270px, Shikoku karst landscape 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 ...

located in Takaoka District,

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 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 5,127 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 26 persons per km².The total area of the town is .

Geography

Tsuno is located located in the mid-western part of Kochi Prefecture on 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'' (), '' ...

. The town is surrounded by the Shikoku Mountains and the landscape is steep, with about 90% occupied by forests, and the area ratio of agricultural land and residential land is low. In the Hayama area, the Shinjo River runs east and west in the central area, and in the Higashitsuno area are the headlands of the Shimanto River.

Neighbouring municipalities

Kōchi Prefecture * Susaki * Niyodogawa * Tosa *

Sakawa Sakawa is a Ghanaian term for illegal practices which combine modern Internet-based fraud with African traditionalist rituals. The term or word Sakawa is an Hausa word which means ''putting inside, how to make money''. The rituals, which are mostl ...

* Ochi *

Yusuhara file:Yusuhara R440 Near The End 1.JPG, 270px, Japan National Route 440 in Yusuhara is a List of towns in Japan, town located in Takaoka District, Kōchi, Takaoka District, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 3,285 a ...

* Shimanto Town Ehime Prefecture * Kumakōgen

Climate

Tsuno 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 ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light snowfall. The average annual temperature in Tsuno is 12.8 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2375 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in January, at around 23.4 °C, and lowest in January, at around 1.9 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Tsuno population statistics
/ref> the population of Tsuno peaked around the year 1950 and has declined by roughly two-thirds in the decades since.

History

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

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 syste ...

. 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 characteriz ...

, 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 t ...

ruled by the

Yamauchi clan The Yamauchi clan (山内氏) were a family of rulers over what was then the Tosa Province which spanned the southern half of Shikoku island. The province was given to the family in 1600 after Yamauchi Kazutoyo led troops under Tokugawa Ieyasu a ...

from their seat at

Kōchi Castle is an Edo Period Japanese castle in the city of Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. It is located at Otakayama hill, at the center of Kōchi city, which in turn is located at the center of the Kōchi Plain, the most prosperous area of former ...

. The villages of Kamihayama (上半山村), Shimohayama (下半山村) and Higashitsuno (東津野村) ere established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on October 1, 1889. Kamihayama and Shimohayama merged to form the village of

Hayama 260px, Morito Beach is a town located in Kanagawa Prefecture, on central Honshū, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 32,961 and a population density of 1900 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Since 1894, the Japan ...

on September 30, 1956. Hayama and Higahshi-Tsuno merged to form the town of Tsuno on February 1, 2005.

Government

Tsuno 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 ...

village council of ten members. Tsuno, together with the municipalities of Nakatosa, Yusuhara, and Shimanto, contributes two members to the Kōchi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Kōchi 2nd 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

Tsuno's economy is based on agriculture (notable rice and green tea) and forestry.

Education

Tsuno has three public elementary schools and two public middle schools operated by the town government. The town does not have a high school.

Transportation

Railway

Tsuno has no passenger railway service. The nearest train stations as Susaki Station and Tosa-Shinjō 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 it ...

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 and t ...