260px, Benibana Furusatokan Museum 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

Saitama Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 km2 (1,466 sq mi). Saitama Prefecture borders Tochigi Prefecture ...

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 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 75,218 in 33,119 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 3000 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Okegawa is located in east-central Saitama Prefecture, most of the city area is on the Omiya plateau. The highest point is 25 meters above sea level in the northwest. The

Arakawa River or Ara River may refer to: * Arakawa River (Kanto) or Ara River may refer to: * Arakawa River (Kanto), which flows from Saitama Prefecture and through Tokyo to Tokyo Bay * Arakawa River (Uetsu), which flows from Yamagata Prefecture and throu ...

flows through the city. The Motoara River flows on the east side of the city, on the border with Kuki.

Surrounding municipalities

Ageo 260px, Ageo Maruyama Park is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 229,517 in 103,709 households and a population density of 5000 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Ageo i ...

* Kitamoto *

Kōnosu is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 117,995 in 50,801 households and a population density of 1700 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Located in east-central Saitama ...

Hasuda is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 61,540 in 27,461 households and a population density of 2300 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Located in east-central Saitama Pr ...

* Kuki * Ina * Kawajima

Climate

Okegawa 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 Okegawa is 14.7 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1367 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.7 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.7 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Okegawa population statistics
/ref> the population of Okegawa has recently plateaued after a long period of growth.

History

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 ...

Okegawa-shuku was the sixth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto during the Edo period. It was located in the present-day city of Okegawa, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. History The name "Okegawa" appears as the name of ...

was the sixth of the sixty-nine stations of the

Nakasendō The , also called the ,Richard Lane, ''Images from the Floating World'' (1978) Chartwell, Secaucus ; pg. 285 was one of the five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto in Japan. There were 6 ...

, with the surrounding area noted for its production of

safflower Safflower (''Carthamus tinctorius'') is a highly branched, herbaceous, thistle-like annual plant in the family Asteraceae. It is commercially cultivated for vegetable oil extracted from the seeds and was used by the early Spanish colonies along ...

. The town of Okegawa was established within Iruma District with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. On January 1, 1955, Okegawa annexed the neighboring village of Kano, followed by the village of Kawataya on March 10, 1955. Okegawa was elevated to city status on November 3, 1970.

Government

Okegawa 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 council of 19 members. Okegawa contributes one member to the Saitama Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of

Saitama 6th district , the House of Representatives of Japan is elected from a combination of multi-member districts and single-member districts, a method called Parallel voting. Currently, 176 members are elected from 11 multi-member districts (called proportional r ...

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

Okegawa was traditionally known as a center for

production. The city now has a mixed economy, with a significant portion of its population commuting to Tokyo or Saitama city for work.

Education

* Okegawa has seven public elementary schools and four public middle schools operated by the city government, and two public high schools operated by the Saitama Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

–

Takasaki Line The Takasaki Line ( ja, 高崎線, ) is a Japanese railway line which connects Ōmiya Station in Saitama, Saitama Prefecture and Takasaki Station in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture. It is owned and operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) ...

Highway

* – Okegawa-Kita Interchange, Okegawa-Kano Interchange *

Local attractions

* Honda Airport *Kawataya Kofun cluster *Okegawa Gion Festival

Noted people from Okegawa

Masahiro Motoki Masahiro Motoki (本木雅弘 ''Motoki Masahiro'', born December 21, 1965) is a Japanese actor. He portrayed protagonist Daigo Kobayashi in '' Departures'', which won the 81st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. His performance earned ...

, actor *

Michiyo Tsujimura was a Japanese agricultural scientist and biochemist whose research focused on the components of green tea. She was the first woman in Japan to receive a doctoral degree in agriculture. Early life Tsujimura was born in 1888 in what is now Ok ...

, agricultural chemist

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Saitama Prefecture Okegawa, Saitama