270px, Aerial photograph of central Kōnan is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

located in

Kōchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kōchi Prefecture has a population of 757,914 (1 December 2011) and has a geographic area of 7,103 km2 (2,742 sq mi). Kōchi Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the northwest and ...

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 city 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 33,076 in 15350 households 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 49 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Kōnan is located in southeastern Kōchi Prefecture on the island of

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...

. It faces Tosa Bay on the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

to the south.

Neighbouring municipalities

Kōchi Prefecture * Aki * Nankoku *

Kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...

* Geisei

Climate

Kōnan has a

Humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kōnan is 15.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2190 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in Kitagawa, at around 25.5 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.9 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Kōnan population statistics
/ref> the population of Kōnan has been increasing since the 1960s.

History

As with all of Kōchi Prefecture, the area of Kōnan was part of ancient

Tosa Province was a province of Japan in the area of southern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Tosa bordered on Awa to the northeast, and Iyo to the northwest. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō syste ...

. During 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 ...

, the area was part of the holdings of

Tosa Domain The was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, controlling all of Tosa Province in what is now Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Kōchi Castle, and was ruled throughout its history by t ...

ruled by the

Yamauchi clan The Yamauchi clan (山内氏) were a family of rulers over what was then the Tosa Province which spanned the southern half of Shikoku island. The province was given to the family in 1600 after Yamauchi Kazutoyo led troops under Tokugawa Ieyasu a ...

from their seat at

Kōchi Castle is an Edo Period Japanese castle in the city of Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. It is located at Otakayama hill, at the center of Kōchi city, which in turn is located at the center of the Kōchi Plain, the most prosperous area of former ...

. The area was organized into villages within Kami District with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Akaoka was raised to town status on February 15, 1899, followed by Noichi on February 1, 1926, Yasu on January 1, 1943 and Kagami on April1, 1955. The city of Kōnan was created by the merger of these four towns and the village of Yoshikawa on March 1, 2006. On the same day, the remaining municipalities of Kami District merged to form the city of

, and the district was abolished as a result.

Government

Kōnan 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 ...

city council of 22 members. Kōnan contributes two members to the Kōchi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the village is part of Kōchi 1st 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

Kōnan economy is centered on agriculture.

Education

Kōnan has seven public elementary schools and four public middle schools operated by the city government, and one public high school operated by the Kōchi Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

Tosa Kuroshio Railway The is a third-sector railway company in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. The name comes from the former Tosa Province and the Kuroshio Current. The company was founded in 1986, and operates three lines: a former Japanese National Railways (JNR) line ...

- Asa Line * - - - -

Highways

Kōchi-Tōbu Expressway The is an incomplete two-lane national expressway in Kōchi Prefecture. It is owned and operated by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). The route is signed as an auxiliary route of National Route 55 as well E55 u ...

Local attractions

Heritage Sites

Notable Temples

* Dainichi-ji (Temple No. 28 in the Shikoku 88 Temples Pilgrimage) * Enichi-ji (houses three Buddhist statues that are important cultural properties)

Notable Shrines

* Suruda Hachimangu Shrine

Tourist Sites

Natural Properties

* Tenshin Great Cedar (National Natural Monument])

Cultural Buildings

Ekingura Art Museum

* Shikoku Automobile Museum
Ryoma History Museum

Other Sites

YaSea Park
* Teikokado Drawbridge

Festivals and Events

- Held annually on the third weekend of July
Dorome Festival
- Held annually in April

Notable people from Kōnan

Mika Iwakawa is a Japanese professional boxer who has held the IBF atomweight title since September 2022 and the WBO atomweight title from 2018 to 2022. Professional career Early career Iwakawa made her professional debut on 19 December 2011, where she def ...

- boxing champion

References

External links

*
Kōnan City official website
Cities in Kōchi Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Kōnan, Kōchi {{Kochi-geo-stub