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 ...

Iwate Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture at , with a population of 1,210,534 (as of October 1, 2020). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefectur ...

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 of 94,691, and a population density of 100 persons per km², in 37,773 households. The total area of the city is . Hanamaki is famous as the birthplace of Kenji Miyazawa and for its hot spring resorts.

Geography

Hanamaki is located in central Iwate Prefecture, in the

Kitakami River The is the fourth largest river in Japan and the largest in the Tōhoku region. It is long and drains an area of . page 793 It flows through mostly rural areas of Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures. The source of the river is the Mount Nanashirug ...

valley at the conflux of three rivers with the Kitakami River; the Sarugaishi-gawa from the east and the Se-gawa and Toyosawa-gawa from the west. In the west the city rises to the foothills of the Ōu Mountains with the highest peak being Mt. Matsukura at . To the east the city rises to the highest peak in the Kitakami Range, Mount Hayachine at . The largest reservoir is Lake Tase on the Sarugaishi River. Lake Hayachine on the Hienuki River is quite spectacular with steep mountains rising above it. Lake Toyosawa is in the western part of the city on the Toyosawa River. Parts of the city are within the borders of the

Hayachine Quasi-National Park is a quasi-national park in central Iwate Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. It is rated a protected landscape (category II) according to the IUCN. Established in 1982, the park's central features are Mount Hayachine () and ...

. A chain of 12 hot springs that lie along the edge of the Ōu Mountains form the Hanamaki Onsenkyo Village.

Neighboring municipalities

Iwate Prefecture *

Morioka is the capital city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. On 1 February 2021, the city had an estimated population of 290,700 in 132,719 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . ...

* Kitakami * Tōno *

Ōshū Oshu or Ōshū may refer to: *Another name for Mutsu Province, a former Japanese province *Ōshū, Iwate, Japan, a city *Northern Fujiwara The Northern Fujiwara (奥州藤原氏 ''Ōshū Fujiwara-shi'') were a Japanese kuge, noble Japanese c ...

* Miyako * Nishiwaga *

Shizukuishi is a town located in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 16,263 in 6354 households, and a population density of 27 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Shizukuishi is located in the Ōu Mou ...

* Shiwa

Climate

Hanamaki has a humid climate (

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'') characterized by mild summers and cold winters. The average annual temperature in Hanamaki 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 .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Hanamaki peaked at around the year 2000 and has declined since.

History

The area of present-day Hanamaki was part of ancient

Mutsu Province was an old province of Japan in the area of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori Prefectures and the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture. Mutsu Province is also known as or . The term is often used to refer to the comb ...

, and has been settled since at least the

Jōmon period The is the time in Japanese history, traditionally dated between 6,000–300 BCE, during which Japan was inhabited by a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united through a common Jōmon culture, which reached a c ...

. During 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 was dominated by various

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

clans before coming under the control of the Nambu clan 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 ...

, who ruled Morioka Domain under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

. The town developed as a post station on the Ōshū Kaidō highway during the Edo period. In the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889, the modern towns of Hanamaki and Hanamaki-Kawaguchi were created within

Hienuki District, Iwate List of Provinces of Japan > Tosando > Rikuchu Province > Hienuki District (Japan > Iwate Prefecture > Hienuki District) was a district located in Iwate Prefecture (formerly Rikuchu Province), Japan. The district had an estimated population o ...

. The two towns were merged on April 10, 1929, with the merged municipality retaining the name of Hanamaki. On April 1, 1954, the villages of Yuguchi, Yumoto, Miyanome, Yasawa and Ohta were annexed by Hanamaki. An additional village, Sasama, joined the following year. In January 2006, Hanamaki merged with the towns of Ishidoriya, Ōhasama, thus dissolving Hienuki District, and with the town of Tōwa from Waga District.

Government

Hanamaki 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 25 members. Hanamaki contributes four seats to the Iwate Prefectural legislature. In terms of national politics, the city is part of

Iwate 3rd district Iwate 3rd district is a constituency of the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan (national legislature). It is located in Iwate. Ichirō Ozawa of the Liberal Party took the seat in the constituency after his original seat in the Iwate 4t ...

of the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paralle ...

Economy

Agriculture, notably

dairy farming Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy A dairy is a business enterprise established for the harvesting or ...

dominates the local economy. Hanamaki is also noted for electrical appliances. The area is also noted for its many ''

onsen In Japan, are the country's hot springs and the bathing facilities and traditional inns around them. As a volcanically active country, Japan has many onsens scattered throughout all of its major islands. There are approximately 25,000 hot ...

'' (hot spring) resorts.

Education

Fuji University is a private university in Hanamaki, Iwate, Japan, established in 1965. Notable alumni *Katsuyuki Aihara baseball player *Diego Franca baseball player *Kyohei Nakamura baseball player *Misaki Ozawa field hockey player *Kodai Sato football player ...

, a private university, is located in Hanamaki. The city government operates 19 public elementary schools and 11 public junior high schools. There are seven public high schools operated by the Iwate Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school.

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 ...

(JR East) - Tōhoku Shinkansen * JR logo (east)

(JR East) -

Tōhoku Main Line The Tōhoku Main Line ( ja, 東北本線, ) is a long railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The line starts from Tokyo Station in Chiyoda, Tokyo and passes through such cities as Saitama, Utsunomiya, Fukush ...

* - -

(JR East) -

Kamaishi Line The is a rural railway line in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Hanamaki Station in the city of Hanamaki with Kamaishi Station in the city of Kamaishi. History The precursor to the lin ...

* - - -

Highway

* – Hanamaki Parking Area – Hanamaki-minami Interchange – Hanamaki Junction – Hanamaki Interchange * – Hanamaki Junction – Hanamaki Airport Interchange – Tōwa Interchange * * * * *

Airport

Hanamaki Airport or Iwate-Hanamaki Airport is a regional airport located north-northeastAIS Japan
of the city of

(hot springs). Kenji Miyazawa's various legacies are the old Hanamaki city's other perennial tourist attraction. The city also has a ski slope. One of Hanamaki's most notable events is the Hanamaki Matsuri, an annual festival which takes place the second weekend of September and dates back to 1593. The three-day festivities include a dance of over one thousand synchronized traditional dancers; the carrying of over one hundred small

shrines A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...

; and the parading of a dozen or so large, hand-constructed floats depicting historical, fictional, or mythical scenes and accompanied by drummers, flautists, and lantern-carriers. Of these dances, the most famous is ''Shishi Odori'' (dance of the deer). This dance involves men dressing as deer and banging drums. With the city's recent mergers, Hanamaki now lays claim to its absorbed towns' attractions. Ōhasama is famous for local varieties of traditional ''

Kagura is a type of Shinto ritual ceremonial dance. The term is a contraction of the phrase , indicating the presence of gods () in the practice. One major function of is , involving a procession-trance process. Usually a female shaman will perfor ...

'' dance. ''Kagura'' dancers often appear at area festivals or functions. On a hill above the town of Ōhasama proper stands a statue resembling the wolf-like costumes donned by Hayachine Kagura dancers. Mt. Hayachine, which at 1917 m (6289 ft) is the second highest mountain in Iwate Prefecture, lies in the northeast section of Ōhasama. The area is home to the regionally well-known Edel Wine. In September, the Ōhasama Wine House hosts the annual Wine Festival. Around the time of Japan's Girls' Festival, Ōhasama puts on displays of its collection of

dolls A doll is a model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and wood are found ...

, many of which are several hundred years old. Local history suggests that the dolls may have been given to residents of Ōhasama by travelers from

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

on their way to trade in

Hokkaidō 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 ...

. Ishidoriya has a history of brewing ''

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...

'' connected with the Nambu ''Toji'' tradition.

International relations

* –

Rutland, Vermont Rutland, Vermont may refer to: *Rutland (city), Vermont * Rutland (town), Vermont *Rutland County, Vermont *West Rutland, Vermont West Rutland is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,214 at the 2020 census. The t ...

, United States, since October 8, 1986 * – Hot Springs, Arkansas, United States, since January 15, 1993 * - Berndorf,

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 1965. * - Xigang District,

Dalian Dalian () is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China. Located on the ...

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...

, China - friendship city since 2010 Each of the former towns merged with Hanamaki also conducted exchanges on their own, most of which have been taken up by the new Hanamaki city. Ōhasama was paired Berndorf. Mt. Hayachine is home to a particular species of edelweiss, called ''Hayachine Usuyukiso'', which grows exclusively on Mt. Hayachine. It was because of this flower that mountain climbers from Ōhasama forged a friendship with those from Berndorf, Lower Austria. Ishidoriya was paired with

Notable people from Hanamaki

Koi Ikeno Koi Ikeno (池野恋) is a manga author and illustrator. She was born April 16, 1959, in Hanamaki, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. She created Tokimeki Tonight in the 1980s and Nurse Angel Ririka SOS, Nurse Angel Ririka in the 1990s, two manga series whi ...

, manga artist * Masanori Ito (music critic) * El Samurai, professional wrestler *

Shunkichi Kikuchi was a Japanese photographer best known for his documentation of Hiroshima and Tokyo immediately after the war. Kikuchi was born in Hanamaki, Iwate on 1 May 1916. After graduating from the Oriental School of Photography, Kikuchi was employed in ...

, photographer *

Kazuhiro Hatakeyama is a former Japanese professional baseball player and currently hitting coach for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He played infielder for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). ...

, professional baseball player * Tetsugoro Yorozu, painter Biography on Iwate Prefectural home page * Kenji Miyazawa, writer'' Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan'' article "Miyazawa Kenji" (p. 222–223). 1983. Tokyo: Kodansha. * Shohei Ohtani, Professional Baseball Player

References

External links

*
Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Iwate Prefecture