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

Ishikawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu island. Ishikawa Prefecture has a population of 1,140,573 (31 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,186 km2 (1,616 sq mi). Ishikawa Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to ...

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 49,660 people in 21,809 households. The total area of the city was . Nanao is the fifth largest city by population in Ishikawa, behind

Kanazawa is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Overview Cityscape File:もてな ...

, Hakusan, Komatsu, and Kaga.

Geography

Nanao occupies the southeastern coast of

Noto Peninsula The Noto Peninsula (能登半島, ''Noto-hantō'') is a peninsula that projects north into the Sea of Japan from the coast of Ishikawa Prefecture in central Honshū, the main island of Japan. The main industries of the peninsula are agricultur ...

and is bordered by the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

on the east and north, and

Toyama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Toyama Prefecture has a population of 1,044,588 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,247.61 km2 (1,640.01 sq mi). Toyama Prefecture borders Ishikawa Prefecture to the ...

to the south. Parts of the city are within the borders of the

Noto Hantō Quasi-National Park is a quasi-national park covering a portion of Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture and Toyama Prefecture in Japan. It is rated a protected landscape (category V) according to the IUCN. in the northern half of Ishikawa Prefecture, extends ab ...

. The name "Nanao" (七尾) literally means "Seven Tails" and is said to be named for the seven mountain ridges (or "tails") surrounding Nanao that are visible when viewed from Joyama (七尾城山), site of the city's historical castle ruins. These ridges are called ''Kikuo'' (菊尾, ''"Chrysanthemum Tail"''), ''Kameo'' (亀尾, ''"Turtle Tail"''), ''Matsuo'' (松尾, ''"Pine Tail"''), ''Torano'o'' (虎尾, ''"Tiger Tail"''), ''Takeo'' (竹尾, ''"Bamboo Tail"''), ''Umeo'' (梅尾, ''"Plum Tail"''), and ''Tatsuo'' (龍尾, "Dragon Tail").

Neighbouring municipalities

*Ishikawa Prefecture ** Nakanoto ** Shika ** Anamizu *Toyama Prefecture ** Himi

Climate

Nanao has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by mild summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Nanao is 13.7 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2392 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.0 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.9 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Nanao has declined over the past 40 years.

History

The area around Nanao was part of ancient

Noto Province was a province of Japan in the area that is today the northern part of Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan, including the Noto Peninsula (''Noto-hantō'') which is surrounded by the Sea of Japan. Noto bordered on Etchū and Kaga provinces to the so ...

and contained the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the cap ...

provincial capital A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the g ...

and

provincial temple were Buddhist temples established in each of the provinces of Japan by Emperor Shōmu during the Nara period (710 – 794). History Shōmu (701 – 756?) decreed both a ''kokubun-ji'' for monks and a for nuns to be established in each ...

. During the

Sengoku Period The was a period in History of Japan, 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 Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

(1467–1568),

Nanao Castle was a Muromachi period ''yamajiro''-style Japanese castle located in what is now the city of Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 1934. Background Nanao Cas ...

was a major stronghold of the

Hatakeyama clan The was a Japanese samurai clan. Originally a branch of the Taira clan and descended from Taira no Takamochi, they fell victim to political intrigue in 1205, when Hatakeyama Shigeyasu, first, and his father Shigetada later were killed in battle ...

, and was contested by the

Uesugi clan The is a Japanese samurai clan which was at its peak one of the most powerful during the Muromachi and Sengoku periods (14th to 17th centuries). Appert, Georges. (1888) ''Ancien Japon,'' p. 79./ref> At its height, the clan had three main branch ...

and

Maeda clan was a Japanese samurai clan who occupied most of the Hokuriku region of central Honshū from the end of the Sengoku period through the Meiji restoration of 1868. The Maeda claimed descent from the Sugawara clan of Sugawara no Kiyotomo and Suga ...

. The area became part

Kaga Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1583 to 1871.

under 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 ...

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

, with the exception of the Tsuruhama area, which was retained by the shogunate directly as ''

tenryō The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

'' territory. Following the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, the area was organised into

Kashima District, Ishikawa is a district located in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. As of April 1, 2005 population data, the district has an estimated population of 18,952 and a density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit ...

. The town of Nanao was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. It was raised to city status on July 20, 1939. On October 1, 2004, Nanao expanded by annexing the neighbouring municipalities of Nakajima,

Notojima is a volcanic island in the Nanao Bay () portion of the Sea of Japan, less than 500 meters off the coast of the Ishikawa prefecture in Japan. Notojima Island is administered as part of Nanao city. The two bridges connecting Notojima to the ...

and Tatsuruhama (all from Kashima District). On March 25, 2007, the

2007 Noto earthquake The occurred on March 25, 2007, in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Overview At 9:41:58 a.m. on March 25, 2007, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck the Hokuriku region of Japan, near the Noto Peninsula. The earthquake shook the city of Wajima, ...

caused some property damage in Nanao, but no fatalities.

Government

Nanao 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 ...

city legislature of 18 members.

Economy

Nanao is a regional commercial centre and a seaport on the

. Manufacturing, especially of bricks and cement, lumber processing, tourism, and agriculture are all major contributors of the local economy.

Education

Nanao has 13 public elementary schools and four middle schools operated by the city government, and four public high school operated by the Ishikawa Prefectural Board of Education. There is also one private high school. The prefecture also operates one special education school.

Transportation

Railway

West Japan Railway Company , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...

Nanao Line The is a railway line in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) and the Noto Railway. It runs between Tsubata Station in Tsubata and Anamizu Station in Anamizu. JR West operates the section between Tsu ...

* - -

Noto Railway is a Japanese railway company on the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture. It runs the Nanao Line with eight stops between Nanao and Anamizu, a distance of . There are 34 trains plus sightseeing trains on the line. It previously operated the ...

* - - - - -

Highway

: : : :

Seaports

*Port of Nanao

Local attractions

Seihakusai Matsuri Dekayama from Nanao City

Ishikawa Nanao Art Museum opened in 1995 in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. The main art gallery on the Noto Peninsula, the collection includes works by Hasegawa Tōhaku. See also * Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art , also known as IPMA, is the main art gallery ...

*Notojima Glass Art Museum *

Wakura Onsen is a hot spring (''onsen'') resort on the edge of Nanao Bay at the base of the Noto Peninsula in Nanao, Ishikawa, Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan and one of several well-known, high-end ''onsen'' resorts in Japan. History Wakura Onsen has ex ...

*Susoezoana Kofun *

site *Noto Kokubun-ji site *

Yamanotera One of the temples of the Yamanotera is the collective name for a group of temples located on a hill in Nanao, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. In 1581, Maeda Toshiie, the Sengoku period ruler of Noto Province ordered the construction of 29 Buddhi ...

In popular culture

The manga series Kimi wa Hōkago Insomnia and its live-action and anime adaptations take place in Nanao.

Notable people from Nanao

Min Ayahana is a Japanese manga artist, born in Nanao in Ishikawa, Japan. She debuted with the manga ''Warera High School Hero'', published in the 1991 Autumn issue of Ribon Bikkuri Daizoukan. Her best-known work is ''Akazukin Chacha is a Japan ...

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

artist *

Hasegawa Tōhaku was a Japanese painter and founder of the Hasegawa school. He is considered one of the great painters of the Azuchi–Momoyama period (1573-1603), and he is best known for his folding screens, such as ''Pine Trees'' and ''Pine Tree and Flow ...

, ancient

Japanese painter This is a list of Japanese artists. This list is intended to encompass Japanese who are primarily fine artists. For information on those who work primarily in film, television, advertising, manga, anime, video games, or performance arts, please se ...

Wajima Hiroshi was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Nanao, Ishikawa. He was the sport's 54th ''yokozuna'' and remains the only wrestler with a collegiate background to reach its highest rank. Entering professional sumo in 1970, he won a total of 14 ...

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by thr ...

wrestler *

Kenta Matsudaira is a Japanese table tennis player. Winner of the 2006 World Junior Championships in singles, he was the world number one junior player in 2008. He is world-renowned for his tomahawk serve, which he has popularized throughout his career. The se ...

, Professional

Table Tennis Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...

player

Sister city relations

Jinzhou Jinzhou (, ), formerly Chinchow, is a coastal prefecture-level city in central-west Liaoning province, China. It is a geographically strategic city located in the Liaoxi Corridor, which connects most of the land transports between North Chin ...

Dalian Dalian () is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China. Located on the ...

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...

, China *

Gimcheon Gimcheon (; , trans., 'gold spring city') is a city in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. It is situated on the major land transportation routes between Seoul and Busan, namely the Gyeongbu Expressway and Gyeongbu Line railway. In ancient ...

North Gyeongsang North Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상북도, translit=Gyeongsangbuk-do, ) is a province in eastern South Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Gyeongsang province, and remained a province of Korea until the ...

, South Korea *

Bratsk Bratsk ( rus, Братск, p=bratsk) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Angara River near the vast Bratsk Reservoir. Etymology The name sounds like the Russian word for "brother" ("", '' ...

Irkutsk Oblast Irkutsk Oblast (russian: Ирку́тская о́бласть, Irkutskaya oblast; bua, Эрхүү можо, Erkhüü mojo) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara, Lena, and Nizh ...

, Russia *

Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under both ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States * Morgantown,

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, United States

References

External links

* *
A list of festivals and events in Nanao
{{Authority control Cities in Ishikawa Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan