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
Chiba Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the ...
,
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 6,928 in 2796 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 190 persons per km².
The total area of the town is .
Geography
Located in the mountainous area that divides the center of
Bōsō Peninsula
The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers ...
, Mutsuzawa has little flat terrain. The town consists primarily of rolling, sometimes steep, hills. The town is located in the southeastern part of Chiba prefecture, about 30 kilometers from the prefectural capital at
Chiba
Chiba may refer to:
Places China
* (), town in Jianli County, Jingzhou, Hubei
Japan
* Chiba (city), capital of Chiba Prefecture
** Chiba Station, a train station
* Chiba Prefecture, a sub-national jurisdiction in the Greater Tokyo Area on ...
, and within 60 to 70 kilometers from the center of Tokyo. The terrain is included in the
Kanto Plain
Kantō (Japanese)
Kanto is a simplified spelling of , a Japanese word, only omitting the diacritics.
In Japan
Kantō may refer to:
*Kantō Plain
*Kantō region
*Kantō-kai, organized crime group
*Kanto (Pokémon), a geographical region in the ' ...
, with a gentle slope from the west toward the east with an elevation of 2 to 168 meters. The Habu, Mizusawa, and Chorakuji rivers flow through the central part of the town, and join the Ichinomiya river in the northeast.
Neighboring municipalities
Chiba Prefecture
*
Mobara
is a city located in Chiba Prefecture. , the city had an estimated population of 88,330 in 40,869 households and a population density of 880 persons per km². The total area of the city is
Geography
Mobara is located in an inland area of north-c ...
*
Isumi
is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 37,206 in 17,004 households and a population density of 240 persons per km². The total area of the city is .
Geography
Isumi is located on the east coast ...
*
Ichinomiya
is a Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth. ''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retrieved 2013-5-14.
The term gave rise t ...
*
Chōsei
is a village located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the village had an estimated population of 14,028 in 6096 households and a population density of 500 persons per km². The total area of the village is . It is the only remaining municipality cl ...
*
Chōnan
270px, Chōnan town hall
is a town located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 7,743 in 3240 households and a population density of 120 persons per km². The total area of the town is .
Geography
Located in ...
*
Ōtaki
Climate
Mutsuzawa 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 to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Mutsuzawa is 15.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1745 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.9 °C, and lowest in January, at around 5.7 °C.
Demographics
Per Japanese census data,
Mutsuzawa population statistics
/ref> the population of Mutsuzawa has remained relatively steady over the past 50 years.
History
Mutsuzawa is part of ancient Kazusa Province
was a province of Japan in the area of modern Chiba Prefecture. The province was located in the middle of the Bōsō Peninsula, whose name takes its first ''kanji'' from the name of Awa Province and its second from Kazusa and Shimōsa province ...
and has been settled since ancient times, and has several burial mounds
A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a ...
from the Kofun period
The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...
. Myōraku-ji, a temple founded in the Heian period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...
, houses a wooden statue of the seated Dainichi Nyorai
Vairocana (also Mahāvairocana, sa, वैरोचन) is a cosmic buddha from Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Vairocana is often interpreted, in texts like the ''Avatamsaka Sutra'', as the dharmakāya of the historical Gautama Buddha. In East ...
which has been designated one of the Important Cultural Properties of Japan
An The term is often shortened into just is an item officially classified as Tangible Cultural Property by the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs ( Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) and judged to b ...
. In 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 ...
, Mutsuzawa was part of Ōtaki Domain
was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of the Edo period, located in Kazusa Province (modern-day Chiba Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Ōtaki Castle in what is now the town of Ōtaki, Chiba.
History
The original Ōtaki Castle w ...
. The villages of Tsuchimutsu, and Mizusawa were established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. The two villages merged on February 11, 1955 with a portion of the town of Chōnan to form the village of Mutsuzawa. It was elevated to town status on April 1, 1983.
Government
Mutsuzawa 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 15 members. Together with the other municipalities in Chōsei District, Mutsuzawa contributes one member to the Chiba Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Chiba 11th district
Chiba 11th district (千葉県第11区, ''Chiba-ken dai-jūikku'' or simply 千葉11区, ''Chiba-jūikku'') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives in the national Diet of Japan. It is located in the eastern portion of Chi ...
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
Mutsuzawa's agricultural areas produce rice and milk. The town is also located within the Minami Kantō gas field, and extraction of natural gas
Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...
contributes to the local economy.
Education
Mutsuzawa has one public elementary school and one public middle school operated by the town government. The town does not have a public high school.
Transportation
Railway
Mutsuzawa does not have any passenger rail service.
Highway
The town is not on any national highway.
*Chiba Prefectural Road 148
*Chiba Prefectural Road 150
*Chiba Prefectural Road 151
References
External links
Official Website
{{Authority control
Towns in Chiba Prefecture
Mutsuzawa