is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares ...

located in

Iwate Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture at , with a population of 1,210,534 (as of October 1, 2020). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefectu ...

, 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. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using ...

of 5,632, 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 13 persons per km². The total area of the town is . The town uses many

alternative energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

sources, producing a surplus of energy, including wind power and biomass.

Geography

Kuzumaki is located in a basin in north-central Iwate Prefecture with an average elevation of 400 meters, surrounded by the 1000 meter mountains of the Kitakami Mountains. Approximately 60% of the town area is mountains and forests. The Mabechi River flows through the town.

Neighboring municipalities

Iwate Prefecture *

Morioka is the capital city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. On 1 February 2021, the city had an estimated population of 290,700 in 132,719 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . ...

Kuji is a Japanese city in Iwate Prefecture. , the city had an estimated population of 34,418 in 15,675 households, and a population density of 55 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Kuji is in far northeastern Iwate Prefect ...

* Iwate *

Iwaizumi is a town located in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 8,987, and a population density of 9.1 persons per km² in 4366 households. The total area of the town is . Geography Iwaizumi is in the Kitakami Mountai ...

* Kunohe * Ichinohe

Climate

Kuzumaki has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''Dfb'') characterized by mild summers and cold winters. The average annual temperature in Kuzumaki is 7.0 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1434 mm with September as the wettest month and February as the driest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 20.2 °C, and lowest in January, at around -5.1 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Kuzumaki population statistics
/ref> the population of Kuzumaki has declined over the past 60 years. It is now about half of what it was a century ago and about a third of its peak around 1960.

History

The area of present-day Kuzumaki was part of ancient Mutsu Province. It was under the control of the Nambu clan from the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by ...

, and was part of Hachinohe Domain under 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 ...

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 ...

. The area was noted for its horse ranches. The villages of Kuzumaki and Ekari within Kita-Kunohe District and the village of Tabe within Iwate District were created on April 1, 1889, with the establishment of the modern municipality system. Kita-Kunohe District and Minami-Kunohe Districts merged to form Kunohe District on April 1, 1897. Kuzumaki was raised to town status on December 25, 1940. On July 1, 1948, Kuzumaki and Isashi were transferred to Iwate District. Kuzumaki annexed neighboring Ekari and Tabe on July 15, 1955.

Government

Kuzumaki 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 ...

town council of 10 members. Kuzumaki, together with the city of Hachimantai and the town of Iwate, contributes two seats to the Iwate Prefectural legislature. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Iwate 2nd 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

The local economy is based on agriculture, including dairy products and wine production.

Education

Kuzumaki has five public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the town government, and one public high school operated by the Iwate Prefectural Board of Education.

Geography

Neighboring municipalities

Climate

Demographics

History

Government

Economy

Education

Transportation

Railway

Highway

References

External links