is a

rural district Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the Ad ...

located in

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is approximately 966,000 (as of 1 October 2019) and its ge ...

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 ...

. At present time (as of August 2013), the district has an estimated population of 29,254 and an area of 764.27 km². All of the city of

Noshiro 270px, Rice fields in the Noshiro Plain 270px, Yoneshiro River is a city located in Akita Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 49,935 in 24,200 households. Geography Noshiro is located in the flat coastal plains north ...

was formerly part of Yamamoto District.

Towns and villages

* Fujisato * Happō * Mitane

History

The area of Yamamoto District (Hiyama District, Akita) was formerly part of Dewa Province, and came under the new province of Ugo Province on January 19, 1869 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 ...

. At the time, the area consisted of 2 towns and 72 villages formerly under the control of Kubota Domain, based at Akita. The area became part of Akita Prefecture in 1871, and was organized as Yamamoto District in 1878. Akita Yamamoto-gun 1889

With the establishment of the municipality system on April 1, 1889, two towns (Noshiroko and Hiyama) and 24 villages were established. Futatsui was raised to town status on June 4, 1902, followed by Kado on January 1, 1932. Noshiroko became the city of Noshiro on October 1, 1940. Hachimori was raised to town status on October 1, 1954. Hiyama was absorbed into Noshiro on April 1, 1955, and the town of Kado was renamed Kotooka. The village of Yamamoto gained town status on September 1, 1962, followed by Fujisato on November 1, 1963 and Hachiryū on September 1, 1965. In 2006, as part of the

Heisei period The is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Emeritus Akihito from 8 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the day after the death of the Emperor Hirohito, ...

Municipal mergers and dissolutions in Japan, all of the district except for the town of Fujisato was scheduled to merge with Noshiro to form the new city of Shirakami. However, the residents of Noshiro were opposed to this name and left the merger conference. The remaining six towns and villages tried to merge, but this plan failed as the merger would turn Hachimori and Minehama into an exclave of the new city. Noshiro delegates attempted to return to the conference, but the other conference members rejected their participation and the meeting split into the three different merger conferences of "Noshiro-Futatsui," "Southern Three Towns," and "Northern Two Towns and Villages." As a result: * On March 20, 2006 - The towns of Hachiryū, Koto'oka, and Yamamoto were merged to create the town of Mitane. * On March 21, 2006 - The town of Futatsui was merged with the expanded city of Noshiro, although Futatsui wanted the new city's name to be Yoneshiro (米代市). * On March 27, 2006 - The town of Hachimori, and the village of Minehama were merged to create the town of Happō. {{Authority control Districts in Akita Prefecture