Magome-juku on the Nakasendō 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 def ...

located in

Gifu is a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. During the Sengoku ...

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 city had an estimated population of 78,930, and a population density of 120 persons per km² in 30,788 households The total area of the city was .

Geography

Nakatsugawa is in the

Tōnō is the southeastern portion of Gifu Prefecture in the Chūbu region of Japan. The Tōnō region received its name as a combination of the ''kanji'' for "east" (東) and "Mino" (美濃). The borders of this region are not officially set, but it ge ...

region of far eastern Gifu Prefecture, bordering on Nagano Prefecture.

Mount Ena is a mountain peak of the Kiso Mountains range in the Chūbu region of Japan. Geography Mount Ena is in elevation. It is located on the border between Nakatsugawa in Gifu Prefecture and Achi in Nagano Prefecture. The mountain is on the list ...

, the southernmost of the Kiso Mountains on the border between Nakatsugawa, Aichi and Nagano Prefecture is the highest point in the city, with an elevation of . The

Kiso River The is a river in the Chubu region of Japan roughly long, flowing through the prefectures of Nagano, Gifu, Aichi, and Mie before emptying into Ise Bay a short distance away from the city of Nagoya.Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric ''et al.'' (2005) ...

and the

Agi River The is a river in Japan which flows through Gifu Prefecture. It is part of the Kiso River system. Geography The river originates from Mount Yaki on the border of Nakatsugawa and Ena and flows west. It flows through the Akigawa Dam and the Ōi ...

flow through the city.

Climate

The city has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and mild winters ( Köppen climate classification ''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Nakatsugawa is . The average annual rainfall is with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Neighbouring municipalities

Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, F ...

** Ena ** Gero ** Shirakawa ** Higashishirakawa *

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...

** Kiso ** Ōtaki **

Ōkuwa is a Villages of Japan, village located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the village had an estimated population of 3,693 in 1558 households, and a population density of 16 persons per km². The total area of the village is . Geography Ōkuwa is ...

** Achi ** Hiraya

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Nakatsugawa population statistics
/ref> the population of Nakatsugawa peaked around the year 2000 and has declined since.

History

The area around Nakatsugawa was part of traditional Mino Province. During the Edo period, much of the area was under the control of

Owari Domain The was a feudal domain of Japan in the Edo period. Located in what is now the western part of Aichi Prefecture, it encompassed parts of Owari, Mino, and Shinano provinces. Its headquarters were at Nagoya Castle. At its peak, it was rated at ...

, Naegi Domain and Iwamura Domain, or was '' tenryō'' under direction control of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Nakatsugawa-juku was the forty-fifth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It is located in former Mino Province in what is now part of the city of Nakatsugawa, Gifu Prefecture, Japan.69 Stations of the Nakasendō along the Nakasendō highway connecting

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

with Kyoto. In the post- Meiji restoration cadastral reforms, Ena District in Gifu prefecture was created, and Nakatsugawa was proclaimed a town per the April 1, 1897 establishment of the modern municipalities system. Nakatsugawa merged with the town of Naegi in 1951 and was elevated to city status on April 1, 1952. Nakatsugawa annexed the village of Nakamoto in 1954, Ochiai in 1956, and Agi in 1957. On February 13, 2005, the towns of Tsukechi, Fukuoka and Sakashita and the villages of Hirukawa, Kashimo and Kawaue (all from the former Ena District), and the village of Yamaguchi (from Kiso District,

) were merged into Nakatsugawa.

Government

Nakatsugawa has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 24 members.

Education

Colleges and universities

Chukyo Gakuin University is a private university at Nakatsugawa, Gifu, Japan. The school was founded as a junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training ...

Nagoya University , abbreviated to or NU, is a Japanese national research university located in Chikusa-ku, Nagoya. It was the seventh Imperial University in Japan, one of the first five Designated National University and selected as a Top Type university of T ...

- Nakatsugawa campus

Primary and secondary education

Nakatsugawa has 19 public elementary schools and 12 public middle schools operated by the city government. The city has four public high schools operated by the Gifu Prefectural Board of Education, and one public high school operated by the city government.

Transportation

Railway

JR Central is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and in Japanese as JR Tōkai ( ja, JR東海, links=no). ''Tōkai'' is a reference to the geographical ...

Chūō Main Line The , commonly called the Chūō Line, is one of the major trunk railway lines in Japan. It connects Tokyo and Nagoya, although it is the slowest direct railway connection between the two cities; the coastal Tōkaidō Main Line is slightly faste ...

** - - - * Akechi Railway Logo

Akechi Railway (Akechi Line) ** -

Highway

Chūō Expressway * * * *

Sister city relations

* - Registro, São Paulo, Brazil, since 1980

Domestic

* -

Ōiso 260px, Ōiso Long Beach resort is a town located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 31,101 and a population density of 1800 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Ōiso is located on t ...

, Kanagawa, since 1973 * - Komoro, Nagano, since 1973

Local attractions

*''Kurikinton'' - Nakatsugawa is known for its abundant chestnut harvest and the chestnut delicacy known as ''kurikinton'' ( 栗きんとん). ''Kurikinton'' is produced by boiling and mashing the chestnuts, then mixing them with sugar and reforming into a chestnut shape. It is widely available during the autumn months. Many families make their own, while purchased ''kurikinton'' is popular as well for home consumption and as gifts. * Takamine Co., a Japanese guitar manufacturer known for its steel-string acoustic guitars is headquartered in Nakatsugawa. *

Misaka Pass is a mountain pass through the southern end of the Kiso Mountains, connecting the city of Nakatsugawa, Gifu with the village of Achi, Nagano. The highest point on the pass is . The pass is accessible by car via a forestry road from the Gifu side; ...

, a National Historic Site

Notable people from Nakatsugawa

* Seison Maeda, ''Nihonga'' painter * Junji Ito, horror mangaka

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Cities in Gifu Prefecture