hyaloclastite is a volcanoclastic accumulation or breccia consisting of glass (from the Greek ''hyalus'') fragments (clasts) formed by quench fragmentation of lava flow surfaces during submarine or subglacial extrusion. It occurs as thin margin ...

) which was spewn out from an underwater volcano in the Miocene Epoch of the Neogene Period in the

Cenozoic Era The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configu ...

(about 7 million years ago) with volcanic sandstone conglomerate. The top of the cliff is about high.

Industry

The major industries are commercial

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

wood processing Wood processing is an engineering discipline in the wood industry comprising the production of forest products, such as pulp and paper, construction materials, and tall oil. Paper engineering is a subfield of wood processing. The major wood pro ...

, and

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. In the past, Engaru Station was the intersection of the Nayoro Main Line (closed in 1989) and the

Sekihoku Main Line is a railway line in Hokkaido, Japan, operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido) between in Asahikawa and Abashiri Station in Abashiri. The name comes from the first Kanji characters of and , names of ancient provinces along the lin ...

. It had an important position in business and overall development.

Climate

According to the

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 ...

, Engaru 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 ...

(''Dfb'') with warm, rainy summers and extremely snowy, long, and cold winters.

Gallery

file:Engaru Hokkaido April 2004.jpg, Gambōiwa file:Engaru Hokkaido May 2004 2.jpg, View from Gambōiwa file:Engaru, Hokkaido, March 2004.JPG, Town area in front of Engaru Station file:Amemiya 21gou Steam Locomotive Hokkaido Japan.jpg, Preserved forest railway locomotive at Maruseppu file:Setose spa 2011.JPG, Setose Spa file:North King 2011.JPG, Ikutahara Spa "North King" file:北大雪スキー場2.JPG, Kita-Taisetsu ski area file:遠軽高校.JPG, Hokkaido Prefectural Engaru High School

Sister cities

* Bastos,

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, Brazil * Moirans-en-Montagne, Jura, France

Notable people

Morihei Ueshiba was a Japanese martial artist and founder of the martial art of aikido. He is often referred to as "the founder" or , "Great Teacher/Old Teacher (old as opposed to ''waka (young) sensei'')". The son of a landowner from Tanabe, Ueshiba st ...

(1883 - 1969) the founder of

, leading ''Kishū Settlers Group'' at Shirataki area from Tanabe *

Yoshikazu Yasuhiko is a Japanese animator, manga artist, and anime director. He is best known for being the character designer and animation director of the original ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' anime, which began in 1979. That same year, he began working as a manga art ...

(born 1947)

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...

manga artist A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist be ...

, and character designer of 1979-1980 TV series ''

Mobile Suit Gundam , also known as ''First Gundam'', ''Gundam 0079'' or simply ''Gundam '79'', is an anime television series, produced and animated by Nippon Sunrise. Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Nagoya Broadcasting ...

'' *

Tomonori Kogawa is a Japanese animator and character designer, often noted for his work in the 1980s with noted anime studio Sunrise. Works * Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato (1978) - Chief Animation Director * Space Runaway Ideon (1980) - Character Designer ...

(born 1950)

, and animation director of 1980 TV series ''

Space Runaway Ideon is a 1980 anime television series produced by Sunrise, created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, produced immediately following his most famous work, ''Mobile Suit Gundam''. It first premiered on TV Tokyo from 1980 to 1981, followed by two ...

'' * Masami Tanaka (born 1979) a former swimmer"田中　雅美プロフィール"
Sankei, co.

References

External links

Official Website

Taiyo-no-Oka Engaru Park Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Engaru, Hokkaido Towns in Hokkaido