is 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
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 Prefectur ...
,
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 ...
. , 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 5,632, and a
population density
Population density (in agriculture: 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 term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
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 Orders of magnitude (time), human timescale. It includes sources such as Solar power, sunlight, wind power, wind, the movement of Hydropo ...
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
. Approximately 60% of the town area is mountains and forests. The
Mabechi River
270px, Ogami Rock overlooking the Basenkyō ravine in Iwate
The is a river located in northern Iwate Prefecture and eastern Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of northern Honshū in Japan.
Overview
The Mabechi River is long and has a wat ...
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
*
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 freezing ...
(
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, notabl ...
''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
was an old province of Japan in the area of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori Prefectures and the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture.
Mutsu Province is also known as or . The term is often used to refer to the comb ...
. It was under the control of the Nambu clan
The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled most of northeastern Honshū in the Tōhoku region of Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The Nanbu claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji of Kai Pr ...
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 t ...
, and was part of Hachinohe Domain
was a '' tozama'' feudal domain of Edo period Japan It is located in Mutsu Province, in northern Honshū. The domain was centered at Hachinohe Castle, located in the center of what is now the city of Hachinohe in Aomori Prefecture.
History
O ...
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 characteriz ...
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
. 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 multic ...
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
A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...
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 paralle ...
.
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.
Transportation
Railway
* Kuzumaki does not have any passenger railway services.
Highway
* – Kuzumaki-Kogen roadside station
*
References
External links
Official Website
{{Authority control
Towns in Iwate Prefecture