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

Ishikawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu island. Ishikawa Prefecture has a population of 1,140,573 (31 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,186 km2 (1,616 sq mi). Ishikawa Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to ...

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 35,188 in 12787 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 550 persons per km². The total area of the city was .

Geography

Kahoku is located in central Ishikawa Prefecture. It is approximately 20 km north of the capital of,

Kanazawa is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Overview Cityscape File:もてな ...

, or thirty minutes by train. Kahoku lies between the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

to the west, the town of Hōdatsushimizu to the north, the town of

Tsubata is a town located in Kahoku District, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 37,694 in 13873 households, and a population density of 430 persons per km2. The total area of the town was . Geography Tsubata is locate ...

to the east and the town of Uchinada to the south. Geographically from the east to west, Kahoku is composed of a mountainous region, a hilly region, a terrace region, a lowland region and then a coastal region. In the northern part of town the Ōmi River flows into the Sea of Japan and in the southern area, the Unoke River flows into the Kahoku Lagoon which marks the southernmost part of Kahoku.

Neighbouring municipalities

*Ishikawa Prefecture **

** Uchinada ** Hōdatsushimizu

Climate

Kahoku 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 freezing ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by mild summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kahoku is 14.1 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2500 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.6 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.9 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kahoku has remained steady over the past 40 years.

History

The area around Kahoku was mostly part of ancient Kaga Province, with a small portion of its northern area in Noto Province. The area became part

Kaga Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1583 to 1871.

under 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 ...

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 ...

. 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 organised into

Kahoku District, Ishikawa is a district located in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the district has an estimated population of 62,374 and a density of 476.79 persons per km2. The total area is 130.82 km2. Towns and villages * Tsubata * Uchinada Merger *On ...

. The villages of Takamatsu, Nanatsuka and Unoke were established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Takamatsu was raised to town status on August 1, 1922, Nanatsuka on February 11, 1940 and Unoke on February 11, 1948. The three towns merged on March 1, 2004 to form the city of Kahoku.

Government

Kahoku 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 18 members.

Economy

The local economy of Kahoku is dominated by agriculture.

Education

Kahoku has six public elementary schools and three middle schools operated by the city government; however, the city does not have a high school. The

Ishikawa Prefectural Nursing University Ishikawa Prefectural Nursing University is a public university at Kahoku, Ishikawa, 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 bor ...

is also located in Kahoku.

Junior high schools

*Unoke Junior High School *Kahokudai Junior High School *Takamatsu Junior High School

Elementary schools

*Unoke Elementary School *Kanazu Elementary School *Takamatsu Elementary School *Ōmi Elementary school *Nanatsuka Elementary school *Sotohisumi Elementary school

Transportation

Railway

West Japan Railway Company , 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, and ...

Nanao Line The is a railway line in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) and the Noto Railway. It runs between Tsubata Station in Tsubata and Anamizu Station in Anamizu. JR West operates the section between Tsuba ...

* - -

Highway

: :

Twin towns – sister cities

Kahoku is twinned with: *

Meßkirch Meßkirch (; Swabian: ''Mässkirch'') is a town in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. The town was the residence of the counts of Zimmern, widely known through Count Froben Christoph's ''Zimmern Chronicle'' (1559–1 ...

, Germany (1985)

Local attractions

* Kamiyamada Shell Mound, a National Historic Site

Notable people from Kahoku

Kitaro Nishida was a Japanese moral philosopher, philosopher of mathematics and science, and religious scholar. He was the founder of what has been called the Kyoto School of philosophy. He graduated from the University of Tokyo during the Meiji period in 1 ...

, philosopher

References

External links

*
Kahoku City official website

{{Authority control Cities in Ishikawa Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan