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 Kitakatsuragi District,

Nara Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakayama P ...

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 ...

. It served as Japan's temporary capital from 640-642 AD, the Kudara Palace. ''Kudara'' is a reference to the Korean kingdom of

Baekje Baekje or Paekche (, ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BC to 660 AD. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. Baekje was founded by Onjo, the third son of Goguryeo's founder Jum ...

and "Koryo" is a reference to

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. However, the

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

making up the town's name literally translate to 'many tombs', as the town has one of the highest concentrations of

kofun are megalithic tombs or tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century CE.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞典』� ...

in Japan. Koryo has two distinct districts, Mamigaoka and Kasa. Mamigaoka is a relatively new neighborhood that houses many shops and restaurants. It is much more affluent than Kasa, which is sometimes referred to as 'Old Town'. Kasa is primarily agricultural, though it also has a strong

sock A sock is a piece of clothing worn on the feet and often covering the ankle or some part of the calf. Some types of shoes or boots are typically worn over socks. In ancient times, socks were made from leather or matted animal hair. In the late ...

-making industry. Koryo produces 40% of Japan's socks. As of March 2017, the town has a

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 35,021 and a

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 2,100 persons per km². The total area is 16.34 km². The town will be celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2015.

Notable people from Kōryō

Tadahiro Nomura is one of the most famous judo competitors in Japan. He is the only judoka in the world who has won three individual Olympic gold medals in a row, all in the extra lightweight (-60 kg) division. Biography Nomura was born into a family of ...

, one of the most famous

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

competitors in Japan *

Toyokazu Nomura is a retired judoka who competed in the half-middleweight (70 kg) division. Life and career Nomura was born into a family of judoka. His father was the founder of a local judo dojo, and his brother was also an instructor who taught Olym ...

, retired judoka

References

External links

*
Kōryō official website
Towns in Nara Prefecture Former capitals of Japan {{Nara-geo-stub