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 the central part of

Tottori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Tottori Prefecture is the least populous prefecture of Japan at 570,569 (2016) and has a geographic area of . Tottori Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture to the west, Hiro ...

, Japan. As of October 1, 2016, the city 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 48,558 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), 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 ...

of 180 persons per km², making it the third largest city in Tottori. The total area is 272.15 km². The ancient provincial government of

Hoki province Hoki can mean: *Hōki Province, was an old province of Japan, today part of the Tottori Prefecture *Hōki, Tottori, a town in Japan *Hōki, a Japanese era name from 770 through 781 * Hoki (fish), another name for blue grenadier, a merluccid hake of ...

was located in this area, and in medieval times Uchikoshiyama (a hill) featured a castle. Today the remnants of the provincial government and two monasteries can still be seen in the city. Kurayoshi was officially founded on October 1, 1953 though historical Kurayoshi predates this foundation and the grid outline of the streets reflects a certain amount of Edo Period planning. Additionally there are many 'soil lacquered' warehouses (''dozo'', 土蔵) that survive, 'soil lacquering' being a traditional Japanese style of architecture. On March 22, 2005 the town of Sekigane (from Tōhaku District) was merged into Kurayoshi.

Etymology

The name of Kurayoshi in the

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...

is formed from two

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

characters. The first, , means "

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities ...

", a historical feature of the city, and the second, means "good" or "good fortune".

Geography

Kurayoshi forms a major part of the . The plain supports the agriculture of the region, and is a major center of

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

and

pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the po ...

s, as well as

grapes A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

in the sandy areas near 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 ...

coast The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in ...

Climate

Kurayoshi has a Humid climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm, wet summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kurayoshi is . The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . Its record high is , reached on 20 July 2018, and its record low is , reached on 6 February 2018.

Parks

Kurayoshi Park Square, a local development featuring museums, conference rooms, a music hall, restaurants, and park space, remains a popular meeting place. Nearby Utsubuki park is known throughout the prefecture as one of the best places to view cherry blossoms in spring. The park also features sports fields and a small animal zoo.

Transportation

The San'in train line operated by

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, an ...

serves the city from

Kurayoshi Station is a passenger railway station located in the city of Kurayoshi, Tottori Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West). Lines Kurayoshi Station is served by the San'in Main Line, and is located 270.1 kilome ...

and provides a connection to other major cities in Tottori, as well as cities in other regions like

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, 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, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

. There are also highway bus connections to Kobe,

, Hiroshima,

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since anc ...

and

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, ...

Tottori Airport is an airport serving the city of Tottori, Tottori Prefecture, Japan. The airport is owned and operated by the , and has a passenger volume of approximately 330,000 per year. The Airport is nicknamed , called after merged with names from '' Tot ...

is the nearest airport to Kurayoshi.

Surrounding Municipalities

** Hokuei **

Yurihama is a town located in Tōhaku District, Tottori Prefecture, Japan. As of October 31, 2019, the town had an estimated population of 16,837 and a density of 216 persons per km2. The total area is 77.95 km2. Yurihama was created on October 1, ...

Misasa is a List of towns in Japan, town located in Tōhaku District, Tottori, Tōhaku District, Tottori Prefecture, Japan. It is also home to the official treasure of Sanbutsu-ji, the Misasa Onsen, and Okayama Hospital. The name "Misasa" (literally "t ...

Kōfu is the capital city of Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 187,985 in 90,924 households, and a population density of 880 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Overview Toponymy Kōfu's name means " ...

** Kotoura * Okayama Prefecture ** Maniwa

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Kurayoshi is twinned with: * Matsudo, Chiba, Japan (2004) *

Naju Naju () is a city in South Jeolla Province, South Korea. The capital of South Jeolla was located at Naju until it was moved to Gwangju in 1895. The name Jeolla actually originates from the first character of Jeonju () and the first character of Na ...

, South Korea

Gallery

File:Kurayoshi Utsubuki-Tamagawa17nt3200.jpg, Dozo (土蔵) (Utsubuki-tamagawa) File:Kurayoshi Park Square04n4592.jpg, Kurayoshi Park Square File:Kurayoshi01n4592.jpg, Traditional weaving

References

External links

Kurayoshi City official website
{{Authority control Cities in Tottori Prefecture