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 Nishiusuki District,

Miyazaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Miyazaki Prefecture has a population of 1,073,054 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 7,735 km2 (2,986 sq mi). Miyazaki Prefecture borders Ōita Prefecture to the north, Kuma ...

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 ...

. As of October 1, 2019, the town has an estimated population of 11,959 and a density of 50.3 persons per km². The total area is 237.54 km².

Geography

Takachiho is in the northernmost part of

, bordering

Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to ...

on its north and northwest sides and

Ōita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,136,245 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, Kumam ...

on its north and northeast sides. The Gokase River flows from the west to the southeast part of town. The heart of the town is at its center, around the now-defunct Takachiho Station and the business office of Takachiho Kotsu, the town's public transportation company. Takachiho Gorge, in the southern part of town, is fairly famous as a tourist attraction. Takachiho is about 120 km northwest of the prefectural capital of Miyazaki and about 80 km southeast of the city of Kumamoto. Due to no public transportation facilities, nor any national highways to Miyazaki, it takes about three hours to get there.

Neighboring municipalities

** Nishiusuki District: Gokase, Hinokage ** Higashiusuki District: Morotsuka *

** Aso District: Takamori ** Kamimashiki District:

Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial House of Japan. Japanese his ...

** Taketa ** Bungo-ōno

Climate

Takachiho 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 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'') with hot, humid summers and cool winters. The average annual temperature in Takachiho is . The average annual rainfall is with June 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 Takachiho was on 16 July 2006; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 19 February 1977.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Takachiho in 2020 is 11,642 people. Takachiho has been conducting censuses since 1960.

History

During World War Two, the

2nd Raiding Brigade The 2nd Raiding Brigade, also known as the Takachiho Paratroopers, was an Imperial Japanese paratrooper unit. Part of the Japanese Army, the unit was notably involved in the Battle of the Philippines in 1945, during which it was almost complete ...

trained in the town and were sometimes known as the Takachiho paratroopers. Takachiho town panorama

Mythology

According to

Japanese mythology Japanese mythology is a collection of traditional stories, folktales, and beliefs that emerged in the islands of the Japanese archipelago. Shinto and Buddhist traditions are the cornerstones of Japanese mythology. The history of thousands of year ...

, Takachiho is the land where

Ninigi is a deity in Japanese mythology. Grandson of the sun goddess Amaterasu, Ninigi is regarded according to Japanese mythology as the great-grandfather of Japan’s first emperor, Emperor Jimmu. The three sacred treasures brought with Ninigi from ...

descended from the heavens, sent by

Amaterasu Amaterasu, also known as Amaterasu Ōmikami () or Ōhirume no Muchi no Kami (), is the goddess of the sun in Japanese mythology. One of the major deities (''kami'') of Shinto, she is also portrayed in Japan's earliest literary texts, the ''Kojik ...

, the sun goddess. It contains the Ama-no-Iwato

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy sacred space, space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor worship, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, Daemon (mythology), daem ...

which is, according to myth, the location of the cave where Amaterasu hid until Ame-no-Uzume lured her out.

Education

Prefectural high schools

*Takachiho High School

Junior high schools

*Takachiho Junior High School *Tabaru Junior High School *Iwato Junior High School *Kamino Junior High School

Elementary schools

*Takachiho Elementary School *Oshikata Elementary School *Tabaru Elementary School *Iwato Elementary School *Kamino Elementary School

Transportation

Air

The nearest airport is Kumamoto Airport.

Rail

Takachiho Railway was a Japanese railway company. The company in Miyazaki Prefecture suspended operation of the railway after a typhoon disaster in 2005 and was liquidated in 2009. Line The company operated the Takachiho Line connecting Nobeoka Station in Nobeoka ...

**Takachiho Line (inactive) ***Ama-no-iwato Station - Takachiho Station

Road

* National highways **

Japan National Route 218 National Route 218 is a national highway of Japan connecting Chūō-ku, Kumamoto, and Nobeoka, Miyazaki is a city located in the north of Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, the city has an estimated population of 119,521 and a po ...

***Takachiho Roadside Station **

Japan National Route 325 National Route 325 is a national highway of Japan connecting Kurume, Fukuoka, and Takachiho, Miyazaki, in Japan, with a total length of 138.5 km (86.06 mi). History During the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes, the Great Aso Bridge along Nat ...

Scenic and historic places

Takachiho is the heart of the Himuka Myth Road, which extends throughout Miyazaki. * Takachiho Gorge **Manai Waterfall *Kunimigaoka * Ama-no-iwato Jinja Shinto Shrine * Shonenji Temple *Takachiho

Onsen In Japan, are the country's hot springs and the bathing facilities and traditional inns around them. As a volcanically active country, Japan has many onsens scattered throughout all of its major islands. There are approximately 25,000 hot ...

*Takachiho Shrine

References

External links

Official website

Takachiho-cho Tourism Association
* * Towns in Miyazaki Prefecture {{Miyazaki-geo-stub