was a

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 ...

located in Higashitsugaru District in central

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, ...

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 ...

. It is now the central district of the town,

Hiranai ( ain, ピラナィ, piranay) is a List of towns in Japan, town located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan and a part of the Aomori metropolitan area. , the town had an estimated population of 10,460 in 4,860 households, and a population density of 4 ...

History

During

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 ...

when the area was controlled by the

Tsugaru clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled the northwestern half of what is now Aomori Prefecture in the Tōhoku region of Japan under the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate. The Tsugaru were ''daimyō'' of Hirosaki Domain and its semi-subsidiary, Ku ...

Kuroishi Domain was a '' tozama'' feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It is located in northwestern Mutsu Province, Honshū. Its territory included 2000 ''koku'' in the area around present-day city of Kuroishi, 1000 ''koku'' in pre ...

, what would become Kominato was the center of power for the eastern part of the Kuroishi Domain. Kominato was founded on 1 April 1889, as the village of Nakahiranai. It was elevated to a town on 1 October 1928, and the town's name was officially changed to Kominato as part of the celebration of the enthronement of Emperor

Hirohito Emperor , commonly known in English-speaking countries by his personal name , was the 124th emperor of Japan, ruling from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989. Hirohito and his wife, Empress Kōjun, had two sons and five daughters; he was ...

. After the conclusion of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

, the point where the Morita River meets

Mutsu Bay is a bay located within Aomori Prefecture, in the northern Tōhoku region of northern Japan. It has an east-west distance of approximately and a north-south distance of approximately at its eastern end, with a total area of approximately . N ...

on the coast of Kominato was chosen by the

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government age ...

as the site of a shipping port to

Hakodate, Hokkaido is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of 412.8 ...

to replace the port destroyed in

Aomori is the capital city of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 278,964 in 136,457 households, and a population density of 340 people per square kilometer spread over the city's total area of ...

by air raids. Construction on a temporary port was completed on 1 July 1946, with services continuing until 15 July 1949. The services were cancelled because

Japan National Railways The abbreviated JNR or , was the business entity that operated Japan's national railway network from 1949 to 1987. Network Railways As of June 1, 1949, the date of establishment of JNR, it operated of narrow gauge () railways in all 46 pref ...

assumed control of the port from the Ministry of Transport and then decided that the rebuilt port in Aomori would be more profitable than building a permanent port in Kominato. Despite losing the port's failure in turning Kominato into a transport hub, the town continued to make use of the port in its scallop industry. On 31 March 1955, the town was merged with the neighboring Higashi-Hiranai and Nishi-Hiranai villages to make the currently extant town, Hiranai, with its government centered in Kominato. At the time of its merger, Kominato had a

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 9,790.

Neighboring municipalities

These were the neighboring municipalities of Kominato just before its incorporation into Hiranai. *

– this part of Aomori was the village, Azumadake until 1 January 1955. *

Nonai Nonai may refer to: *Nonai, Aomori was a List of villages in Japan, village located in Higashitsugaru District, Aomori, Higashitsugaru District in central Aomori Prefecture, Japan. The former town was best known as a ''shukuba'' along the Matsumae ...

– now part of

* Nishi-Hiranai – now part of

* Higashi-Hiranai – now part of

Economy

The town once had a busy port, connecting the Japanese islands

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separ ...

and

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

to the north by ferry; however, the ferry services were moved to Aomori by the beginning of the 20th century. They returned to Kominato after 90 percent of Aomori was destroyed by American

B-29 bombers The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

during World War II; however, the services moved once again when Aomori recovered from the air raids. Otherwise, the town had a sizable

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 ...

system and was known for its

scallops Scallop () is a common name that encompasses various species of marine bivalve mollusks in the taxonomic family Pectinidae, the scallops. However, the common name "scallop" is also sometimes applied to species in other closely related famil ...

Transportation

Matsumaedō The was the continuation of the Ōshū Kaidō, one of the Edo Five Routes of Japan. It connected the Sendaidō's terminus at Sendai Castle with the northern tip of modern-day Aomori Prefecture. It was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu for government o ...

– a sub-route of the

Ōshū Kaidō The was one of the five routes of the Edo period. It was built to connect Edo (modern-day Tokyo) with Mutsu Province and the present-day city of Shirakawa, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. It was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu for government of ...

; today it exists roughly along . Kominato-juku (小湊宿) was the 36th of 44 ''

shukuba were post stations during the Edo period in Japan, generally located on one of the Edo Five Routes or one of its sub-routes. They were also called ''shuku-eki'' (宿駅). These post stations (or "post towns") were places where travelers could r ...

'' along the Matsumaedō connecting

Aoba Castle 260px, Layout of Aoba Castle is a Japanese castle located in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Throughout the Edo period, Aoba Castle was home to the Date clan, ''daimyō'' of Sendai Domain. The castle was also known as or as . In 2003, the ca ...

Sendai Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Sendai Domain was based at Aoba Castle in Mutsu Province, in the modern city of Sendai, located in the Tōhoku region of the i ...

(now

Miyagi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,305,596 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefecture to the nort ...

) to

Cape Tappi is a headland on the northwestern point of the island of Honshu in Japan. The name is believed to be derived from ''tampa'' which means "sword's edge" in the Ainu language. It is located on the northern tip of the Tsugaru Peninsula within the bor ...

Hirosaki Domain Hirosaki Castle, the seat of the Hirosaki Domain , also known as , was a '' tozama'' feudal domain of Edo period JapanRavina, Mark. (1998) ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan,'' p. 222 It is located in Mutsu Province, in northern Honshū ...

(now part of Aomori Prefecture). After its creation in 1952, National Route 4 bypassed central Kominato, while the old Edo-era national road went through the center of the town. Parts of that route are currently designated as Aomori Prefecture Routes 9 and 215.{{cite web, title=＜奥州街道II（松前道）の宿場選び＞, url=https://aruko-kaido.jimdo.com/%E5%A5%A5%E5%B7%9E%E8%A1%97%E9%81%93%E2%85%A1/, language=ja, accessdate=18 July 2019 * Japanese National Railway logo

Tōhoku Main Line The Tōhoku Main Line ( ja, 東北本線, ) is a long railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The line starts from Tokyo Station in Chiyoda, Tokyo and passes through such cities as Saitama, Utsunomiya, Fukush ...

– currently Aoimori Logo

Aoimori Railway Line The is a regional rail line in Aomori Prefecture, Japan that is operated by the Aoimori Railway Company. It connects the terminal station of the Iwate Galaxy Railway Line, Metoki Station, in the town of Sannohe to Aomori Station, the terminus ...

***

Kominato Station is a railway station of the Aoimori Railway Line located in the central district of the town of Hiranai in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. The station has been operating since 1891, though the most recent station building, which consists of a side ...

Seikan ferry The is a privately owned ferry service crossing the Tsugaru Strait, which separates the Japanese islands of Hokkaido and Honshu. The company, , was founded in 1973 and runs between the cities of Aomori on the northern tip of Honshu and Hakoda ...

– for a short period of time before the port near

Aomori Station is a railway station in the city of Aomori in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. The station has been operating since September 1891, though the most recent station building, which consists of three island platforms connected to the station building by a ...

was completed, the ferry traveled from Kominato Port to

with access to the Tōhoku Main Line via Kominato Station.

Notable people from Kominato

Takahashi Chikuzan (; 1910–1998) was a renowned Japanese Tsugaru-jamisen performer and composer. He was born in Nakahiranai, a village that is now part of the Hiranai township in Aomori Prefecture. He lost his sight at around age two from measles before ...

- professional ''

Tsugaru-jamisen or refers to both the Japanese genre of music originating from Tsugaru Peninsula in present-day Aomori Prefecture and the instrument it is performed with. It is performed throughout Japan, though associations with the Tsugaru remain strong. ...

'' musician

References

Hiranai, Aomori Dissolved municipalities of Aomori Prefecture