270px, Kōya town hall 270px, downtown Kōya is a town located in

Ito District is a district located in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. As of September 1, 2008, the district has an estimated population of 28,171 and a density of 84.6 persons/km2. The total area is 332.93 km2. Towns and villages * Katsuragi * Kōya * ...

, Wakayama Prefecture,

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 of 2,812 in 1575 households and a population density of 21 persons per km². The total area of the town is . The town is known as the headquarters of the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism.

Geography

Kōya is located near the prefectural border at the northeastern end of Wakayama Prefecture, on the heavily-forest plateau of Mount Koya

Neighbouring municipalities

Wakayama Prefecture * Hashimoto * Katsuragi * Kudoyama Nara Prefecture *

Nosegawa is a village located in Yoshino District, Nara Prefecture, Japan. As of October 1, 2016, the village has an estimated population of 424. The total area is 155.03 km2. Nosegawa is said to be the smallest village by population located on th ...

Climate

Kōya has a Humid continental climate (Köppen ''Dfa/Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kōya is . The average annual rainfall is with June as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Kōya population statistics
/ref> the population of Kōya has declined steadily over the last 70 years.

History

The area of the modern town of Kōya was within ancient Kii Province and was long associated with the

Shingon Buddhist Shingon monks at Mount Koya is one of the major schools of Buddhism in Japan and one of the few surviving Vajrayana lineages in East Asia, originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra. Kn ...

temple complex on

Mount Kōya is a large temple settlement in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan to the south of Osaka. In the strictest sense, ''Mount Kōya'' is the mountain name ( sangō) of Kongōbu-ji Temple, the ecclesiastical headquarters of the Kōyasan sect of Shingon Budd ...

, which was founded in 816AD. The village of Kōya was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889, and was raised to town status on November 1, 1918. The village of Fuki was annexed by Kōya on June 1, 1958

Government

Kōya has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral town council of 10 members. Kōya collectively with the town of Kudyama, contributes one member to the

Wakayama Prefectural Assembly The is the prefectural parliament of Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 944,320 () and has a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Pref ...

. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Wakayama 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 economy of Kōya is centered on tourism. Since there are many temples, there are many people involved in Buddhist professions such as monks, and there are also many related tourism industry workers such as innkeepers, souvenir shops, and Buddhist equipment stores.

Education

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

Koyasan University is a private university in Mount Kōya, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. The predecessor of the school was established in 1886 as a monastic school for Shingon Buddhist monks, and it was chartered as a university in 1926. In addition to its main ca ...

, a private university affiliated with Shingon Buddhism is located in the town.

Transportation

Railway

18px Nankai Electric Railway – Nankai Kōya Line * - - 18px Nankai Electric Railway – Nankai Cable Line * -

Highways

* * *

Local attractions

* Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range *

** Kongōbu-ji **

Kongō Sanmai-in one of the Kongo Sanmai-in temples Rāgarāja Vairocana is a minor temple complex on Mount Kōya in Japan, founded in 1211 by order of Hōjō Masako for posthumous soul of Minamoto no Yoritomo and renamed "Kongō Sanmai-in" in 1219 for that ...

Koyasan Reihōkan is an art museum on Kōya-san, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan, preserving and displaying Buddhist art owned by temples on Kōya-san. The collection is centered around articles from the Heian period, Heian and Kamakura periods and includes paintings, ...

References

External links

*
Kōya official website
Towns in Wakayama Prefecture Kōya, Wakayama {{Wakayama-geo-stub