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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 de ...
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 n ...
, 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 ...
of 31,722 in 14,558 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 170 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The name of the city consists of two ''
kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are still used, along with the subse ...
'' characters: the first, kamo (鴨), meaning "
duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a fo ...
", and the second, kawa (川), meaning "
river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...
".


Geography

Kamogawa is near the southeastern tip of the Bōsō Peninsula, facing 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 contine ...
, about 50 km south of the prefectural capital, Chiba, and about 85 km from the capital of Japan,
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
. Kamogawa is home to
Mount Atago ''Mount Atago is a very common name for peaks all over Japan.'' is a 924m mountain in the northwestern part of Ukyo-ku, in the city of Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island ...
, which at is the highest point in Chiba Prefecture. Mount Kiyosumi () is home to Seichō-ji. The
Kamo River The is located in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. The riverbanks are popular walking spots for residents and tourists. In summer, restaurants open balconies looking out to the river. There are walkways running alongside the river, and some stepping ...
() empties into the Pacific Ocean at Kamogawa.


Neighboring municipalities

Chiba Prefecture * Futtsu * Kimitsu * Katsuura *
Minamibōsō is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 37,143 in 17,175 households and a population density of 160 persons per km². The total area of the city is , making it the fifth largest city in Chiba ...
*
Kyonan 250px, View of Hota from Mount Nokogiri is a town located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 7,409 in 3543 households and a population density of 160 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography ...
* Ōtaki


Climate

Kamogawa has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kamogawa is 15.5 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1833 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.0 °C, and lowest in January, at around 5.9 °C.


Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kamogawa has been gradually decreasing over the past 70 years.


History


Early history

The area of present-day Kamogawa was part of ancient Awa Province.
Nichiren Nichiren (16 February 1222 – 13 October 1282) was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period. Nichiren declared that the Lotus Sutra alone contains the highest truth of Buddhist teachings suited for the Third Age of ...
(1222 – 1282) was born in the Kominato district of Kamogawa, and his birthplace is commemorated at
Tanjō-ji is a Buddhist temple of the Nichiren Shū located in the city of Kamogawa in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. Along with Kuon-ji in Yamanashi Prefecture, Ikegami Honmon-ji in the south of Tokyo, and Seichō-ji also in Kamogawa City, Tanjōji is one of t ...
. 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 character ...
, it 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 Encyclopedi ...
'' territory controlled directly by the
Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in ...
, with portions under the control of the feudal domains of Funagata Domain, Tateyama Domain, Iwasuki Domain and
Tsurumaki Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of the Edo period, located in Kazusa Province (modern-day Chiba Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Tsurumaki '' jin'ya'' in what is now the city of Ichihara, Chiba. It was ruled for the entirety ...
. The short-lived (1638-1690) Tōjō Domain and the
Bakumatsu period was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji government. ...
Hanabusa Domain was a Japanese feudal domain of the early Meiji period, located in Nagasa District, Awa Province. It was centered at what is now the area of the city of Kamogawa in modern Chiba Prefecture. History In 1867, during the Meiji Restoration, the f ...
were also located within the borders of modern Kamogawa.


Modern history

In 1877, Kamogawa suffered a notable cholera outbreak. At the start of the
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 ...
, Kamogawa consisted of all of Nagasa District with two towns and nine villages, and two villages from neighboring Asai District. All of these villages and towns (including Kamogawa Town) became part of Awa District in 1890. In 1927 Awa-Kamogawa Station became the terminus of both the Sotobō Line and the Uchibō Line. The city sustained injuries and fatalities during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
via aerial bombing by the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
. The city was occupied by American forces after the war. Soon after,
land reform Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultur ...
and economic reform were carried out in Kamogawa. In 1958 the coastal areas of Kamogawa became a part of
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, rang ...
, and the town became a tourist destination as a result of the establishment of the park. Kamogawa was elevated to city status on March 31, 1971.On February 11, 2005, the town of Amatsukominato (from Awa District) was merged into Kamogawa.


Government

Kamogawa 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 ...
city council of 18 members. Kamogawa contributes one member to the Chiba Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Chiba 12th district of the lower house 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 paral ...
.


Economy

Kamogawa serves as a commercial center for the surrounding region of south-central Chiba Prefecture.
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 oft ...
remains the primary industry in Kamogawa, which has five active fishing ports. The city is noted for its
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 ...
and
mackerel Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...
production.
Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly '' Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and ''Porteresia'', both wild and domestica ...
farming and
floriculture Floriculture, or flower farming, is a branch of horticulture concerned with the cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens and for floristry, comprising the floral industry. The development of new varieties by plant breeding ...
are practiced. The tourist industry is a growing component of the local economy, with visitors attracted to the area's beaches, hot spring resorts, Kamogawa Seaworld, and the Futomi Flower Center.


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 ar ...
Uchibō Line * – –
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 ar ...
Sotobō Line * – -


Highway

* *


Education

*
Kameda College of Health Sciences is a private university in Japan. The campus is located in Kamogawa, Chiba is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 31,722 in 14,558 households and a population density of 170 persons per km². ...
* Josai International University – Kamogawa Campus *
Waseda University , mottoeng = Independence of scholarship , established = 21 October 1882 , type = Private , endowment = , president = Aiji Tanaka , city = Shinjuku , state = Tokyo , country = Japan , students = 47,959 , undergrad = 39,382 , postgrad ...
– Kamogawa Campus *
Toyo University is a university with several branches in Japan, including Hakusan, Asaka, Kawagoe, Itakura, and Akabane. Overview The predecessor to Toyo University was , which was founded at Rinsho-in Temple by Enryo Inoue in 1887. Inoue felt that the ...
– Kamogawa Campus * Kamogawa has nine 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. There is also one private high school.


Sister city relations

* -
Minobu, Yamanashi is a town located in Yamanashi Prefecture, 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. Gover ...
, Japan, from 1991 * -
Manitowoc, Wisconsin Manitowoc () is a city in and the county seat of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. The city is located on Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Manitowoc River. According to the 2020 census, Manitowoc had a population of 34,626, with ov ...
, USA from 1993


Local attractions

*
Kamogawa Sea World Kamogawa Sea World is a large scale comprehensive marine leisure center/museum equivalent facility located between the Tojo coast and the national highway No. 128 in Kamogawa city, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is not affiliated with SeaWorld in ...
, noted especially for its captive
orca The orca or killer whale (''Orcinus orca'') is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. It is the only extant species in the genus '' Orcinus'' and is recognizable by its black-and-white ...
s and numerous other sea creatures * Tanjōji – Buddhist temple associated with Nichiren * Seichō-ji – Buddhist temple associated with Nichiren


Noted people from Kamogawa

*
Nichiren Nichiren (16 February 1222 – 13 October 1282) was a Japanese Buddhist priest and philosopher of the Kamakura period. Nichiren declared that the Lotus Sutra alone contains the highest truth of Buddhist teachings suited for the Third Age of ...
, noted Buddhist prelate *
Tokiko Kato is a Japanese singer, composer, lyricist, actress and activist. She was born in Harbin, Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empi ...
, singer, composer, lyricist, and actress * Yuka Murayama, writer * Shimaguchi Komao, composer and writer


Cultural references

The
anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
series '' Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne'' is set in Kamogawa.


References


External links


Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Chiba Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan