250px, Seizan-so is a city located in

Ibaraki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, Tochigi Prefecture ...

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 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 48,074 in 19,327 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 RosenberPop ...

of 129.2 persons per km². . The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 36.2%. The total area of the city is .

Geography

Hitachiōta is located in northeastern Ibaraki Prefecture, bordered by Fukushima Prefecture to the north. The city is long from north to south, and has the largest area of any municipality in Ibaraki prefecture. From the west, the Asakawa, Yamada, and Sato rivers flow in parallel to the south, and the villages and cultivated lands are spread in the valleys along each river. The rivers all join the Kuji River, which runs through the southern border of the city.

Surrounding municipalities

Ibaraki Prefecture *

Takahagi file:Hananuki valley Shiomi-taki bridge.jpg, 250px, Hananuki valley file:Takado Coast 01.jpg, 250px, Takado Beach is a Cities of Japan, city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 27,522 in 11,651 household ...

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Nissan ''zaibatsu'' and later DKB Group and Fuyo G ...

* Hitachiōmiya * Naka * Daigo Fukushima Prefecture * Yamatsuri * Hanawa

Climate

Hitachiōta 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 freezin ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Hitachiōta is 13.9 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1426 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.2 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.6 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Hitachiōta population statistics
/ref> the population of Hitachiōta peaked in the 1950s and has declined since.

History

The town of Ōta was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. It was raised to city status on July 15, 1954.　On December 1, 2004, the town of Kanasagō, and the villages of Satomi and Suifu (all from Kuji District) were merged into Hitachiōta, more than tripling its size and increasing its population by about 20,000.

Government

Hitachiōta 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 council of 18 members. Hitachiōta contributes two members to the Ibaraki Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Ibaraki 4th district of the

lower house A lower house is one of two chambers of a 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 come to wield more power or oth ...

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

The economy of Hitachiōta is primarily agricultural.

Education

Hitachiōta has 12 public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government, and three public high schools operated by the Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

JR East 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 ...

– Suigun Line * - -

Highway

* – Hitachi-minamiōta Interchange * * *

Sister City relations

* -

La Trinidad, Benguet La Trinidad, officially the Municipality of La Trinidad ( ilo, Ili ti La Trinidad; tl, Bayan ng La Trinidad), is a 1st class municipality and capital of the province of Benguet, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 13 ...

, Philippines, sister city * -

Yuyao Yuyao () is a county-level city in the northeast of Zhejiang province, China. It is under the jurisdiction of the sub-provincial city of Ningbo. It is located west of central Ningbo, east of Hangzhou, bordering Hangzhou Bay in the north. Yuyao ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiangs ...

, China, Friendship city * -

Hunchun Hunchun (; Chosŏn'gŭl: 혼춘; Hangul: 훈춘) is a county-level city in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, far eastern Jilin province. It borders North Korea (North Hamgyong province) and Russia (Primorsky Krai), has over 250,000 inh ...

Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture Yanbian (; Chosŏn'gŭl: , ''Yeonbyeon''), officially known as the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture in the east of Jilin Province, China. Yanbian is bordered to the north by Heilongjiang Province, on the west b ...

Jilin Jilin (; alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea (Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, Ryanggang and Chagang) and Russia (Primo ...

, China, Friendship city

Local attractions

*Bontenyama Kofun cluster *site of Ota Castle *Satake-dera * Seizan-so, National Historic Monument