270px, Ōhira Village Office 270px, Site of Ōhira Castle is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the village 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 5,918, 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 98 persons per km² in 2108 households. The total area of the village is .

Geography

Ōhira is located near the geographic centre of Miyagi Prefecture, north of Sendai.

Neighboring municipalities

Miyagi Prefecture * Ōsaki * Taiwa * Shikama * Ōsato

Climate

The village has a climate characterized by cool summers and long cold 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 Ōhira is 11.8 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1268 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.6 °C, and lowest in January, at around -0.1 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Ōhira has remained relatively stable over the past 50 years.

History

The area of present-day Ōhira was part of ancient Mutsu Province, and has been settled since at least the Jōmon period by the Emishi people. Per the '' Shoku Nihongi'', following an earthquake in the year 715 AD, a large number of people migrated to this area from the southern Kantō region, forming numerous fortified settlements. During the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

, the area was contested by various

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

clans before the area came under the control of 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 ...

Sendai Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Sendai Domain was based at Aoba Castle in Mutsu Province, in the modern city of Sendai, located in the Tōhoku region of the i ...

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 ...

, 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 ...

. The village of Ōhira was created within Kurokawa District, Miyagi Prefecture after 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 ...

on April 1, 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system.

Government

Ōhira 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 ...

village of 11 members. Ōhira, together with the rest of Kurokawa District and the city of Tomiya collectively contributes two seats to the Miyagi Prefectural legislature. In terms of national politics, the village is part of Miyagi 4th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Economy

The economy of Ōhira is largely based on agriculture, primarily the cultivation of rice. Toyota opened a new assembly plant in Ōhira on February 17, 2011, its first new plant in Japan in 18 years. The plant, (belonging to

Central Motors Central Motor Co., Ltd. was a Japanese manufacturer of cars within the Toyota Group. It was founded on 4 September 1950 by Ryuichi Tomiya. The company operated five plants, all located in Japan. It was one of the biggest export vehicle manufactu ...

), employing 900 people, assembles the Toyota Yaris and Corolla for both the domestic market and North America, with a capacity of 120,000 vehicles a year.

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

, "Toyota opens Tohoku plant", '' Japan Times'', 18 February 2011, p. 7.

Education

Ōhira has one public elementary school and one public junior high school operated by the village government. The village does not have a high school.

Geography

Neighboring municipalities

Climate

Demographics

History

Government

Economy

Education

Transportation

Railway

Highway

Local attractions

References

External links