is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

Hiyama Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan located on the Oshima Peninsula on the Sea of Japan side. It includes Okushiri Island. It was established in 1897. Geography Mergers History *1897: Hiyama Subprefecture was established. * ...

Hokkaido is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

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 n ...

. It is the capital of Hiyama Subprefecture. One of the oldest towns in Hokkaido, the name Esashi comes from the

Ainu Ainu or Aynu may refer to: *Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East *Ainu languages, a family of languages **Ainu language of Hokkaido **Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands **Sakhalin Ainu la ...

word for

kombu ''Konbu'' (from ja, 昆布, konbu or kombu) is edible kelp mostly from the family Laminariaceae and is widely eaten in East Asia. It may also be referred to as ''dasima'' ( ko, 다시마) or ''haidai'' (). Kelp features in the diets of many ...

, a type of edible

kelp Kelps are large brown algae seaweeds that make up the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera. Despite its appearance, kelp is not a plant - it is a heterokont, a completely unrelated group of organisms. Kelp grows in "underwa ...

well known in Japan. It is the birthplace of a

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

tradition called Esashi oiwake.

Geography

Esashi is a district and port town located on the western seaboard of Hokkaido on the Assabugawa river, facing the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, i ...

. Its eastern part is mountainous. The town is bordered by the municipalities of Kaminokuni, Assabu and Otobe. It has a

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water ta ...

connection to Okushiri island. The rail link was discontinued in 2014;

Esashi Station was a railway station on the Esashi Line in Esashi, Hokkaido, Japan, operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido). It opened in 1936 and closed in May 2014. Lines Esashi Station was formerly the terminus of the non-electrified section of ...

was the terminus of the

Esashi Line The is a Japanese railway line formerly operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido). It connected (near Hakodate) and . The section between and closed in May 2014, and the remainder was transferred to third-sector operator South Hokk ...

Kamome Island is an island (or more precisely, peninsula) in the Sea of Japan just off the coast of the town of Esashi, Hokkaidō, Japan. The island serves as a breakwater for the Esashi port. It has several historical sites and is protected as a part of the ...

in the town is part of Hiyama Prefectural Natural Park.

Climate

Esashi has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(

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, nota ...

''Cfa'') with far less snow in winter than elsewhere in Hokkaido due to the influence of the warming ''tsushima-kairyu''

ocean current An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of sea water generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. Depth conto ...

Culture

The area is home to Esashi Oiwake, a traditional Japanese folk music derived from mago-uta verses from Shinshu which spread throughout Japan during the Edo era and have become an Esashi art form. The district holds a national oiwake convention each September. The oiwake musician 青坂満 comes from Esashi. The ubagami-daijingu dogyo festival, based around the ubagami-daijingu

shrine A shrine ( la, scrinium "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred or holy space dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon, or similar figure of respect, wherein they ...

, is celebrated in August. Esashi was the subject of the 1992 single ''Esashi love-song'' by Yuka Õne. The town also has a celebrated historical dance: Doba Shishimai. The dance's three acts include a Shinto ritual dance of three fawns, a pestle-swinging dance and a dance of hinds quarreling over a fawn. Esashi has an official sister town, Notogawa (now part of Higashiо̄mi city) in

Shiga prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the north ...

. It also has official friendship status with Suzu city in

Ishikawa prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu island. Ishikawa Prefecture has a population of 1,140,573 (31 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,186 km2 (1,616 sq mi). Ishikawa Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to ...

History

In the

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

period, Esashi grew wealthy as a herring fishing town. The town's prosperity coined a saying, "Even Edo is not as busy as Esashi in May" and visitors to the town described the quantity of herring being so great that it turned the color of the sea white. Several

Meiji-era 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 by ...

residences of those who grew wealthy on the trade are preserved in the town today, including the Sekikawa family country house and the Nakamura family house. The majority of Esashi's historic buildings are located on Esashi Inishie Road. The fisheries failed around the turn of end of the 19th century and the town tried to replace its major industry with tourism. The town advertised itself using the Min'yo classical Japanese folk song, the main part of which was originally from the village of Oiwake in central Japan, but became known as Esashi Oiwake as the town's version gained renown. *1900: Esashi Town became a First Class Village. *1955: Esashi Town and Tomari Village were merged to form the new town of Esashi.

Education

* High school ** Hokkaido Esashi High School * Junior high schools ** Esashi Junior High School (江差町立江差中学校) ** Esashi Kita (North) Junior High School (江差町立江差北中学校) * Elementary schools ** Esashi Elementary School ( 江差町立江差小学校) ** Esashi Kita Elementary School (江差町立江差北小学校) ** Minamigaoka Elementary School ( 江差町立南が丘小学校)

Sister cities

Suzu, Ishikawa is a city located in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 13,531 in 6013 households, and a population density of 54.6 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Etymology Suzu is thought to have been ...

* Higashiomi, Shiga

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Esashi, Hokkaido (Hiyama) Towns in Hokkaido