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 Hino District,

Tottori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Tottori Prefecture is the least populous prefecture of Japan at 570,569 (2016) and has a geographic area of . Tottori Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture to the west, Hiro ...

, Japan., 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 2,840 in 1298 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), 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 ...

of 21 persons per km². The total area of the town is

Geography

Hino is located in the

Chūgoku Mountains is a mountain range in the Chūgoku region of western Japan. It runs in an east–west direction and stretches approximately from Hyōgo Prefecture in the east to the coast of Yamaguchi Prefecture. The range also reaches under the Pacific Ocean ...

in western Tottori Prefecture. The town center is located around the

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, an ...

Hakubi Line The is a railway line operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) in the mountainous area of the Chūgoku region of Japan. It begins at the south end of Okayama Prefecture at Kurashiki Station in Kurashiki, passing through Niimi Station o ...

Neu Station is a passenger railway station located in the town of Hino, Tottori Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West). Lines Neu Station is served by the Hakubi Line, and is located 111.3 kilometers from the termi ...

Neighboring municipalities

Tottori Prefecture * Nichinan * Nanbu *

Hōki was a after '' Jingo-keiun'' and before ''Ten'ō''. This period spanned the years from October 770 through January 781. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 770 : The new era name was created to mark an event or series of events. The p ...

Kōfu is the capital city of Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 187,985 in 90,924 households, and a population density of 880 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Overview Toponymy Kōfu's name means " ...

Okayama Prefecture *

Niimi is a city located in northwestern Okayama Prefecture, Japan. As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimated population of 30,583 (14,628 males, 15,955 females), with 12,857 households and a population density of 39 persons per km2. The total a ...

* Shinjō

Climate

Hino is classified as a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Hino is 11.9 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1883 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 23.6 °C, and lowest in January, at around 0.1 °C.

Demography

Per Japanese census data, the population of Hino has been as follows. The town has been suffering from rural depopulation, and the population has been continuously decreasing rapidly since the 1950s.

History

The area of Hino was part of ancient

Hōki Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today the western part of Tottori Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Hōki bordered on Inaba, Mimasaka, Bitchū, Bingo, and Izumo Provinces. The ancient capital was in the area that is ...

Yayoi period The started at the beginning of the Neolithic in Japan, continued through the Bronze Age, and towards its end crossed into the Iron Age. Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a period previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon ...

and Kofun period remains have been found in the area. In 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 ...

(1467 – 1573) the

Hino clan Hino may refer to: Places Estonia * Hino, Põlva County * Hino, Võru County ** Lake Hino Japan * Hino, Shiga * Hino, Tokyo * Hino, Tottori ** Hino District, Tottori ** Hino River Transportation * Hino Motors, a Japanese truck manufacturer o ...

built Kagamiyama Castle on Mount Kagami () in the Kurosaka area of Hino. The small-scale castle consisted of only ''honmaru''

inner bailey The inner bailey or inner ward of a castle is the strongly fortified enclosure at the heart of a medieval castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It is protected by the outer w ...

and a ''ni-no-maru'' outer bailey. Packhorses were also kept at the castle. A

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, a ...

was built at the base of the mountain. In 1632 the

Ikeda clan was a Japanese clan that claimed descent from Minamoto no Yorimitsu (948-1021) of the Seiwa Genji. Minamoto no Yasumasa, the fourth generation descending from Yorimitsu, and younger brother of Minamoto no Yorimasa (1104-1180), was the first t ...

destroyed the castle, and used the site as an encampment. In 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 characte ...

(1603 – 1868) the village of Neu became a '' shukuba'' post town. The commercial and administrative activities of the present-day Hino shifted to the Neu, where they remain today. 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 characte ...

, it was part of the holdings of the

Tottori Domain 270px, Ikeda Yoshinori 270px, Front gate of the Tottori Domain residence in Edo was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now Tottori Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It controlled all of Inaba P ...

. The extraction of iron sand from the mountains and the production of tatara iron were important industries in this area until the rise of modern iron production in the modern era. Following the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

the area was divided into villages within

Hino District, Tottori is a district located in Tottori Prefecture, Japan. As of 2012, the district has an estimated population of 12,036 and a density of 20.1 persons per km2. The total area is . History Hino District has been settled since ancient times. The area ...

on October 1, 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. The town of Hino was formed on May 1, 1959 by the merger of the towns of Kurosaka and Neu.

Government

Hino 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 multi ...

town council of ten members. Hino, collectively with the other municipalities of Hino District, contributes one member to the Tottori Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Tottori 2nd district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Economy

The economy of Hino is based agriculture and seasonal tourism.

Education

Hino has two public elementary schools and one public junior high school operated by the town government, and one public high school operated by the Tottori Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

* - -

Highways

* * *

Local attractions

* Kamochi Shrine金持神社
/ref>

References

External links

Official town website
{{Authority control Towns in Tottori Prefecture Hino, Tottori