Lake Ijira in Yamagata 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

Gifu is a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. During the Sengoku ...

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 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 27,356 in 10,868 households, 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 120 persons per km². The total area of the city was .

Geography

Yamagata is located in south-west Gifu Prefecture, north of the prefectural capital of

city. Mount Funabuse, on the border between Motosu and Yamagata is the highest point in the city, with an elevation of .

Climate

The city has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and mild winters (

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''). The average annual temperature in Yamagata is 15.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2086 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 27.9 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.7 °C.

Neighbouring municipalities

*Gifu Prefecture **

Motosu Usuzumizakura is a city located in Gifu, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 34,453 in 12, 464 households, and a population density of 390 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Geography Motosu is located in western Gi ...

** Seki

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Yamagata population statistics
/ref> the population of Yamagata peaked around 1990 and has declined since.

History

The area around Yamagata was part of traditional

Mino Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today southern Gifu Prefecture. Mino was bordered by Ōmi to the west, Echizen and Hida to the north, and Shinano to the east, and Ise, Mikawa, and Owari to the south. Its abbreviat ...

. The name, "Yamagata", can be found in

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the cap ...

records, and is thus one of the oldest place names in Japan. 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 ...

, much of the area was ''

tenryō The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

'' territory under the direct control of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

. In the post-

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 ...

cadastral reforms, Yamagata District in Gifu prefecture was created. The village of Takatomi was established on July 1, 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system, and was raised to town status on March 19, 1897. Takatomi and the town of Miyama and village of Ijira (all from Yamagata District) merged to form the city of Yamagata on April 1, 2003.

Government

Yamagata 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 ...

city legislature of 14 members.

Economy

Yamagata was traditionally known for its textile industry, and for the production of wooden bobbins for use in textile looms.

Education

Yamagata has nine public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the city government. The city has one public high school operated by the Gifu Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

*The city does not have any passenger rail service.

Highway

* 22px Tōkai-Kanjō Expressway * *

Sister city relations

Florence, Oregon Florence is a coastal city in Lane County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. It lies at the mouth of the Siuslaw River on the Pacific Ocean and about midway between Newport and Coos Bay along U.S. Route 101. As of the 2020 census, the city had a to ...

, United States Friendship City.

References

External links

* * {{Gifu Cities in Gifu Prefecture