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

Ibaraki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, 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 n ...

. , 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 usi ...

of 76,218 in 32,714 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 RosenberPopu ...

of 970 persons per km². The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 29.4%. The total area of the city is .

Geography

Ryūgasaki is located in southern Ibaraki Prefecture, in the low-lying flatlands south of Lake Kasumigaura. The Kokai River runs through the western part of the city, and the basin is dotted with tributaries and lakes. Lake Ushiku, despite its name, is entirely within the city of Ryūgasaki.

Surrounding municipalities

Ibaraki Prefecture * Ushiku *

Tsukuba is a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 244,528 in 108,669 households and a population density of 862 persons per km². The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 20.3%. The total ar ...

Inashiki is a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 39,127 in 14,733 households and a population density of 191 persons per km². The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 37.1%. The total area o ...

* Toride * Tsukubamirai *

Kawachi Kawachi ( or ) may refer to: Places * Kawachi Province, one of the old provinces of Japan * Kawachi, Kumamoto, a former town in Kumamoto Prefecture * Kawachi, Osaka, a former city in Osaka Prefecture * Kawachi, Ibaraki, a town in Ibaraki Prefect ...

* Tone

Climate

Ryūgasaki 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 freez ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light snowfall. The average annual temperature in Ryūgasaki is . The average annual rainfall is with October as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Ryūgasaki has recently plateaued after several decades of growth.

History

The name "Ryūgasaki" can be traced back to 1182 when the samurai clan ruling the territory adopted "Ryūgasaki" as their family name. The northern half of the city was an exclave of

Sendai Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Sendai Domain was based at Aoba Castle in Mutsu Province, in the modern city of Sendai, located in the Tōhoku region of the i ...

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 character ...

, the region joined in 1869 before merging with

in 1875. The southern portion of the city was part of Kitasōma District in

Shimōsa Province was a province of Japan in the area modern Chiba Prefecture, and Ibaraki Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Shimōsa''" in . It lies to the north of the Bōsō Peninsula (房総半島), whose name takes its first ''kanji'' from ...

, as the boundary between Shimōsa and

Hitachi Province was an old province of Japan in the area of Ibaraki Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Hitachi fudoki''" in . It was sometimes called . Hitachi Province bordered on Shimōsa (Lower Fusa), Shimotsuke, and Mutsu ( Iwase -17 ...

had been established in 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 c ...

as the

Tone River The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It is in length (the second longest in Japan after the Shinano) and has a drainage area of (the largest in Japan). It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō (); ''Bandō'' is an obsolete alias of the Kantō ...

. However, by the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, the course of the river had shifted, leaving the area of present-day southern Ryūgasaki on the northern bank of the river. This area was transferred to Ibaraki Prefecture in 1875 The town of Ryūgasaki was created with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. The city was formed on March 20, 1954, when the aforementioned town merged with: , , , , and . In February 1955, the city grew to its present size when a proportion of merged with the city. In 1974, the city adopted the

Swan Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Som ...

, the

Pinus A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden ...

, and

Platycodon grandiflorus ''Platycodon grandiflorus'' (from Ancient Greek "wide" and "bell") is a species of herbaceous flowering perennial plant of the family Campanulaceae, and the only member of the genus ''Platycodon''. It is native to East Asia ( China, Korea, Ja ...

as its city symbols for bird, tree and flower respectively.

Government

Ryūgasaki 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 multi ...

city council of 22 members. Ryūgasaki, together with neighboring Tone, contributes two members to the Ibaraki Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of

Ibaraki 3rd 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 paral ...

. The current mayor is Kazuo Nakayama, who assumed the position on January 18, 2010. Nakayama is the seventeenth and eighteenth mayor of Ryūgasaki having been re-elected to hold the position again from January 18, 2014.

Economy

New Central Airlines, a

commuter airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...

, is headquartered in the city, on the grounds of Ryūgasaki Airfield, although no commercial flights are scheduled from the city.路線外運行
" New Central Airlines. Retrieved on February 21, 2010. "お問い合わせは〒３０１－０８０６　茨城県竜ヶ崎市半田町３１７７竜ヶ崎飛行場内"

Education

Ryutsu Keizai University is a Japanese private university in Ryūgasaki, Ibaraki. It was founded in 1965. The school has secondary campuses in Matsudo, Chiba and also in Kashiwa, Chiba. See also * Ryutsu Keizai University F.C., affiliated football club. *List of univer ...

* Ryūgasaki has 11 public elementary schools and six public middle schools operated by the city government. There are one public middle school and three public high schools operated by the Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education as well as one private high school.

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 ar ...

–

Jōban Line The Jōban Line ( ja, 常磐線, ) is a railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The line officially begins at Nippori Station in Arakawa, Tokyo before the line officially ends at Iwanuma Station in Iwanuma, ...

Kantō Railway is a private railway company, which operates two lines in Ibaraki Prefecture in Japan. The company is a subsidiary of Keisei Electric Railway and other companies. Additionally, the company has a bus department in Ibaraki Prefecture and Chiba P ...

- Ryūgasaki Line * - -

Highway

Airport

* Ryūgasaki Airfield – however, no scheduled commercial services

Local attractions

Noted people from Ryūgasaki

Isao Okano is a retired judoka who competed in the middleweight (−80 kg) division in the 1964 Summer Olympics.

, judoka, Olympic gold medalist * Nana Suzuki, model *

Kisenosato Yutaka is a Japanese former professional sumo wrestler from Ibaraki. He made his professional debut in 2002, and reached the top ''makuuchi'' division in 2004 at the age of just 18. After many years in the junior ''san'yaku'' ranks, he reached the sec ...

, the 72nd ''

yokozuna , or , is the top division of the six divisions of professional sumo. Its size is fixed at 42 wrestlers (''rikishi''), ordered into five ranks according to their ability as defined by their performance in previous tournaments. This is the on ...

'' in sumo wrestling *

Akiyo Noguchi is a Japanese professional rock climber, sport climber and boulderer. She participates in both bouldering and lead climbing competitions. She is known for winning the IFSC Climbing World Cup in Bouldering four times. In her home country, she ...

, retired professional rock climber, olympic bronze medalist, seven-time IFSC Climbing World Cup champion

References

External links

*
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryugasaki, Ibaraki Cities in Ibaraki Prefecture Ryūgasaki, Ibaraki