270px, Shōbara City Hall 270px, Bihoku-kyuryo Park 270px, Shobara city center area aerial photograph 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 ...

Hiroshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 8,479 km² (3,274 sq mi). Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama ...

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 32,343 in 14984 households and a population density of 26 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Shōbara is located in the Chugoku Mountains in the northeast corner of Hiroshima Prefecture.

Neighboring municipalities

* Miyoshi *

Fuchū is the name of several places in Japan. The name means capital of a province (Kokufu). According to the provisions of the 8th-century Ritsuryō system, there was a ''fuchū'' in every administrative province. The placename Fuchū remains in many ...

* Jinsekikōgen Tottori Prefecture * Nichinan

Shimane Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamaguc ...

Unnan is a city located in Shimane Prefecture, Japan. The city belonged to Ohara District, which dissolved in 2004 after Unnan was established. The modern city of Unnan was established on November 1, 2004, from the merger of the towns of Daitō, ...

Okuizumo is a List of towns in Japan, town located in Nita District, Shimane, Nita District, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. It was formed on March 31, 2005 from the merger of the towns of Nita, Shimane, Nita and Yokota, Shimane, Yokota. As of March 1, 2017, ...

Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefectur ...

Niimi is a city located in northwestern Okayama Prefecture, Japan. As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimated population of 30,583 (14,628 males, 15,955 females), with 12,857 households and a population density of 39 persons per km2. The total a ...

Takahashi is the third most common Japanese surname. Less common variants include , , , , , , , and . Notable people with the surname include: * Aaron Takahashi, American actor * , Japanese singer and actress * , Japanese kickboxer * , Japanese classica ...

Climate

Shōbara 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 climate classification ''Cfa'') characterized by cool to mild winters and hot, humid summers. The average annual temperature in Shōbara 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 . The highest temperature ever recorded in Shōbara was on 5 August 2021; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 26 February 1991.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Shōbara in 2020 is 33,633 people. Shōbara has been conducting censuses since 1920.

History

The Shōbara area is part of ancient

Bingo Province was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of western Honshū, comprising what is today the eastern part of Hiroshima Prefecture. It was sometimes grouped together with Bizen and Bitchu Provinces as . The 備 ''bi'' in the names of these p ...

. During the Edo Period, it was part of the holdings of Hiroshima Domain. Following the Meiji restoration, the village of Shōbara was established within Mikami District, Hiroshima with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Mikami District became part of

Hiba District, Hiroshima was a district located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the district had an estimated population of 21,448 and a density of 23.00 persons per km2. The total area was 932.44 km2. Former towns and villages * Hiwa * Kuchiwa * Sa ...

on October 1, 1898 at which time Shōbara was raised to town status. On March 31, 1954 Shōbara merged with the villages of Takamura, Honda, Shikinobu, Yamauchi-Higashi, Yamauchi-Nishi, and Yamauchi-Kita and was raised to city status. On March 31, 2005, the towns of Hiwa, Kuchiwa, Saijō, Takano, and Tōjō (all from Hiba District), and the town of Sōryō (from Kōnu District) were merged into Shōbara. Hiba District and Kōnu District were both dissolved as a result of this merger.

Government

Shōbara has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 20 members. Shōbara contributes one member to the Hiroshima Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Hiroshima 5th district 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

The main economic activities in Shōbara are agriculture, mining (

kaolinite Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedral ...

, limestone) and hydroelectric power generation.

Education

Shōbara has 18 public elementary schools, and seven public junior high schools operated by the city government, and five public high school operated by the Hiroshima Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the disabled and one agricultural college. The Prefectural University of Hiroshima has a campus in Shōbara.

Transportation

Railway

JR West (JR West) - Geibi Line * - - - - - - - - - - - - - JR logo (west)

JR West (JR West) - Kisuki Line * -

Highways

Chūgoku Expressway The (part of Asian Highway Network ) is an expressway in Japan, which extends from Suita, Osaka to Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi. It connects Kansai and Chūgoku regions in western Honshu, Japan's main island. Other major cities along the expressway ...

Matsue Expressway The is a national expressway in the Chūgoku region of Japan. It is owned and operated by West Nippon Expressway Company. Overview The expressway is officially referred to as the Chūgoku-Ōdan Expressway Onomichi Matsue Route. The route conne ...

* * * *

Sister city relations

- Mianyang, Sichuan, China since September 29, 1990.

Local attractions

* Taishaku Valley

Noted people from Shōbara

* Shizuka Kamei, politician *

Ikuo Kamei 元参院議員の亀井郁夫さん死去　85� ...

, politician * Kōji Seo, manga artist *

Shinsuke Sato is a Japanese filmmaker, screenwriter and video game designer. He has directed several live-action film adaptations of manga and anime, including ''The Princess Blade'' (2001), ''Gantz'' (2011), ''I Am a Hero'' (2015), ''Bleach'' (2018), ''Inuya ...

, director, screenwriter

References

External links

* Cities in Hiroshima Prefecture Shōbara, Hiroshima {{Hiroshima-geo-stub