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 Kitauwa District,

Ehime Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,342,011 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Toku ...

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 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 3,693 in 1978 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 38 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Matsuno is located in mountainous southwestern Ehime Prefecture, on the middle reaches of the Hiromi River, one of the tributaries of the

Shimanto River The is a river in western Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. 196 km in length, it has a watershed of 2,270 km². Its name is written with kanji meaning "forty thousand and ten". Since the river is remote from major cities and does not have an ...

. Forests occupy 84% of the total area. Although located due east of Uwajima across Mount Onigajo, due to lack of roads, it is not possible to go directly to Uwajima from Matsuno without going through Kihoku. A small portion of the town is within the borders of the

Ashizuri-Uwakai National Park is a national park at the southwestern tip of the island of Shikoku, Japan. The park is spread over small areas on the western side of Shikoku between Ehime and Kōchi prefectures. The main feature of the park is Cape Ashizuri, the southernmost ...

Surrounding municipalities

Ehime Prefecture *

Uwajima 270px, Uwajma City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Uwajma city center 270px, Japan National Route 320 in Uwajma city center is a city located in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 70,440 in 35429 households and a pop ...

* Kihoku

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 ...

* Shimanto (city) * Shimanto (town)

Climate

Matsuno 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 Matsuno is 14.5 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2010 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in January, at around 25.0 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.9 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Matsuno has been decreased steadily since the 1950s.

History

The area of Matsuno was part of ancient

Iyo Province was a province of Japan in the area of northwestern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Iyo bordered on Sanuki Province to the northeast, Awa to the east, and Tosa to the south. Its abbreviated form name was . In term ...

. 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

Uwajima Domain 270px, Date Munenari 270px, Uwajima Date Museum was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now western Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Uwajima Castle, and was ruled throug ...

ruled by the

Date clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Date", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 5 retrieved 2013-5-5. History The Date family was founded ...

from their seat at

Uwajima Castle 270px, Aerial view of Uwajima Castle is a ''hirayama-jiro'' Japanese castle located in the city of Uwajima, Ehime, Japan. An alternate name for this castle is Tsurushima-jō. The castle is one of twelve Japanese castles to still have an original ...

. The villages of Meiji (明治村) and Yoshinobu (吉野生村) within Kitauwa District were established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on October 1, 1889. Meiji was elevated to town status on November 10, 1940 and renamed Matsumaru (松丸町). Matsumaru merged with Yoshinobu on March 31, 1955 to form the town of Matsuno. Proposals to merge with neighboring Kihoku and/or Uwajima were shelved in 2010 after a highly contentious referendum, leaving Matsuno is as the least populous town in Ehime.

Government

Matsuo 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 ...

town council of seven members. Matsuno, together with Uwajima and Kihoku, contributes four members to the Ehime Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Ehime 4th 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

Matsuno's economy is centered on forestry and to a lesser extent, horticulture. Matsuno is known for its peach production, but not on a large scale. There are many

river terrace Fluvial terraces are elongated terraces that flank the sides of floodplains and fluvial valleys all over the world. They consist of a relatively level strip of land, called a "tread", separated from either an adjacent floodplain, other fluvial te ...

s formed by undulating rivers, and there is little flat land.

Education

Matsuo has two public elementary schools and one public middle school operated by the town government. The town does not have a high school.

Transportation

Railways

Shikoku Railway Company The , commonly known as , is the smallest of the seven constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates of intercity and local rail services in the four prefectures on the island of Shikoku in Japan. The company has it ...

Yodo Line The is a railway line in Shikoku, Japan, operated by Shikoku Railway Company (JR Shikoku). It connects Station, Shimanto, Kōchi (town), Shimanto, Takaoka District, Kōchi, Takaoka District in Kōchi Prefecture and Uwajima, Ehime, Uwajima in Eh ...

* - -

Highways

* *

Local attractions

The town is known for its annual half-marathon. The total area is 98.50 km².

References

External links

*
Matsuno official website
Towns in Ehime Prefecture Matsuno, Ehime {{Ehime-geo-stub