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,

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 89,020 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 190 persons per km² in 35,366 households. The total area of the city was .

Geography

Seki is located in central Gifu Prefecture at the northern tip of the

Nōbi Plain The is a large plain in Japan that stretches from the Mino area of southwest Gifu Prefecture to the Owari area of northwest Aichi Prefecture, covering an area of approximately .

, approximately 40 kilometers north of

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

. Due to various municipal mergers, the city has a "U" shape, almost enclosing the city of

Mino Mino may refer to: Places in Japan * Mino, Gifu, a city in Gifu Prefecture * Mino, Kagawa, a former town in Kagawa Prefecture * Mino, Tokushima, a town in Tokushima Prefecture * Mino, an alternate spelling of Minoh, a city in Osaka Prefecture * Mi ...

. Also as a result of the merger, the population center of population in Japan now is located in Sekiuchi (former Mutsumi-cho area). Mount Takinami is the highest point in the city, with an elevation of . The

Nagara River The has its source in the city of Gujō, Gifu Prefecture, and its mouth in the city of Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Along with the Kiso River and Ibi River, the Nagara River is one of the Kiso Three Rivers of the Nōbi Plain. Previously, ...

and Itadori River flow through the city.

Climate

The city has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and mild winters (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Seki is 15.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2090 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 27.8 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.4 °C.

Neighbouring municipalities

*Gifu Prefecture ** Gifu **

** Minokamo **

Motosu Usuzumizakura is a city located in Gifu, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 34,453 in 12, 464 households, and a population density of 390 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Geography Motosu is located in western Gi ...

Kakamigahara is a city located in southern Gifu Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 148,225, and a population density of 1700 persons per km2, in 59,736 households. The total area of the city was . Situated in the northern part o ...

Gujo Gujo is a town located in Sindh, Pakistan. The most important archaeological sites of Amri Culture Amri–Nal culture is attributed to Amri archaeological sites in Sindh and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan. It flourished in the 4th and 3rd m ...

** Yamagata ** Tomika ** Sakahogi ** Hichisō **

Gero Gero I ( – 20 May 965), sometimes called the Great ( la, magnus),Thompson, 486. Also se was a German nobleman who ruled an initially modest march centred on Merseburg in the south of the present German state of Saxony-Anhalt, which he expande ...

Fukui Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Fukui Prefecture has a population of 778,943 (1 June 2017) and has a geographic area of 4,190 km2 (1,617 sq mi). Fukui Prefecture borders Ishikawa Prefecture to the north, Gi ...

Ōno ONO, Ono or Ōno may refer to: Places Fiji * Ono Island (Fiji) Israel * Kiryat Ono * Ono, Benjamin, ancient site Italy * Ono San Pietro Ivory Coast * Ono, Ivory Coast, a village in Comoé District Japan * Ōno Castle, Fukuoka * ...

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Seki peaked around the year 2000 and has declined since.

History

The area around Seki was part of traditional

Mino Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today southern Gifu Prefecture. Mino was bordered by Ōmi to the west, Echizen and Hida to the north, and Shinano to the east, and Ise, Mikawa, and Owari to the south. Its abbreviat ...

. In the post-

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 ...

cadastral reforms, Mugi District in Gifu prefecture was created, and the town of Seki was established on July 1, 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. Seki was elevated to city status on October 15, 1950. On February 7, 2005, the towns of Mugegawa and

Mugi In cryptography, MUGI is a pseudorandom number generator (PRNG) designed for use as a stream cipher. It was among the cryptographic techniques recommended for Japanese government use by CRYPTREC in 2003, however, has been dropped to "candidate" ...

, and the villages of Horado, Itadori and Kaminoho (all from Mugi District) were merged into Seki.).

Government

Seki 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 23 members.

Economy

Seki is today considered the home of modern Japanese kitchen cutlery, where state-of-the-art manufacturing and technology has updated ancient forging skills to produce a world-class series of stainless and laminated steel kitchen knives famed throughout the world. The major cutlery making companies are based in Seki, and they produce the highest quality kitchen knives in the traditional Japanese style and the western style, like the ''gyuto'' and the ''

santoku The Santoku bōchō (Japanese: 三徳包丁; "three virtues" or "three uses") or Bunka bōchō (文化包丁) is a general-purpose kitchen knife originating in Japan. Its blade is typically between 13 and 20 cm (5 and 8 in) long, and has a flat ...

''. Knives and swords are so much a part of the city that it is home of the ''Seki Cutlery Association'', the ''Seki Swordsmith Museum'', the ''Seki Outdoor Knife Show'', the ''October Cutlery Festival'', and the ''Cutlery Hall'' where tourists can purchase knives.

Education

Universities and colleges

* Chubu Gakuin University *Chubu Gakuin College * Gifu University of Medical Science

Primary and secondary education

Seki has 19 public elementary schools and nine public middle schools operated by the city government. The city has two public high schools operated by the Gifu Prefectural Board of Education, and one by the city government.

Transportation

Railway

Nagaragawa Railway Etsumi-Nan Line The is a railway line in Gifu Prefecture, Japan, operated by the third-sector operator . The line connects Mino-Ōta Station in Minokamo with Hokunō Station in Gujō. It is the only railway line operated by the Nagaragawa Railway. The li ...

** - - - - -

Highway

Tōkai-Hokuriku Expressway The is a national expressway in the Chūbu region on the island of Honshū in Japan. It is managed by Central Nippon Expressway Company. The route is signed E41 under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's "2016 Proposal f ...

Tōkai-Kanjō Expressway * * * *

Sister city relations

* -

Huangshi Huangshi (), Postal Map Romanization, alternatively romanized as Hwangshih, is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Hubei province, People's Republic of China. Its population was 2,469,079 inhabitants at the 2020 census; 1,567,108 of whom liv ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

, China, friendship city since 1997 * -

Mogi das Cruzes Mogi das Cruzes ( or ) is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, located within the metropolitan region of the state capital of the city of São Paulo. The population is 450,785 (2020 est.) in an area of 713 km2. It is located 40&n ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, Brazil, since 1999

Local attractions

* Nemichi Shire is a

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...

located in Seki.

Notable people from Seki

* Kinju (金重) - a famous swordsmith. He is also known as Kaneshige using the Japanese pronunciation of his name. He and Kaneuji are founders of the

style. Considered to be one of the Juttetsu or "Ten Famous Students" or "10 Great Disciples of

Masamune , was a medieval Japanese blacksmith widely acclaimed as Japan's greatest swordsmith. He created swords and daggers, known in Japanese as ''tachi'' and ''tantō'', in the ''Sōshū'' school. However, many of his forged ''tachi'' were made into ...

". Moving to Mino Province (today part of Gifu Prefecture) around the time of Ryakuo (1338–1342) creating the Seki tradition. *

Enkū (1632–1695) was a Japanese Buddhist monk, poet and sculptor during the early Edo period. He was born in Mino Province (present-day Gifu Prefecture) and is famous for carving some 120,000 wooden statues of the Buddha and other Buddhist icons, ...

(円空) (1632–1695) was a Buddhist monk, poet and

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

during the early

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 ...

. He was born in

, traveled extensively and died in Seki and is celebrated at the

Enkū Museum is a museum dedicated to Japanese monk and sculptor Enkū in the city of Seki, Gifu, Seki, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Enkū was born in Mino Province, present-day Gifu Prefecture, in 1632 and died in Seki in 1695. See also * Japanese sculpture R ...

References

External links

* *
Seki City official website
{{Authority control Cities in Gifu Prefecture