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 ...

located in

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the ...

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 37,206 in 17,004 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 240 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Isumi is located on the east coast of southern Chiba Prefecture, on the

Bōsō Peninsula The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers ...

. It is bordered by the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

to the east, and enjoys a temperate maritime climate, with short, cool winters and hot, humid summers due to the effects of the

Kuroshio Current The , also known as the Black or or the is a north-flowing, warm ocean current on the west side of the North Pacific Ocean basin. It was named for the deep blue appearance of its waters. Similar to the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic, the Ku ...

offshore. The area is noted for its beach resorts, which are at the end of the

Kujūkuri Beach is a sandy beach that occupies much of the northeast coast of the Bōsō Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The beach is approximately long, making it the second longest beach in Japan. Kujūkuri Beach is a popular swimming and surfing dest ...

area, and the landscape consists of rolling, sandy hills. The

Isumi River The is a river in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is in length and has a drainage area of . Under the Rivers Act of 1906 the Isumi is designated as a Class 2 River. Additionally, the government has designated the Isumi River a national-level . Geo ...

, a small river which runs through this portion of the peninsula, empties into the Pacific Ocean at Misaki. Parts of the city are within the

Minami Bōsō Quasi-National Park is a quasi-national park in the Kantō region of Honshū in Japan. It is rated a protected landscape (category V) according to the IUCN. The park includes numerous widely separated portions of the coastal areas of southern Bōsō Peninsula, r ...

. Mount Arakine is the highest point in the city, with an elevation of 157.8 meters. The city is approximately 45 kilometers from the prefectural capital of

Chiba Chiba may refer to: Places China * (), town in Jianli County, Jingzhou, Hubei Japan * Chiba (city), capital of Chiba Prefecture ** Chiba Station, a train station * Chiba Prefecture, a sub-national jurisdiction in the Greater Tokyo Area on ...

and 70 to 80 kilometers from central Tokyo.

Surrounding municipalities

Ichinomiya is a Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth. ''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retrieved 2013-5-14. The term gave rise t ...

* Katsuura * Mutsuzawa * Ōtaki *

Onjuku is a town located in Chiba, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 7,523 in 3683 households and a population density of 300 persons per km². The total area o the town is . The name of the town is made of two ''kanji'' characters: t ...

Climate

Isumi has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Isumi is 15.4 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1834 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.8 °C, and lowest in January, at around 6.0 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Isumi population statistics
/ref> the population of Isumi has declined in recent decades

History

Isumi is part of ancient

Kazusa Province was a province of Japan in the area of modern Chiba Prefecture. The province was located in the middle of the Bōsō Peninsula, whose name takes its first ''kanji'' from the name of Awa Province and its second from Kazusa and Shimōsa province ...

. The place name is very ancient, appearing even in the '' Nihon Shoki'', which mentions the area as the source of

abalone Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any of a group of small to very large marine gastropod molluscs in the family (biology), family Haliotidae. Other common name In biology, a common name of a taxon o ...

and pearls for the Yamato court during the reign of the

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

Emperor Ankan (466 — 25 January 536) was the 27th legendary Emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 安閑天皇 (27)/ref> according to the traditional List of Emperors of Japan, order of succession. No firm dates can be assigned to this ...

. 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 ...

, the area was mostly ''

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 ruled by various ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as ''gokenin.'' However ...

'' on behalf 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 ...

. The village of Kuniyoshi was established within

Isumi District, Chiba is a district located in Chiba, Japan. As of 2010, the district has an estimated population of 18,593 and a density of 120 persons per km2. The total area was . The district formerly included all of the city of Katsuura, most of the city of Isumi ...

with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. It was raised to town status on September 22, 1894. The town of Isumi was established on April 29, 1955 from the merger of Kuniyoshi Town with the neighboring villages of Nakagawa and Chimachi. The city of Isumi was created on December 5, 2005 when the former

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 ...

of Isumi absorbed the neighboring towns of

Misaki Misaki ( ja, 御先, "misaki") are a collective term for spirit-like existences in Japan like gods, demons and spirits, among other supernatural entities. Their name comes from a kannushi's vanguard. Summary Misaki are subordinate to the high ...

and Ōhara (all from Isumi District).

Government

Isumi 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. Isumi contributes one member to the Chiba Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of

Chiba 11th district Chiba 11th district (千葉県第11区, ''Chiba-ken dai-jūikku'' or simply 千葉11区, ''Chiba-jūikku'') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives in the national Diet of Japan. It is located in the eastern portion of Chi ...

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

The local economy is dominated by

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...

. '' Ise-ebi'', a species of spiny

lobster Lobsters are a family (biology), family (Nephropidae, Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs ...

, is a notable product of Isumi, as are

sardine "Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the Ital ...

s and

Japanese amberjack The Japanese amberjack or yellowtail, ''Seriola quinqueradiata'', is a species of jack fish in the family Carangidae. It is native to the northwest Pacific Ocean, ranging from China (called ), Korea (called ), and Japan to Hawaii. It is greatl ...

. The middle reaches of the

provide irrigation for extensive

paddy field A paddy field is a flooded field (agriculture), field of arable land used for growing Aquatic plant, semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro. It originates from the Neolithic rice-farming cultures of the Yangtze River basin in sout ...

s for rice production in Isumi. The area also produces

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

es and

cucumber Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated Vine#Horticultural climbing plants, creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical Fruit, fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.

s. The economy is supplemented by the summer tourist traffic to the local beach resorts. The border between

and Isumi City starts at the southern end of the 60-km

adjacent to Taito port. Taito beach and areas to the north are noted surfing areas. The surfing competition at the

2020 Olympic Games The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

will be held at Shidashita Beach just north of Isumi.

Education

Isumi has ten public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the city government, and one public high school operated by the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped.

Transportation

Isumi is approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes from

Tokyo Station Tokyo Station ( ja, 東京駅, ) is a railway station in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The original station is located in Chiyoda's Marunouchi business district near the Tokyo Imperial Palace, Imperial Palace grounds. The newer Eastern extension is ...

by limited express train via Ōhara Station on the

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 ...

Sotobō Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) adjacent to the Pacific Ocean, on the eastern (i.e., outer) side of the Bōsō Peninsula. It connects Chiba Station in Chiba to Awa-Kamogawa Station in Kamog ...

. Ōhara Station is also the connecting point for the JR East Sotobō Line and the Isumi Railway Company

Isumi Line The is a railway line in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, operated by the third-sector railway operating company Isumi Railway Company. It extends through the central eastern section of the Bōsō Peninsula, linking Ōhara Station in the city of Isum ...

, which connects the Pacific Coast of east Chiba Prefecture to the interior areas of the Bōsō Peninsula.

Railway

–

* - - - - Isumi Tetsudo logo

– Isumi Railway Company -

* - - - - -

Highways

Local attractions

* Cape Taitō Lighthouse,

Cape Taitō is a cape on the Pacific Ocean, in the city of Isumi, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The cape is located at the very southern point of Kujūkuri Beach on the island of Honshu. Geography Cape Taitō is written as in Japanese. Cape Gyōbumi, Asahi, Ch ...

, Misaki *

Kiyomizu-dera (Isumi, Chiba) is a Buddhist temple located in the city of Isumi in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. According to an alternate reading of the name in Japanese, the temple is also referred to as Seisui-ji, and is commonly known as the Kiyomizu Kannon. Kiyomizu-dera is ...

- one of the

Bandō Sanjūsankasho The ("The Bandō 33 Kannon Pilgrimage") is a series of 33 Buddhist temples in Eastern Japan sacred to Goddess Kannon. Bandō is the old name for what is now the Kantō region,Donald Richie used in this case because the temples are all in the Pref ...

Buddhist temples

Notable people from Isumi

Akemi Masuda Akemi Masuda ( ja, 増田明美; born January 1, 1964) is a retired Japanese female long-distance runner. She competed for Japan at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, although she failed to finish the race. Masuda set her person ...

, marathon runner *

Kasuganishiki Takahiro Kasuganishiki Takahiro (born August 22, 1975 as Takahiro Suzuki) is a former sumo wrestler from Misaki, Isumi District, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. He made his debut in 1991, reaching the top makuuchi division in 2002. His highest rank was ''maeg ...

, sumo wrestler *

Yoshiharu Tsuge is a Japanese cartoonist and essayist. He was active in comics between 1955 and 1987. His works range from tales of ordinary life to dream-like surrealism, and often show his interest in traveling about Japan. He has garnered the most attent ...

, manga artist

Sister city relations

* -

Duluth, Minnesota , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

, USA, since October 3, 1990 (with former Ōhara Town) * -

Woburn, Massachusetts Woburn ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,876 at the 2020 census. Woburn is located north of Boston. Woburn uses Massachusetts' mayor-council form of governme ...

, USA, since August 29, 1985 (with former Isumi Town) * -

Waupun, Wisconsin Waupun is a city in Dodge County, Wisconsin, Dodge and Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Fond du Lac counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 11,344 at the 2020 census. Of this, 7,795 were in Dodge County, and 3,549 were in Fond du ...

, USA, since 1997

References

External links

Official Website
{{Chiba Cities in Chiba Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Isumi