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 to ...

located in

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...

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 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 4,688 in 1873 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 47 persons per km². The total area of the village is .

Geography

Chikuhoku is located in the center of Nagano Prefecture in the Matsumoto Basin. Higashijo Dam and Onikuma Dam are located in Chikuhoku.

Climate

The village has a climate characterized by characterized by cool and humid summers, and 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 ...

''Dfa''. The average annual temperature in Chikuhoku is 9.6 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1227 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 22.8 °C, and lowest in January, at around -3.0 °C.

Surrounding municipalities

*Nagano Prefecture **

Matsumoto Matsumoto (松本 or 松元, "base of the pine tree") may refer to: Places * Matsumoto, Nagano (松本市), a city ** Matsumoto Airport, an airport southwest of Matsumoto, Nagano * Matsumoto, Kagoshima (松元町), a former town now part of the c ...

Azumino is a city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 97,761 in 39744 households. and a population density of 290 persons per km2. Its total area is . Etymology of Azumino Azumino is a combination of two wo ...

Nagano Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Universi ...

** Chikuma ** Ueda **

Aoki may refer to: People *Aoki (surname), a list of people with the surname Places *Aoki, Nagano, a village in the Nagano Prefecture Company * Aoki Corporation, a defunct construction company * Aoki (store), a men's clothing store based in Japan Fi ...

** Omi ** Ikusaka

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Chikuhoku has decreased by more than half over the past 70 years.

History

The area of present-day Chikuhoku was part of ancient

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

. Most of the area was under the control of

Matsumoto Domain 250px, Matsumoto Castle, administrative headquarters of Matsumoto Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It is located in Shinano Province, Honshū. The domain was centered at Matsumoto Castle, located in ...

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 ...

. The villages of Honjō, Sakakita, and

Sakai is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the fifth century and incl ...

were created with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. The village of Chikuhoku was incorporated on October 11, 2005, by a merger of the three villages.

Education

Chikuhoku has three public elementary schools and one public middle school operated by the village government, and one middle school operated jointly between Chikuhoku and neighboring Omi village. The village does not have a high school.

Transportation

Railway

Shinano Railway The is a Japanese third-sector railway operating company established in 1996 to operate passenger railway services on the section of the JR East Shinetsu Main Line within Nagano Prefecture when it is separated from the JR East network in Octobe ...

Shinano Railway Line The is a 65.1 km railway line operated by the third-sector railway operating company Shinano Railway in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. It connects Karuizawa Station in Karuizawa with Shinonoi Station in Nagano. Overview Before October 19 ...

** - - ' -

Highway

* *

Local attractions

*Site of Aoyagi Castle * Mount Kamuriki, known in

Japanese folklore Japanese folklore encompasses the informally learned folk traditions of Japan and the Japanese people as expressed in its oral traditions, customs, and material culture. In Japanese, the term is used to describe folklore. The academic study ...

as the location of Mount Ubasute

Notable people from Chikuhoku

* Tomio Hora, historian

References

External links

*
Official Website
Villages in Nagano Prefecture {{Nagano-geo-stub