270px, Isarigami Rice Terraces 270px, Kitaharima Leisure Village Park Rose Garden 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 ...

in Taka District,

Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and has a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to the southeast, an ...

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 19,589 in 7661 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 110 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Taka is located in central Hyogo Prefecture. Parts of the town are within the borders of the

Kasagatayama-Sengamine Prefectural Natural Park is a Prefectural Natural Park in central Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Established in 1965, the park centres upon Mount Kasagata and Mount Sen, and spans the municipalities of Ichikawa, Kamikawa, and Taka. See also * National Parks of Japan N ...

Neighbouring municipalities

Hyōgo Prefecture * Kasai * Tanba * Asago * Nishiwaki * Ichikawa * Kamikawa

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Taka population statistics
/ref> the population of Taka has declined steadily over the 60 years.

History

The area of the modern town of Taka was within ancient

Harima Province or Banshū (播州) was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is the southwestern part of present-day Hyōgo Prefecture. Harima bordered on Tajima, Tanba, Settsu, Bizen, and Mimasaka Provinces. Its capital was Himeji. During the ...

. In 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 ...

, most of the area was ''

tenryō 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 ...

'' territory under direct administration of 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 ...

. Following the

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 ...

, the village of Naka, was created within

Taka District, Hyōgo is a district in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the district has an estimated population of 33,093 and a population density of . The total area is . Towns *Taka Mergers *On 1 October 2005, the town of Kurodashō merged into the city ...

. It was elevated to town status on April 1, 1924. The towns of

Kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...

and Yachiyo were established in 1955 and 1960 respectively through the merger of smaller villages. The three municipalities

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

on November 1, 2005, to form the town of Taka.

Government

Taka 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 ...

town council of 14 members. Taka, together with the city of Nishiwaki, contributes one member to the

Hyogo Prefectural Assembly The is the prefectural parliament of Hyogo Prefecture. The assembly's 87 members are elected every four years in 40 districts by single non-transferable vote. Nine of the electoral districts correspond with the wards of Kobe city and the rema ...

. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Hyōgo 4th 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 local economy is centered on agriculture. ''Yamada Nishiki'', a brand of rice used for ''

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...

'' production, originated from this area.

Education

Taka has five public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the town government and one public high school operated by the Hyōgo Prefectural Department of Education.There is also one private high school. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railway

* Until April 1, 1990, the town was serviced by the

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...

Kajiya Line The was a railway line of West Japan Railway Company between Nishiwaki and Taka District all within Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The line closed on April 1, 1990. Stations :Notes :1: Nomura Station was renamed Nishiwakishi Station upon closure of ...

. Following the closure of that line, the nearest passenger rail station is

Nishiwakishi Station is a passenger railway station located in the city of Nishiwaki, Hyōgo, Nishiwaki, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). Lines Nishiwakishi Station is served by the Kakogawa Line and is 31.2 kilometers fro ...

on the JR West

Kakogawa Line The is a railway line in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West), which connects the cities of Kakogawa and Tamba. The line begins at Kakogawa Station on the JR Kobe Line (Sanyō Main Line) and ends at Ta ...

Highway

References

External links

* Towns in Hyōgo Prefecture Taka, Hyōgo {{Hyogo-geo-stub