is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

located in

Yamagata Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It has a population of 1,005,926 (1 February 2025) and an area of 9,325 Square kilometre, km2 (3,600 Square mile, sq mi). Its neighbours are Akita Prefectu ...

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 city 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 61,947 in 22392 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 550 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Tendō is located in the east-central portion of the Yamagata Basin, bordered by the

Ōu Mountains The are a mountain range in the Tōhoku region of Honshū, Japan. It is the longest range in Japan and stretches south from the Natsudomari Peninsula of Aomori Prefecture to the Nasu volcanoes at the northern boundary of the Kantō region. T ...

to the east.

Neighboring municipalities

*Yamagata Prefecture ** Higashine ** Kahoku ** Nakayama ** Sagae ** Yamagata

Climate

Tendō has a

Humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Cfa'') with large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year, but is heaviest from August to October. The average annual temperature in Tendō is 11.1 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1381 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.8 °C, and lowest in January, at around -1.4 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Tendō has remained relatively stable in recent decades.

History

During 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 ...

, the area of present-day Tendō was part of

Tendō Domain was a Han (Japan), feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province (modern-day Yamagata Prefecture), Japan. It was centered in what is now the city of Tendō, Yamagata. Tendō was ruled by the tozama daimyo, tozama Oda clan, direct ...

, a 20,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

'' feudal domain under 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 ...

controlled by the

Oda clan The is a Japanese samurai family who were daimyo and an important political force in the unification of Japan in the mid-16th century. Though they reached the peak of their power under Oda Nobunaga and fell soon after, several branches of the ...

, who ruled from 1831 to 1871. After the start of the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

, the area organized as Tendō Village under Higashimurayama District, Yamagata Prefecture in 1878. It was elevated to town status on April 27, 1892 and became a city on October 1, 1958.

Government

Tendō 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 ...

city legislature of 22 members. The city contributes two members to the Yamagata Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Yamagata District 1 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 economy of Tendō is based on seasonal tourism, agriculture and wood products. The city is traditionally known for its production of the wooden pieces (''koma'') used in Japanese chess (''

shogi , also known as Japanese chess, is a Strategy game, strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as chess, Western chess, chaturanga, xiangqi, Indian chess, and janggi. ...

''), and games of " human shogi" have been played since 1966. The city also has numerous ''

onsen In Japan, are hot springs and the bathing facilities and Ryokan (inn), traditional inns around them. There are approximately 25,000 hot spring sources throughout Japan, and approximately 3,000 ''onsen'' establishments use naturally hot water ...

'' hot springs within its borders.

Education

* Uyō-Gakuen College * Tendō has twelve public elementary schools and four public middle schools operated by the city government and one public high school operated by the Yamagata Prefectural Board of Education. There is also one private high school.

Transportation

Railway

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

Yamagata Shinkansen The is a Mini-shinkansen route in Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It provides service between Tokyo and Shinjō in Yamagata Prefecture over the tracks of the Tohoku Shinkansen and the Ōu Main Line. The term Yamagata ...

Ōu Main Line The is a railway line in Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Fukushima Station (Fukushima), Fukushima Station through Akita Station to Aomori Station. Since the opening of the Yamagata Shinkansen on July 1, 1 ...

* - - -

Highways

* – Tendō Interchange * *

Sister cities

Tendō is twinned with: *

Marlborough Marlborough or the Marlborough may refer to: Places Australia * Marlborough, Queensland * Principality of Marlborough, a short-lived micronation in 1993 * Marlborough Highway, Tasmania; Malborough was an historic name for the place at the sou ...

, New Zealand (1989) *

Marostica Marostica (; ), is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, northern Italy. It is mostly famous for its live chess event and for the local cherry variety. History Between the 11th and 13th centuries, the locality was greatly ...

, Italy (1993) *

Wafangdian Wafangdian (), formerly Fuhsien (Fuxian) or Fu County (), is one of the two "northern county-level city, county-level cities", the other being Zhuanghe, under the administration of Dalian, located in the south of Liaoning province, China. The c ...

, China (2002)

Notable people

* Kenta Kurihara (born 1982), professional baseball player *

Chiyako Sato Chiyako Satō (佐藤千夜子 ''Satō Chiyako'') was a Japanese singer. Biography The Japanese singer Chiyako Satō (real name Chiyo Satō 佐藤千代 ''Satō Chiyo'') was born in Tendō, Yamagata in 1897. After graduating the Tokyo Music ...

(born 1897), musician * Kenji Shimizu (born 1940), founder of Tendoryu Aikido * Genjiyama Tsunagorō (born 1786), sumo wrestler

References

External links

*
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tendo, Yamagata Cities in Yamagata Prefecture