270px, Niyodo River in Tosa 270px, Aerial view of Tosa city center is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

located in

Kōchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kōchi Prefecture has a population of 757,914 (1 December 2011) and has a geographic area of 7,103 km2 (2,742 sq mi). Kōchi Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the northwest and ...

, Japan. , the city 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 26,427 in 12,671 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical ...

of 290 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The city of Tosa should not be confused with the historical

Tosa Province was a province of Japan in the area of southern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Tosa bordered on Awa to the northeast, and Iyo to the northwest. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō sys ...

, which covered all of modern-day Kōchi Prefecture.

Geography

Tosa is located in central

on the southern coast of the island of

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...

, and faces the Shikoku Mountains to the north and

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

to the south. The Niyodo River flows through the Takaoka Plain in the town, where rice is grown.

Surrounding municipalities

* Kōchi (city) * Susaki * Ino * Kōchi * Sakawa * Hidaka

Climate

Tosa has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light snowfall. The average annual temperature in Tosa is 15.9 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2631 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in January, at around 25.9 °C, and lowest in January, at around 5.8 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Tosa population statistics
/ref> the population of Tosa has remained relatively stable for the past century.

History

As with all of Kōchi Prefecture, the area of Tosa was part of ancient

. Remains from the Jōmon period dated to 4000 years ago have been found within the city limits. 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 characte ...

, the area was part of the holdings of

Tosa Domain The was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, controlling all of Tosa Province in what is now Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Kōchi Castle, and was ruled throughout its history by ...

ruled by the Yamauchi clan from their seat at Kōchi Castle. 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 Takaoka (高岡村) was established within

Takaoka District, Kōchi is a district located in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. As of the Shimanto merger but with 2003 population statistics, the district has an estimated population of 68,854 and a density of 45.1 persons per km2. The total area is 1,527.65 km2. Tow ...

with the creation of the modern municipalities system on October 1, 1889. Takaoka was elevated to town status on March 1, 1899. Takaoka was elevated to city status on January 1, 1959, and renamed Tosa.

Government

Tosa 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 multi ...

city council of 15 members. Tosa contributes one member to the Kōchi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Kōchi 1st district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Economy

Benefiting from the warm climate and abundant water, the area has long been a prosperous region for agriculture, with greenhouse horticulture in the plains and fruit tree cultivation in the surrounding mountains. In addition, the rich subsoil water of the Niyodo River has nurtured the paper industry, and in the Usa neighborhood, which faces the Pacific Ocean, coastal fishing and seafood processing have developed as key industries.

Education

Tosa has nine public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the city government and two public high schools operated by the Kōchi Prefectural Department of Education. There is also one private high school. The Kochi Professional University of Rehabilitation is located in Tosa.

Transportation

Railway

Tosa does not have any passenger railway service. The nearest train station is Ino Station on the

JR Shikoku The , commonly known as , is the smallest of the seven constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates of intercity and local rail services in the four prefectures on the island of Shikoku in Japan. The company has ...

Dosan Line is a railway line in Shikoku, Japan, operated by the Shikoku Railway Company (JR Shikoku). It connects Tadotsu Station in Tadotsu, Kagawa, and Kubokawa Station in Shimanto, Kōchi. The line links the city of Kōchi with northern Shikoku a ...

Highways

Kōchi Expressway *

Sister city relations

* Ebetsu, Hokkaidō, since July 15, 1978 * - Itatiba, São Paulo ,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, since August 5, 1989.

Local attractions

* Kiyotaki-ji, 35th temple on the

Shikoku Pilgrimage The or is a multi-site pilgrimage of 88 temples associated with the Buddhist monk Kūkai (''Kōbō Daishi'') on the island of Shikoku, Japan. A popular and distinctive feature of the island's cultural landscape, and with a long histor ...

* Shōryū-ji, 36th temple on the

Noted people from Tosa

Seito Saibara was a Japanese parliament member, politician, administrator, colonist, and farmer. Apart from his missionary activities, he is credited with having first established the rice industry on the Gulf Coast of the United States.Michiharu Kusunoki is a Japanese manga artist from Tosa, Kōchi. He is most known for the street racing series ''Wangan Midnight'' serialized in Kodansha's weekly ''Young Magazine'' and which has been adapted into a 26 episode anime series, a series of video games, ...

,manga artist *

Chisako Hara , better known under the stage name , was a Japanese actress best known for starring in ''Akai Giwaku'', ''Kishibe no Album'', and the '' Ultra Series'' franchise. Biography Chisako Hara was born on 6 January 1936 Cities in Kōchi Prefecture