280px, Kōka "ninja house" 280px, Shigaraki ware ceramics 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 southern

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 nort ...

, Japan. (The word 'Kōka' is often rendered as 'Koga' in English, especially when referring to the "Koga Ninja".) , 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 89,619 in 36708 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 190 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Kōka occupies the entire southern end of Shiga Prefecture, and is thus long east-to-west. At the eastern end of Kōka, the southern ridge of the Suzuka Mountains with one elevation of 1000 meters runs from northeast to southwest, forming the boundary with Mie Prefecture. The highest altitude point in Kōka is Mount Amagoi in this range.

Neighboring municipalities

Shiga Prefecture *

Ōtsu 270px, Ōtsu City Hall is the capital city of Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 343,991 in 153458 households and a population density of 740 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Ōtsu is ...

* Rittō * Konan *

Higashiōmi Yōkaichi Kite Festival is a city located in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 113,229 in 45771 households and a population density of 290 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Higashiōmi ...

Ryūō Ryūō (also Ryu-O, Ryu-oh, Ryuuou; in Japanese 龍王, 竜王, lit. "Dragon King") is an annual Japanese professional shogi tournament and the title of its winner. The current Ryūō title holder is Sōta Fujii. The Ryūō Tournament (''Ryūō-s ...

* Hino Kyoto Prefecture *

Wazuka is a town located in Sōraku District, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. , the town has an estimated population of 3,312. The total area is 64.93 km². Wazuka is home to roughly 300 tea growing families. The area was selected in the Kamakura per ...

* Minamiyamashiro *

Ujitawara is a town located in Tsuzuki District, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. , the town 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 t ...

Mie Prefecture *

Yokkaichi is a city located in Mie Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 310,259 in 142162 households and a population density of 1500 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Yokkaichi is located in north-central ...

* Suzuka * Kameyama * Iga *

Komono 260px, Gozaisho Ropeway and Komono in distance is a town located in Mie Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 41,542 in 16883 households and a population density of 390 persons per km². The total area of the town was . Ge ...

Climate

Kōka 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 ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kōka is 13.6 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1673 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.4 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.1 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kōka has recently plateaued after several decades of growth.

History

Kōka is part of ancient

Ōmi Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, Ōmi was ranked as one of the 13 "great countrie ...

. 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 a center for the ''

Kōga-ryū Kōka-ryū (甲賀流, "School of Kōka"; occasionally transliterated as "Kōga") is an umbrella term for a set of traditions of ninjutsu that originated from the region of Kōka (modern Kōka City in Shiga Prefecture). The samurai of Kōka-ryū ...

'' school of

ninjutsu , sometimes used interchangeably with the modern term , is the martial art strategy and tactics of unconventional warfare, guerrilla warfare and espionage purportedly practised by the ninja. ''Ninjutsu'' was a separate discipline in some tradit ...

, in rivalry with Iga The area was on the route of the Tōkaidō highway connecting

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

with Edo and the eastern provinces of Japan.

Minakuchi-juku 260px, Modern Minakuchi-juku 260px, Minakuchi-juku in 1923 was the fiftieth of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It was located in the Minakuchi neighborhood of the present-day ...

was both a post station and also 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, ...

for Minakuchi Domain, which ruled over parts of the area of Kōka 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 village of Minakuchi was established on April 1, 1889 within

Kōka District, Shiga was a district located in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the district had an estimated population of 147,928 and a density of 267.90 persons per km2. The total area was 552.18 km2. Towns and villages Before the dissolution in 2004, ...

with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to town status on August 18, 1894. On October 1, 2004, Minakuchi merged with the towns of

Kōka was a after ''Tenpō'' and before ''Kaei.'' This period spanned the years from December 1844 through February 1848. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * December 2, 1844 (): The new era name of ''Kōka'', meaning "Becoming Wide ...

, Kōnan,

Shigaraki is a town located in Kōka District, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. As of 2004, the town has an estimated population of 13,885 and a density of 84.92 persons per km². The total area is 163.5 km². On October 1, 2004, Shigaraki, along with the to ...

and Tsuchiyama (all from Kōka District) to form the city of Kōka.

Government

Kōka 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 multic ...

city council of 24 members. Kōka contributes three members to the Shiga Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Shiga 4th district of the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paralle ...

Economy

Kōka is traditionally known for its production of ceramics, most notably

Shigaraki ware Shigaraki ware (信楽焼) is a type of stoneware pottery made in Shigaraki area, Japan. The kiln is one of the Six Ancient Kilns in Japan. Although figures representing the tanuki are a popular product included as Shigaraki ware, the kiln an ...

, as well as agriculture and forestry. Light manufacturing is concentrated to pharmaceuticals.

Education

Kōka has 21 public elementary schools and six public middle schools operated by the city government and one middle school operated by the Shiga Prefectural Department of Education. The prefecture also operates four public high schools.

Transport

Railway

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and ...

–

Kusatsu Line The is a railway line in western Japan operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It connects Tsuge on the Kansai Main Line with Kusatsu on the Biwako Line The is the nickname used by the operator of the West Japan Railway Compa ...

* - - - - Ohtetsu Logomark

Ohmi Railway is a Japanese private railway company which operates in Shiga Prefecture, and a member of the Seibu group since 1943. The company is named after the Ōmi Province, the former name of the present-day Shiga. The railway is nicknamed by local users ...

–

Main Line Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to: Transportation Railway * Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system * Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...

* - - - -

Shigaraki Kōgen Railway is a Japanese third-sector railway company funded by Shiga Prefecture and the city of Koka. The railway operates the Shigaraki Line, a former JR West line that was transferred to the third sector in 1987. The Shigaraki Line connects Kibukawa ...

- Shigaraki Line * - - - - -

Highway

* 24px, link=, alt=E1A

Shin-Meishin Expressway The or simply ''Shin-Meishin'' for short is an expressway, linking Mie prefecture to Hyōgo Prefecture, which is partially open and partially under construction. The expressways current length as of February 2008 is 49.7 km. It connects to ...

* * * *

Sister city relations

* DeWitt, Michigan, USA (renewed 2005) *

Marshall, Michigan Marshall is a U.S. city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Calhoun County. The population was 7,088 at the 2010 census. Marshall is best known for its cross-section of 19th- and early 20th-century architecture. It has been referred to by t ...

, USA (renewed 2005) *

Traverse City, Michigan Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was ...

, USA (1969; renewed 2005)

Local attractions

Miho Museum The Miho Museum is located southeast of Kyoto, Japan, in the Shigaraki neighborhood of the city of Kōka, in Shiga Prefecture. It is also the headquarters of the Shinji Shumeikai, a new religious group founded by Mihoko Koyama. History The m ...

Minakuchi Castle thumbnail, 260px, layout of Minakuchi Castle thumbnail, 260px, Another view of the ''yagura'' , is a ''hirashiro''-style Japanese castle located in the former town of Minakuchi, in the city of Kōka, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. The castle is also ...

Tsuchiyama-juku was the forty-ninth of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It was located in the Tsuchiyama neighborhood of the present-day city of Kōka, Shiga Prefecture, Japan. History Tsuch ...

* site of

Shigaraki Palace The was an imperial palace built by Emperor Shōmu, initially as a villa, later named by himself as the capital of Japan in 744 AD. It was located in Kōka District of Ōmi Province in what is now part of the city of Kōka, Shiga Prefecture, Jap ...

, National Historic Site * Tarumi Saiō Tongū Site, National Historic Site *

Minakuchi Okayama Castle was a Sengoku period Japanese castle located in what is now the city of Kōka, Shiga Prefecture, in the Kansai region of Japan. Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 2017. History During the Muromachi and Sengoku ...

ruins

Noted people

* Mineichi Iwanaga, politician *

Kaoruko Himeno is a Japanese writer. She has been nominated five times for the Naoki Prize and won the 150th Naoki Prize for her novel '. Two of her novels have been adapted for film. Early life and education Himeno was born in 1958 in Shiga Prefecture, J ...

, author

References

External links

* * * *
Mapple Koka city -Secrets to Enjoying Kōka- Guide map of Kōka city
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koka, Shiga Cities in Shiga Prefecture Kōka, Shiga