270px, Hayakawa Town Hall 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

Yamanashi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Yamanashi Prefecture has a population of 817,192 (1 January 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,465 km2 (1,724 sq mi). Yamanashi Prefecture borders Saitama Prefecture to the no ...

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 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 10,679 in 610 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 RosenberPopul ...

of 28.9 persons per km². The total area of the town is . It has the smallest population of any town in Japan. Hayakawa is on the list of

The Most Beautiful Villages in Japan is a Japanese nonprofit organization of listing some of the most beautiful villages and towns in Japan. The association is active on enhancement and protection of Japanese rural heritage, cultural fairs & branding and promotion of regional, nat ...

, established in 2005.

Geography

Hayakawa is located in far southwestern Yamanashi Prefecture. The Hayakawa River, a tributary of the Fuji River runs through the town. Some 96% of the town's area is covered by forest and mountains.

Neighboring municipalities

Yamanashi Prefecture * Minami-Alps *

Minobu is a town located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 11,674 in 5447 households, and a population density of 39 persons per km2. The total area of the town is . Geography Minobu is in south-central Yamanash ...

* Fujikawa Shizuoka Prefecture *

Aoi-ku, Shizuoka is one of three wards of the city of Shizuoka in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, located in the northern part of the city. Aoi-ku borders Suruga-ku in the south and Shimizu-ku to the southeast; the west faces Shimada, Fujieda and Kawanehon an ...

Climate

The town has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and relatively mild 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, notabl ...

''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Hayakawa is 13.0 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1655 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.9 °C, and lowest in January, at around 1.5 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Hayakawa population statistics
/ref> the population of Hayakawa has declined by more than 80% over the past 50 years. Over 40% of the town population shares the surname of "Mochizuki".

History

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 ...

, all of Kai Province was ''

tenryō 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 ...

'' territory under direct control of 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 ...

. During the cadastral reform of the early

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 ...

, the area was organized into villages under

Minamikoma District, Yamanashi is a rural district located in southern Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. As of July 2012, the district had an estimated population of 39,636 and a population density of 40.3 persons per km2. The total area was 984.47 km2. Towns and villages ...

. The town of Hayakawa was created on September 23, 1956 through the merger of six villages of Motivate, Goka, Suzurishima, Miyakogawa, Misato and Nishiyama.

Education

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

Transportation

Railway

The town has no passenger rail service. The nearest train station is

Minobu Station is a railway station on the Minobu Line of Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) located in the town of Minobu, Minamikoma District, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. Lines Minobu Station is served by the Minobu Line and is located 43.5 kilom ...

on the

Minobu Line The is a railway line in the Tōkai region of Japan operated by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). It connects Fuji Station in Fuji, Shizuoka to Kōfu Station in Kōfu, Yamanashi, and the Tōkaidō Main Line with the Chūō Main ...

, with bus services very infrequently.

Highway

Hayakawa is not served by any national highway.

Culture

Until relatively recently, the village of Narada in Hayakawa was home to a language island known as the

Narada dialect The Narada dialect (Japanese: 奈良田方言 ''narada hogen'') was a Japanese dialect spoken in the village of Narada, Hayakawa, located in Yamanashi Prefecture. Having formerly been isolated for centuries from surrounding areas, the dialect wa ...

. Although the dialect is not in use anymore, it has had an effect on the accents of the current natives of the area.

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Towns in Yamanashi Prefecture