270px, Kami City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Kami city center 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 ...

located in Kōchi Prefecture,

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 ...

. , 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 usi ...

of 25,562 in 13212 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 RosenberPopu ...

of 48 persons per km².The total area of the city is .

Geography

Kami is located in the eastern part of Kōchi Prefecture. It is the only city in Kōchi prefecture that does not face the sea.

Neighbouring municipalities

Kōchi Prefecture * Aki * Nankou * Kōnan * Motoyama * Ōtoyo Tokushima Prefecture * Miyoshi * Naka

Climate

The climate in the region is warm and temperate, with significant rainfall throughout the year, even in the driest months. January is considered the month with the least amount of rainfall, around . July is the wettest month, with an average of . The average annual rainfall is around . The average annual temperature is . August is the warmest month, with an average temperature of , and January is the coldest month, reaching an average of . According to the Köppen and Geiger climate classification, the climate in that locality is classified as ''Cfa'' (humid subtropical climate).

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kami in 2020 is 26,513 people. Kami has been conducting censuses since 1960.

History

As with all of Kōchi Prefecture, the area of Kami was part of ancient

Tosa Province was a province of Japan in the area of southern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Tosa bordered on Awa to the northeast, and Iyo to the northwest. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō syst ...

. 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 character ...

, the area was part of the holdings of

Tosa Domain The was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, controlling all of Tosa Province in what is now Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Kōchi Castle, and was ruled throughout its history by ...

ruled by the

Yamauchi clan The Yamauchi clan (山内氏) were a family of rulers over what was then the Tosa Province which spanned the southern half of Shikoku island. The province was given to the family in 1600 after Yamauchi Kazutoyo led troops under Tokugawa Ieyasu ...

from their seat at

Kōchi Castle is an Edo Period Japanese castle in the city of Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. It is located at Otakayama hill, at the center of Kōchi city, which in turn is located at the center of the Kōchi Plain, the most prosperous area of forme ...

. The area was organized into villages within Kami District with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. The city of Kami was established on March 1, 2006, from the merger of the towns of Kahoku and Tosayamada, and the village of Monobe. On the same day, the remaining municipalities of Kami District merged to form the city of Kōnan, and the district was abolished as a result.

Government

Kami 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 ...

town council of 20 members. Kami contributes one member to the Kōchi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Kōchi 1st 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 paral ...

Economy

Kami's economy is centered on agriculture and forestry. The production of forged knives is a traditional local handicraft.

Education

Kami has seven public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the city government, and one public high school operated by the Kōchi Prefectural Board of Education. The

Kochi University of Technology is a prefectural university in Tosa Yamada, Kami, Kōchi, Japan. After its foundation in 1997, Professor Yasuharu Suematsu was its first president. Kochi University of Technology serves 2056 undergraduate students, 224 Master students and 74 D ...

is located in Kami.

Transportation

Railway

Shikoku Railway Company The , commonly known as , is the smallest of the seven constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates of intercity and local rail services in the four prefectures on the island of Shikoku in Japan. The company has i ...

Dosan Line is a railway line in Shikoku, Japan, operated by the Shikoku Railway Company (JR Shikoku). It connects Tadotsu Station in Tadotsu, Kagawa, and Kubokawa Station in Shimanto, Kōchi. The line links the city of Kōchi with northern Shikoku a ...

* - - -

Highways

Kōchi Expressway * *

International relations

Twin and sister cities

* Largo（

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

）（1969）

Local attractions

* Ryūga Cave, Natural Monument and National Historic Site *TosaYamada stadium * Yanase Takashi Memorial Hall

Noted people from Kami

Takenori Emoto Takenori Emoto (江本孟紀, born July 22, 1947) is a Japanese professional baseball pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball. He played for the Toei Flyers in 1971, the Nankai Hawks from 1972 to 1975, and the Hanshin Tigers from 1976 to 1981. ...

Keisuke Katto Keisuke Katto (甲藤啓介) was born November 12, 1983. He is a Japanese former professional baseball pitcher in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball. He played for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks The are a Japanese professional baseball team ...

Yoshitaka Katori is a former Nippon Professional Baseball or NPB is the highest level of baseball in Japan. Locally, it is often called , meaning ''Professional Baseball''. Outside Japan, it is often just referred to as "Japanese baseball". The roots of t ...

Yumiko Kurahashi was a Japanese writer. Her married name was , but she wrote under her birth name. Her work was experimental and antirealist, questioning prevailing societal norms regarding sexual relations, violence, and social order. Her antinovels employe ...

(1935–2005), writer and

antinovel An antinovel is any experimental work of fiction that avoids the familiar conventions of the novel, and instead establishes its own conventions. Origin of the term The term ("anti-roman" in French) was brought into modern literary discourse by ...

ist. * Taira Hara, manga artist born in Tosayamada *

Takashi Yanase Takashi Yanase (February 6, 1919 – October 13, 2013) was a Japanese writer, poet, illustrator and lyricist. He was best known as the creator of the picture book and animated series ''Anpanman''. Yanase was chairman of the Japan Cartoonists Asso ...

References

External links

*
Kami City official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kami, Kochi Cities in Kōchi Prefecture Kami, Kōchi