is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

located in Kamo District,

Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, F ...

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 town 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 8,288 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 36 persons per km², in 3159 households. The total area of the town was .

Geography

Shirakawa is in the lower reaches of the Japanese Alps in southern Gifu Prefecture. It lies nestled in valleys formed by several rivers, which combine to form the Shirakawa river at one end of the town. The rivers, though substantially developed and altered, remain a source of '' Ayu'', a sweet river fish. The low mountains surrounding the town are heavily forested, primarily with evergreen trees.

Japanese macaque The Japanese macaque (''Macaca fuscata''), also known as the snow monkey, is a terrestrial Old World monkey species that is native to Japan. Colloquially, they are referred to as "snow monkeys" because some live in areas where snow covers the gr ...

s, bears, and wild boar are known to live in the local forests. The town 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 Shirakawa is 11.4 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2238 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.5 °C, and lowest in January, at around -0.9 °C.

Neighbouring municipalities

*Gifu Prefecture **

Nakatsugawa Magome-juku on the Nakasendō is a city located in Gifu, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 78,930, and a population density of 120 persons per km2 in 30,788 households The total area of the city was . Geography Nakatsugawa is in ...

Ena Ena or ENA may refer to: Education * École nationale d'administration, French Grande école, for civil service * Education Networks of America, Internet service provider Fictional characters * Ena Sharples, from the British soap opera ''Coron ...

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 ...

** Hichisō **

Yaotsu is a List of towns in Japan, town located in Kamo District, Gifu, Kamo District, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 11,036 and a population density of 886 persons per km2, in 4311 households. The total area of the to ...

** Higashishirakawa

Climate

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

''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Nakatsugawa 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 .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Shirakawa population statistics
/ref> the population of Shirakawa has declined steadily over the past 50 years. Shirakawa Town Hall 2021-12 ac

History

The area around Shirakawa 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 ...

. 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 ...

, it was largely controlled by Owari Domain under the

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 ...

. During 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, the area was organised into

Mugi District, Gifu was a district located in Gifu, Japan. The district was dissolved after it was merged into the nearby city of Seki on February 7, 2005. As of 2003, the district had an estimated population of 17,069 and a population density Population densit ...

. The village of Sakanohigashi was formed on April 1, 1897 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. In 1953 the hamlet of Nishi-Shirakawa separated out to form the town of Shirakawa and joined Kamo District., and the following year Shirakawa annexed the remainder of Sakanohigashi village. In 1956, Shirakawa annexed the villages of Kurosawa, Sami, and Sahara.

Economy

The local economy is dominated by forestry and agriculture. Shirakawa is noted for its production of ''Hinoki'' wood, and also of

green tea Green tea is a type of tea that is made from '' Camellia sinensis'' leaves and buds that have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process which is used to make oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China, and since the ...

Education

Shirakawa has five public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the town government. The town does not have a high school.

Transportation

Railway

Central Japan Railway Company -

Takayama Main Line The is a Japanese railway line between Gifu Station in Gifu and Toyama Station in Toyama, operated by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West). The line directly links the Chūkyō Metropolitan Area ( ...

** -

Highway

* *

Sister city relations

* -

Pistoia Pistoia (, is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typi ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

, Italy (est. October 30, 1994) * -

Songyuan Songyuan () is a prefecture-level city in west-central Jilin province, China. History Even though the present city of Songyuan is predominantly modern in appearance, the area has a long history dating back to the Neolithic age. The city was p ...

Jilin Jilin (; alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea (Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, Ryanggang and Chagang) and Russia (Prim ...

, China, friendship city from 1981

References

External links

*
Shirakawa official website
Towns in Gifu Prefecture {{Gifu-geo-stub