is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

located in

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to t ...

, Japan. As of September 2010, the district has 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 63,382 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' can also be used. Mathematical ...

of 279 persons per km². The total area was . The district formerly included all of the city of

Mobara is a city located in Chiba Prefecture. , the city had an estimated population of 88,330 in 40,869 households and a population density of 880 persons per km². The total area of the city is Geography Mobara is located in an inland area of north-c ...

and a small portion of the city of

Isumi is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 37,206 in 17,004 households and a population density of 240 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Isumi is located on the east coast ...

Towns and villages

* Chōnan *

Ichinomiya is a Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth. ''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retrieved 2013-5-14. The term gave rise t ...

* Mutsuzawa * Nagara * Shirako *

Chōsei is a village located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the village had an estimated population of 14,028 in 6096 households and a population density of 500 persons per km². The total area of the village is . It is the only remaining municipality cl ...

Neighboring municipalities

* Ichihara *

* Ōtaki *

Ōamishirasato file:Oami sta.jpg, 260px, Area around Ōami Station is a Cities of Japan, city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 49,019 in 21,860 households and a population density of 840 persons per km². The total a ...

Geography

Chōsei District occupies an area of central Chiba Prefecture to the east of the

Bōsō Peninsula The is a peninsula that encompasses the entirety of Chiba Prefecture on Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. It forms the eastern edge of Tokyo Bay, separating it from the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula covers ...

. The west of the district ranges from the

Bōsō Hill Range The is a mountain range on the Bōsō Peninsula of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The highest point in the Bōsō Mountain Range is at Mount Atago, with an altitude of . The hill range runs from roughly in a line from Mobara or Ōamishirasato to Ki ...

to the Kujūkuri Plain; the east of the district runs along the broad coast of the

Kujūkuri Beach is a sandy beach that occupies much of the northeast coast of the Bōsō Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The beach is approximately long, making it the second longest beach in Japan. Kujūkuri Beach is a popular swimming and surfing dest ...

on the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

. The Ichinomiya River () emerges from the Bōsō Hill Range in Chōnan and empties into the Pacific Ocean at Kujukuri Beach in Chōsei.

History

Early period

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 ...

, almost all of the area present-day Chōsei District 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 direct control of the central government and administered by various ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as '' gokenin.'' Howev ...

,'' with the exception of

, most of which was under the rule of Ichinomiya Domain, a minor feudal domain 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 ...

ruled by the Kano clan.

Modern period

Chōsei District was created on April 1, 1889 out of the merger of the short-lived early

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 ...

districts of Nagara (3 towns, 17 villages) and Kamihabu (1 town, five villages). The administrative seat of the district was located in Mobara. Chōsei District, since its creation, has seen extensive administrative reorganization. Shirakata Village was elevated to town status on February 11, 1940.

was elevated to city status on April 1, 1952, and ceased to be part of Chōsei District.

Taitō is a special ward located in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. In English, it is known as Taitō City. As of May 1, 2015, the ward has an estimated population of 186,276, and a population density of 18,420 persons per km2. The total area is . Thi ...

merged with Furusawa in Isumi District, and ceased to be part of Chōsei District. Nagara was raised to town status on April 29, 1955, and Honnō merged into the city of Mobara on May 1, 1972. Mutsuzawa was raised to town status on April 1, 1983. The district now consists of five towns and one village. A plan to merge the municipalities of Chōsei District into the city of Mobara, and thus dissolve the district, was discussed beginning in 2002. The planning committee of 2002 failed to reach a consensus, as did the planning committee of 2004. A new planning committee, the was formed in 2007, but was dissolved after one year.

Economy

The coastal areas of Chōsei District once depended on the fishing industry, but fishing in the district has been in long decline. The district has extensive greenhouse fruit and vegetable production. The mountainous areas of Nagara, Chonan, and Mutsuzawa were once major agricultural centers, but the district's proximity to the

Keiyō Industrial Zone , also known as the Keiyō Industrial Region, the Keiyō Industrial Area, or the Keiyō Industrial Belt, is an industrial zone on the northeastern coast of Tokyo Bay that crosses 8 cities in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The zone spans from the wester ...

has transformed agricultural areas into centers of small-scale industry and housing complexes. Tourism in the coastal areas has increased due to the district's proximity and rail links to the greater

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

Metropolitan Area.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chosei District, Chiba Districts in Chiba Prefecture