was a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

located in Nishisonogi District,

Nagasaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan, mainly located on the island of Kyūshū, although it also includes a number of islands off Kyūshū's northwest coast - including Tsushima and Iki. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,246,4 ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, situated approximately 13 km south of the centre of Nagasaki City. The town was notable for the Mitsubishi shipyard which occupies 60% of urban areas. As of 2003, the town had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 4,261 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

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 , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

and no longer exists as an independent

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

. 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 Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...

. A strong tradition of Peron dragon boat racing exists in Kōyagi and in recent years the town team has won the Nagasaki Peron Festival several times.

History

In 1936 Toyosaku Kawanami 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, a

POW camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured as prisoners of war by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, an ...

, 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 corporation, 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 prede ...

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.

References

External links

Official website of the City of Nagasaki
in Japanese (som

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