Yonezawa City Hall 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 ...

in Yamagata Prefecture, 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 81,707 in 33,278 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 150 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Yonezawa is most famous for its local delicacies (apples, Yonezawa beef, and carp) and for being a

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, a ...

that was once home to the Uesugi clan, including the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...

'' Uesugi Yozan.

Geography

Yonezawa is located in the southeast corner of Yamagata Prefecture. The southern and eastern portions of the city are river basins surrounded by large mountains, forming the Yonezawa Basin. The southern portion of the city has a complex terrain with several rivers and alternating ridges and valleys orientated east to west. The Mogami River flows through the city. Part of the city is within the borders of the Bandai-Asahi National Park.

Neighboring municipalities

*Yamagata Prefecture **

Takahata, Yamagata 270px, Yamagata Takahata Winery is a town located in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 23,367, in 7629 households, and a population density of 130 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography ...

** Kawanishi, Yamagata **

Iide, Yamagata 270px, Nakatsugawa neighborhood of Iide and Iide Mountain Range is a town located in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 6,970 in 2354 households, and a population density of 21 persons per km². The total area ...

* Fukushima Prefecture ** Fukushima, Fukushima **

Kitakata, Fukushima is a city located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 46,269 in 16,769 households, and a population density of 83 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Kitakata was once written '北方', which me ...

** Inawashiro, Fukushima ** Kitashiobara, Fukushima

Climate

Yonezawa 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 freezing ...

(

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'') 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 Yonezawa is . The average annual rainfall is with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Yonezawa population statistics
/ref> the population of Yonezawa has recently declined after a long period of stability.

History

The area of present-day Yonezawa was part of ancient

Dewa Province was a province of Japan comprising modern-day Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Prefecture, except for the city of Kazuno and the town of Kosaka. Dewa bordered on Mutsu and Echigō Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History Early per ...

and was controlled in the Sengoku period by the

Date clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Date", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 5 retrieved 2013-5-5. History The Date family was founded ...

. The famed warlord Date Masamune was born in Yonezawa. 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 became

Yonezawa Domain was a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province (modern-day Yamagata Prefecture), Japan. It was centered at Yonezawa castle in what is now the city of Yamagata, and its territory extended over the Okitama District of Dewa Pro ...

under 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 ...

, ruled by the Uesugi clan. After the start of the

Meiji period The is 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 colonization ...

, the area was organized into Minamiokitama District, Yamagata Prefecture. The city of Yamagata was established on April 1, 1889, with the establishment of the modern municipalities system

Government

Yonezawa has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 24 members. The city contributes three members to the Yamagata Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Yamagata District 3 of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

List of mayor of Yonezawa

Economy

The economy of Yamagata is based on agriculture, horticulture, light manufacturing and tourism.

Education

Colleges and universities

* Yamagata University Yonezawa campus * Yonezawa Women's Junior College

Primary and secondary education

Yonezawa has 18 public elementary schools and eight public middle schools operated by the city government and four public high schools operated by the Yamagata Prefectural Board of Education. There are also two private high schools.

Transportation

Railway

East Japan Railway Company - Yamagata Shinkansen * JR logo (east)

East Japan Railway Company -

Ōu Main Line The is a railway line in Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Fukushima Station through Akita Station to Aomori Station. Since the opening of the Yamagata Shinkansen on July 1, 1992, the Fukushima–Yama ...

* - - - - - JR logo (east)

East Japan Railway Company -

Yonesaka Line The is a railway line in Japan, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Yonezawa Station in Yamagata Prefecture to Sakamachi Station in Niigata Prefecture. At Yonezawa, connections to the Yamagata Shinkansen and Ōu Main L ...

* - - -

Highways

* – Yonezawa IC * * * *

Local attractions

* Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum *

Yonezawa Castle is a flatland-style Japanese castle located in the center of the city of Yonezawa, southern Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. Throughout the Edo period, Yonezawa Castle was home to the Uesugi clan, ''daimyō'' of Yonezawa Domain. History The first ...

Tateyama Castle is a Japanese castle are fortresses constructed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries, and came into their best-known form in the 16th century. Castles in Japan were built to guard important or ...

*Yonezawa Onsen * Namegawa Great Falls *Shirabu Onsen (in gorges of Otaru River south of Yonezawa)

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Moses Lake, WA

Japan

* Takanabe, Miyazaki, since 1981 * Jōetsu, Niigata, since 1981 * Okinawa, Okinawa, since 1994 * Tōkai, Aichi, since 1999

Worldwide

* Taubaté,

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 January 28, 1974 *

Moses Lake, Washington Moses Lake is a city in Grant County, Washington, United States. The population was 25,146 as of the 2020 census. Moses Lake is the largest city in Grant County. The city anchors the Moses Lake Micropolitan area, which includes all of Grant C ...

, USA, since May 1, 1981

Notable people from Yonezawa

* Junzaburo Ban, actor * Itō Chūta, architect * Takehiko Endo, politician * Yamashita Gentarō, admiral, Imperial Japanese Navy *

Masami Kobayashi was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. His name was sometimes misspelled as "Marasmi Kobayashi" or "Marashi Kobayashi" by contemporary United States Navy sources. He was an outspoken proponent of the Treaty Faction wit ...

, admiral, Imperial Japanese Navy *

Hiroshi Masumura is a Japanese manga artist. He is best known for his adaptations of Kenji Miyazawa's children novels, including his work on the anime film ''Night on the Galactic Railroad'' (1985), and for several manga series set in the fantasy universe '' ...

, manga artist *

Mutsuo Minagawa was a Japanese professional baseball pitcher. Listed at 5' 10" , 162 lb. , Minagawa batted and threw right handed. He was born in Yonezawa, Yamagata.Chūichi Nagumo Chūichi Nagumo (, ''Nagumo Chūichi''; 25 March 1887 – 6 July 1944) was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during World War II. Nagumo led Japan's main carrier battle group, the '' Kido Butai'', in the attack on Pearl Harbor, ...

, admiral, Imperial Japanese Navy * Ikeda Shigeaki, politician * Hirata Tosuke, Meiji period statesman

References

External links

Official Website

{{Authority control Cities in Yamagata Prefecture