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
Naoiri District,
Ōita Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,136,245 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, Kumam ...
,
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 ...
.
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 4,686 and the
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 32.84 persons per km². The total area was 142.69 km².
On April 1, 2005, Kujū, along with the towns of
Naoiri and
Ogi
Ogi may refer to:
People
* Adolf Ogi (born 1942), Swiss politician
*, Japanese football player
*, Japanese actress and politician
*Darko Ostojić (born 1965), nicknamed Ogi, Bosnian musician and actor
*, Japanese football player
*Ogi Ogas (born 19 ...
(all from
Naoiri District), was merged into the expanded city of
Taketa.
In addition to being a tourist destination, beef, strawberries, rice and mushrooms are produced locally by small scale farmers. Mount Kujū is a popular local destination for hiking and in the spring, there are abundant pink flowering shrubs (''miayama kirishima''.) Hikers may use the Bogatsuru (坊がつる) campsite free of charge. The surrounding areas have many
onsen
In Japan, are the country's hot springs and the bathing facilities and traditional inns around them. As a volcanically active country, Japan has many onsens scattered throughout all of its major islands. There are approximately 25,000 hot ...
or natural hot springs. Kujū also has a flower park, which sells lavender ice cream.
Many of the families in Kujū still live a traditional Japanese lifestyle, with extended families living together, houses with real
shoji
A is a door, window or room divider used in traditional Japanese architecture, consisting of translucent (or transparent) sheets on a lattice frame. Where light transmission is not needed, the similar but opaque '' fusuma'' is used (oshiir ...
- rice paper sliding doors and
tatami
A is a type of mat used as a flooring material in traditional Japanese-style rooms. Tatamis are made in standard sizes, twice as long as wide, about 0.9 m by 1.8 m depending on the region. In martial arts, tatami are the floor used for traini ...
mats, and people eating rice, fish and miso soup for breakfast. Kujū is also home to
TAO
''Tao'' or ''Dao'' is the natural order of the universe, whose character one's intuition must discern to realize the potential for individual wisdom, as conceived in the context of East Asian philosophy, East Asian religions, or any other phil ...
, one of Japan's foremost
taiko
are a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various Japanese drums called and to the form of ensemble drumming m ...
groups, and Kudami Taiko, an all women taiko group.
Dissolved municipalities of Ōita Prefecture
{{Oita-geo-stub