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 de ...

in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. , 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 ...

of 87,518 in 29,676 households 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 390 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Kameoka abuts Kyoto to the east and is located to the north of

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

. It is on the border line between former Tanba and Yamashiro Provinces. Together with

Nantan Nantan may refer to: *Nantan, Kyoto, Japan *Nantan, Shwegu, Burma *Nantan Prison, China {{place name disambiguation *''Also see List of prisons in Qinghai, China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East ...

city, the region is known as Southern Tanba, Kuchitan or Nanatan. For centuries, Kameoka served as a key transportation point to connect

San'in region The is an area in the southwest of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the northern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Sea of Japan. Etymology The name San'in in the Japanese language is formed from two kanji characters. T ...

and Tanba providence with

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ...

. Today, the city serves as one of the

suburbs A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include Commercial area, commercial and mixed-use development, mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a ...

of Metro Kyoto. Kameoka is notable as the launch point for Hozugawa Kudari, a boat ride down the Hozu River. It is also the location of Anaoji Temple, one of the 21 temples in western Japan authorized to issue amulets in the name of the Boddhisattva Kannon.

Neighbouring municipalities

Kyoto Prefecture *

Osaka Prefecture * Ibaraki * Takatsuki *

Nose A nose is a protuberance in vertebrates that houses the nostrils, or nares, which receive and expel air for respiration alongside the mouth. Behind the nose are the olfactory mucosa and the sinuses. Behind the nasal cavity, air next pass ...

* Toyono

Climate

Kameoka has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kameoka is 13.5 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1690 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.4 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.1 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kameoka peaked around the year 2000 and has declined slightly since.

History

Kameoka was part of ancient Tanba Province. Rice cultivation was introduced in the

Yayoi period The started at the beginning of the Neolithic in Japan, continued through the Bronze Age, and towards its end crossed into the Iron Age. Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a period previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon p ...

,a nd the area's many large kofun

burial mound Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

s, especially on the left bank of the Oigawa River (Hozu River). According to the '' Nihon Shoki'', at the beginning of the 6th century, the area was the center of a succession struggle within the imperial court, in which King Yahiko, who was in the direct line of succession was defeated by Emperor Keitai from Echizen Province. The area was the location of the '' ichinomiya'' of the province, Izumo-daijingū and the Tanba Kokubun-ji. The Tanba provincial capital was located nearby, but its exact location has yet to be determined. The area around Kameoka developed as transportation hub as it was the entrance to Kyoto from the

. In 1333,

Takauji Ashikaga was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate."Ashikaga Takauji" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 625. His rule began in 1338, beginning the Muromac ...

raised his army in Kameoka to settle the

Genkō Rebellion Genkō may refer to: * Genkō (first) (), Japanese historical era from 1321 to 1324 * Genkō (second) (), Japanese historical era from 1331 to 1334 * Genkō, Japanese name for Mongol invasions of Japan Major military efforts were taken by Kubl ...

. In the

Sengoku period The was a period in Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the feudal system of Japan under the Ashikaga shogunate. Variou ...

Akechi Mitsuhide , first called Jūbei from his clan and later from his title, was a Japanese ''samurai'' general of the Sengoku period best known as the assassin of Oda Nobunaga. Mitsuhide was a bodyguard of Ashikaga Yoshiaki and later a successful general under ...

constructed Tamba, Kameyama Castle and laid out the

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, ...

which became the core of modern Kameyama. 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 character ...

, it was the center of

Tanba-Kameyama Domain 250px, Matsudaira Nobumasa, final ''daimyō'' of Tanba-Kameyama was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Tanba Province in what is now the west-central portion of modern-day Kyoto Prefecture. It was ce ...

, which was controlled by a succession of '' fudai daimyo'' clans. Kameyama was renamed Kameoka in 1869 to avoid confusion with Kameyama, Mie. The town of Kameyama was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. On January 1, 1955, Kameoka merged with 15 neighboring villages all within Minami-Kuwada District, and was raised to city status.

Government

Kameoka 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 24 members. Kameoka contributes two members to the Kyoto Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Kyoto 4th 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

Historically, the area served as a farming community for

, Japan's former capital. For centuries, area farmers provided ingredients used for traditional Japanese food served in

including

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelate ...

s, black beans, azuki,

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly '' Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and ''Porteresia'', both wild and domestica ...

, matsutake,

yam Yam or YAM may refer to: Plants and foods *Yam (vegetable), common name for members of ''Dioscorea'' * Taro, known in Malaysia and Singapore as yam * Sweet potato, specifically its orange-fleshed cultivars, often referred to as yams in North Amer ...

s, and daikon. In addition, farmers in the city provide

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quant ...

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domestication, domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey junglefowl, grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster ...

and

ayu Ayu or AYU may refer to: * Ayu (given name) * Ayu sweetfish (''Plecoglossus altivelis''), a species of smelt * ''Ayu'', a local name for the African manatee * Ayu (singer) or Ayumi Hamasaki, Japanese singer * Ayu Islands, a small archipelago in I ...

(also known as

sweetfish Ayu or AYU may refer to: * Ayu (given name) * Ayu sweetfish (''Plecoglossus altivelis''), a species of smelt * ''Ayu'', a local name for the African manatee * Ayu (singer) or Ayumi Hamasaki, Japanese singer * Ayu Islands, a small archipelago in In ...

). At present, the area is a mix of agriculture, light manufacturing and is increasingly a

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many ...

for Kyoto.

Education

Kyoto Gakuen University 260px, Kyoto University of Advanced Science Uzumasa campus , formerly Kyoto Gakuen University, is a private university located in Ukyō-ku, Kyoto, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in E ...

Primary and secondary schools

Kameoka has 17 public elementary schools and seven public middle schools operated by the city government and two public high schools operated by the Kyoto Prefectural Department of Education.

Transportation

Railway

JR West – San'in Main Line / Sagano Line) * - - - -

Highway

* * * * * *

Sister cities

Kameoka has agreements of friendship and co-operation with: * Knittelfeld, Austria - April 14, 1964 * Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA - November 3, 1985 * Jandira, Brazil - November 3, 1980 * Suzhou, China - December 31, 1996

Local attractions

* Tamba, Kameyama Castle ruins * Izumo-daijingū Shinto shrine * Anao-ji temple, 21st on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage * Tanba Kokubun-ji ruins, National Historic Site * Chitose Kurumazuka Kofun, National Historic Site

Sports

* – home of Kyoto Sanga FC, a professional football club

Notable people from Kameoka

Maruyama Ōkyo , born Maruyama Masataka, was a Japanese artist active in the late 18th century. He moved to Kyoto, during which he studied artworks from Chinese, Japanese and Western sources. A personal style of Western naturalism mixed with Eastern d ...

Aya Domenig Aya Domenig (born 1972) is a film-maker and anthropologist of Japanese–Swiss origin. Early life and education Born in Kameoka, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, Aya Domenig has joint Swiss and Japanese citizenship. Her mother is of Japanese ...

References

External links

Kameoka City official website

{{Authority control Cities in Kyoto Prefecture