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

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in Taka District,

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

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. , the town had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 19,589 in 7661 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...

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.

Neighbouring municipalities

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

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 th ...

. In the

Edo Period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, most of the area was ''

tenryō The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil war ...

'' territory under direct administration of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

. 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, the village of Naka, was created within

Taka District, Hyōgo is a Districts of Japan, 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, Hyōgo, Taka Mergers *On 1 October 2005, the town of ...

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

Kami are the Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. ''Kami'' can be elements of the landscape, forc ...

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 a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

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 consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

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 Hyōgo 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 the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

Economy

The local economy is centered on agriculture. ''Yamada Nishiki'', a brand of rice used for ''

sake Sake, , or saki, 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 indeed any East Asi ...

'' 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, ...

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

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

Highway

References

External links

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