was 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 Nakagami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It is on the Katsuren Peninsula. It was founded around

Katsuren Castle is a Ryukyuan '' gusuku'' in Uruma, Okinawa. In 2000, Katsuren Castle was designated as a World Heritage Site, as a part of the Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu. History Katsuren Castle was built on a large hill of ...

as in the 17th century, which then became Katsuren village in 1908 after the

Ryūkyū Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom, Middle Chinese: , , Classical Chinese: (), Historical English names: ''Lew Chew'', ''Lewchew'', ''Luchu'', and ''Loochoo'', Historical French name: ''Liou-tchou'', Historical Dutch name: ''Lioe-kioe'' was a kingdom in t ...

was annexed by Japan and the Magiri system was abolished. As of 2003, 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 13,530 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 986.87 persons per km². The total area was 13.71 km². On April 1, 2005, Katsuren, along with the cities of Gushikawa and Ishikawa, and the town of Yonashiro (also from Nakagami District), was merged to create the city of

Uruma is a Cities of Japan, city located in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The modern city of Uruma was established on April 1, 2005, when the cities of Gushikawa, Okinawa, Gushikawa and Ishikawa, Okinawa, Ishikawa were merged with the towns of Katsuren, ...

Photography

Katsuren Photos
HDR Photography of the Katsuren region of Okinawa.

External links

Town of Katsuren website
(archives)
Uruma official website
Dissolved municipalities of Okinawa Prefecture {{Okinawa-geo-stub