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 Nishisonogi District,

Nagasaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,314,078 (1 June 2020) and has a geographic area of 4,130 km2 (1,594 sq mi). Nagasaki Prefecture borders Saga Prefecture to the northeast. N ...

, Japan, situated approximately 13 km south of the centre of

Nagasaki City is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

. The town was notable for the Mitsubishi shipyard which occupies 60% of urban areas. As of 2003, 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. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 4,261 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematical ...

of 944.79 persons per km². The total area was 4.51 km². On January 4, 2005, Kōyagi, along with the towns of Iōjima, Nomozaki, Sanwa, Sotome and Takashima (all from Nishisonogi District), was merged into the expanded city of

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole Nanban trade, port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hi ...

and no longer exists as an independent

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

. The main centre of population was located in the north western side from the Eri area to the Nagahama (shipyard) area. The centre of this is the Sato and Fukaura area where the elementary and junior high schools are located. Other buildings in these areas includes a small hospital, a kindergarten, the town hall and a library. A park and viewpoint is located in the centre of Koyagi from which fine views of Nagasaki city and the peninsular can be seen. Two small beaches are located in the Onoue and Tatsunokuchi areas. The southern Tatsunokuchi beach is famous locally for its

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for " Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chr ...

. A strong tradition of Peron

dragon boat racing A dragon boat is a human-powered watercraft originating from the Pearl River Delta region of China's southern Guangdong Province. These were made of teak, but in other parts of China, different kinds of wood are used. It is one of a family of t ...

exists in Kōyagi and in recent years the town team has won the Nagasaki Peron Festival several times.

History

In 1936 Kawanami Toyosaku bought the Matsuo Shipyard in Kōyagi and transformed it into one of the largest in the Far East. 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, a P.O.W. camp, Fukuoka #2 was located in Kōyagi and the prisoners were forced to work in brutal conditions in the factories. However, soon after the war was over Kawanami was forced to close the factories due to a shortage of money. ⟨⟩⟩ In 1967,

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the predecessor of Mitsubishi Mo ...

acquired the old shipyard facility and started a process of development to create the largest dock in Japan. Completed in 1972, the construction created vast areas of land which attached the island to the mainland. On March 27, 2011 the Iōjima Bridge was opened to link Kōyagi with the nearby island of Iōjima. This two-step process involves construction of a tunnel from the Eri area to the southern side of the town to link with a new bridge connecting the towns.

External links

Official website of the City of Nagasaki
in Japanese (som

Dissolved municipalities of Nagasaki Prefecture {{Nagasaki-geo-stub