is a city located in southern

Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, F ...

in Japan. , 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 148,225, 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 1700 persons per km², in 59,736 households. The total area of the city was . Situated in the northern part of the

Nōbi Plain The is a large plain in Japan that stretches from the Mino area of southwest Gifu Prefecture to the Owari area of northwest Aichi Prefecture, covering an area of approximately .

, what is now Kakamigahara originally thrived as a post station on the

Nakasendō The , also called the ,Richard Lane, ''Images from the Floating World'' (1978) Chartwell, Secaucus ; pg. 285 was one of the five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto in Japan. There were 6 ...

highway connecting Edo with

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, being called "

Unuma-juku was the fifty-second of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It is located in former Mino Province in what is now part of the city of Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, Japan.JASDF Gifu base. In addition, Kakamigahara grew as an industrial city and a commuter suburb of Gifu City and Nagoya. The city of Kakamigahara has many large parks, the most notable among them being "Kakamigahara Kōen", which was originally made from a vacant lot owned by

Gifu University is a national university in the city of Gifu, Gifu, Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. It is sometimes abbreviated as Gidai (岐大) or Gifudai (岐阜大). National University Corporation The Tokai National Higher Education and Research System est ...

. A city planning policy of making Kakamigahara into a "park city" has been undertaken by the municipality, and in 2005, the city received the Green City Prize from the prime minister. Although the city was officially named Kakamigahara, it is also called Kakamihara, Kagamihara, or Kagamigahara by tradition.

Geography

Kakamigahara city center area Aerial photograph

Mountainous terrain runs from the northern to the eastern part of the city. The

Kiso River The is a river in the Chubu region of Japan roughly long, flowing through the prefectures of Nagano, Gifu, Aichi, and Mie before emptying into Ise Bay a short distance away from the city of Nagoya.Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric ''et al.'' (2005) ...

flows through the southern part, forming the municipal and prefectural (Aichi-Gifu) border. A large portion of the city is situated on the Kakamigahara Plateau. Because the soil is very well drained, it was not traditionally suited to rice cultivation. With the exception of rest stops such as

Unuma-juku was the fifty-second of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It is located in former Mino Province in what is now part of the city of Kakamigahara, Gifu Prefecture, Japan.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 names of the Meitetsu train stations, Rokken, Nijukken, and the Ogase Reservoir are from that era. Beginning from the Meiji period, to take advantage of the large amount of wilderness and well-drained soil, military bases and training grounds were established. In addition, Gifu University's agricultural and engineering departments were established in the area, leading the growth of machine and textile factories. These industries, in addition to carrot production, which used the dry soil, became the main industries of the town. Part of the city is within the borders of the Hida-Kisogawa Quasi-National Park.

Mountains

*Mt.Gongen, *Mt.Igi, *Mt.Mii, *Mt.Kakami, *Kakamigahara Alps

Rivers

Kiso, Sakai, Shin-Sakai, Daianji

Lakes

Ogase Reservoir

Adjacent cities and districts

North: Seki East: Kamo District (Sakahogi-cho) West:

Gifu City is a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. During the Sengoku ...

, Hashima District (Kasamatsu-cho, Ginan-cho) South:

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 ...

, Konan, Inuyama,

Niwa District is a district located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 October 2019, the district had an estimated population of 58,304 and a density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The ...

( Fusou-cho)

Climate

The city has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and 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 Kakamigahara is 15.5 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1939 mm, with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 27.9 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.9 °C.

History

The area around Kakamigahara was part of traditional

Mino Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today southern Gifu Prefecture. Mino was bordered by Ōmi to the west, Echizen and Hida to the north, and Shinano to the east, and Ise, Mikawa, and Owari to the south. Its abbreviat ...

. During the post-

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 ...

cadastral reforms, the area was organised into Inaba District, Gifu in April 1897. 1 April 1963: Kakamigahara City was founded by amalgamating Naka, Sohara, Unuma, and Inaba. 1968: The Line Bridge was completed. Together with the Inuyama bridge, completed in 1925, these two bridges span the Kiso River and connect Kakamigahara City with Aichi Prefecture. 1969: The Aigi bridge was completed. This was the third bridge to span the Kiso, and connects the city to Aichi Prefecture. It was the first bridge to connect Kakamigahara to Konan City. 5 March 1986: The section of the Tokai-Hokoriku Expressway between Kakamigahara Junction and Mino Junction was opened. Furthermore, on 13 December 1998, the Tokai-Hokoriku Expressway was connected to the Meishin Expressway (Ichinomiya Junction). 28 March 2000: The twinning of the Inuyama Bridge was completed. Previously, Meitetsu trains had shared the bridge with automobiles, crossing the bridge in a manner similar to streetcars. After the twinning, the trains began to use the old Inuyama Bridge. This separation of trains and automobiles improved transportation across the river. 1 November 2004: Kawashima-cho (Hashima District), was incorporated in Kakamigahara City. 5 November 2006: The Shin-mei Ko-ami Bridge, connecting to Konan, is completed. 24 March 2013: Kakamigahara Bridge is completed. It connects the city hall area with Kawashima-chiku (formerly Kawashima-cho) of Konan City. With the completion of this bridge, there are now four routes from Kakamigahara City into Aichi Prefecture.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Kakamigahara population statistics
/ref> the population of Kakamigahara has recently plateaued after a long period of growth. As of December 2013, about 3,000 residents of foreign nationality were registered in Kakamigahara City. The largest numbers are, in descending order, from Brazil, China, and the Philippines.

Government

Politics

Kakamigahara 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 24 members. *Current mayor: Kenji Asano (inaugurated 20 May 2013, first term) *Previous mayors: **Kaichi Mutou - 1963–1968, resigned during second term due to illness **Keikichi Matsubara - 1968–1973, resigned during second term due to corruption scandal **Kihachirou Hirano - 1973–1997, served six terms **Shin Mori - 1997-2013, served four terms

Economy

Kakamigahara City is second in Gifu Prefecture in terms of industrial production. The city has an aircraft factory operated by

Kawasaki Heavy Industries Aerospace Company is the aerospace division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI). It produces aircraft, space systems, simulators, jet engines, missiles, and electronic equipment. During the 1930s and 1940s, Kawasaki Aircraft Industries developed numerous types ...

, located next to the JASDF Gifu Air Base, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries also produces aircraft parts. The city also has many automobile-related factories, including parts makers and metalworking industries. In Sue-cho in the north of Kakamigahara City, an industrial park called Techno Plaza was established by the Gifu Prefectural government as a focal point for the research and development of

robotics Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of computer science and engineering. Robotics involves design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrat ...

and

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...

. With

Waseda University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902. The university has numerou ...

's WABOT-HOUSE laboratory and Gifu University's Science and Technology Promotion Center as a nucleus, Techno Plaza is structured as an industrial and R&D center. Many ventures have moved into the park, including some companies that have made IPOs, such as Nippon Ichi Software, Inc.

Major employers

*Kawasaki Heavy Industries Aerospace Company *Calbee (Kakamigahara factory): This factory produces Kakamigahara

kimchi ''Kimchi'' (; ko, 김치, gimchi, ), is a traditional Korean side dish of salted and fermented vegetables, such as napa cabbage and Korean radish. A wide selection of seasonings are used, including ''gochugaru'' (Korean chili powder), sprin ...

-flavored potato chips, which are exclusive to this region. *

Nippon Ichi Software is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company was founded in 1991 and has developed several role-playing video games, most notably the ''Disgaea'' and ''Marl Kingdom'' series. Its mascot is the penguin-like ''Disgaea'' character ...

* Gifu Auto Body Industries *Nakanihon Diecast Co. *Tenryu Industries Co. *

Eisai Co. is a Japanese pharmaceutical company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It has some 10,000 employees, among them about 1,500 in research. Eisai is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is a member of the Topix 100 and Nikkei 225 stock indices. ...

*Taikou Seikou Co. *Zero Sports (Zero Max)

Educational institutions

Universities and colleges

* Tokai Gakuin University * Chubu Gakuin University

High schools

The city has three public high schools operated by the Gifu Prefectural Board of Education. *Gifu Prefectural Kakamihara Senior High School (岐阜県立各務原高等学校 - 岐阜県立各務原高等学校) (academic) *Gifu Prefectural Kakamigahara Nishi Senior High School (岐阜県立各務原西高等学校 - 岐阜県立各務原西高等学校) (academic) *Gifu Prefectural Gifu-Kakamino High School (岐阜県立岐阜各務野高等学校 - 岐阜県立岐阜各務野高等学校) (technical)

Primary and secondary schools

Kakimigahara has 16 public elementary schools and eight public junior high schools operated by the city government. The city also operates one special-education school.

International schools

* Centro Educacional Nova Etapa - CENE (セントロ・エドカショナル・ノヴァ・エターパ - セントロ・エドカショナル・ノヴァ・エターパ) - Brazilian schoolEscolas Brasileiras Homologadas no Japão

Archive
. Embassy of Brazil in Tokyo. Retrieved on 13 October 2015.

Transportation

Railways

Central Japan Railway Company -

Takayama Main Line The is a Japanese railway line between Gifu Station in Gifu and Toyama Station in Toyama, operated by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West). The line directly links the Chūkyō Metropolitan Area ( ...

** - - - * Meitetsu logomark 2

Meitetsu , referred to as , is a private railway company operating around Aichi Prefecture and Gifu Prefecture of Japan. Some of the more famous trains operated by Meitetsu include the ''Panorama Car'' and the '' Panorama Car Super'', both of which of ...

Meitetsu Kakamigahara Line The is a 17.6 km railway line in Gifu Prefecture, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Nagoya Railroad (Meitetsu), connecting Meitetsu-Gifu Station in the city of Gifu with Shin-Unuma Station in Kakamigahara. Stations L: E: ...

** - - - - - - - - - - * Meitetsu logomark 2

Meitetsu Inuyama Line The is a 26.8 km Japanese railway line operated by the private railway operator Nagoya Railroad (Meitetsu), which connects Biwajima Junction in Kiyosu, Aichi with Shin-Unuma Station in Kakamigahara, Gifu. Together with the Kakamigahar ...

Highways

Tōkai-Hokuriku Expressway The is a national expressway in the Chūbu region on the island of Honshū in Japan. It is managed by Central Nippon Expressway Company. The route is signed E41 under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's "2016 Proposal f ...

Gifu-Kakamigahara IC *

Bridges

*Aigi Ohashi Bridge crosses the

into Inuyama in

Aichi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefectur ...

Other

*JASDF Gifu Air Base was established as an army airfield in 1917, and is currently used by the JSDF for aircraft and flight testing. From 1945 to 1958, it was occupied by the U.S. military and known as "Camp Gifu".

Local attractions

180501 Kakamigahara Aerospace Science Museum

Ferris wheel and Gifu World Fresh Water Aquarium

Kakamigahara Air and Space Museum Kakamigahara Air and Space Museum is an aviation museum located in Kakamigahara in Gifu Prefecture in Japan. It is at Gifu Air Field of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force The , , also informally referred to as the Japanese Air Force, is the a ...

- Kakamigahara Aerospace Science Museum features a number of indoor and outdoor exhibits, including aircraft and displays covering the history of aircraft development and Gifu prefecture's role in it. *ÆON Kakamigahara Shopping Center opened in July 2007,

ÆON , commonly written AEON Co., Ltd., is a Japanese multinational holding company of ÆON Group. It has its headquarters in Mihama-ku, Chiba, Chiba Prefecture.JUSCO is the acronym for Japan United Stores Company, a chain of "general merchandise stores" (or hypermarket) and the largest of its type in Japan. The various JUSCO companies are subsidiaries of the ÆON supermarket chain. The JUSCO name was adopte ...

department store. The center includes a 10-screen

multiplex cinema A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens within a single complex. They are usually housed in a specially designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums are split into s ...

and a parking lot for about 4,000 cars. *Gifu World Fresh Water Aquarium - Highway Oasis

Twin towns – sister cities

Kakamigahara is twinned with: *

Chuncheon Chuncheon (; ; formerly romanized as Chunchŏn; literally ''spring river'') is the capital of Gangwon Province in South Korea. The city lies in the north of the county, located in a basin formed by the Soyang River and Han River. There are some ...

, South Korea (2003) ;Friendly city * Tsuruga, Japan (1989)

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Cities in Gifu Prefecture