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 ...

Aichi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefectur ...

, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 60,206 in 22,576 households, and a population density of 315 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Tahara is situated in southern

, and occupies most of the hilly

Atsumi Peninsula is a peninsula in southern Aichi Prefecture, central Honshū, Japan. It has an approximate length of east-west, separating Mikawa Bay (to the north) from the Philippine Sea to the south, with Ise Bay is a bay located at the mouth of ...

. The peninsula is bounded on the north by

Mikawa Bay Mikawa Bay (Landsat photo) Mikawa Bay (三河湾 ''Mikawa-wan'') is a bay to the south of Aichi Prefecture, Japan, surrounded by Chita Peninsula to the west and Atsumi Peninsula to the east and south. Its area is approximately 604 km2. Pollu ...

and to the south lies the

Philippine Sea The Philippine Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean east of the Philippine archipelago (hence the name), the largest in the world, occupying an estimated surface area of . The Philippine Sea Plate forms the floor of the sea. Its ...

. Situated as it is between those two bodies of water, Tahara has a warm

maritime climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

Climate

The city has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and relatively mild 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 ...

''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Tahara 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 .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Tahara has been relatively steady over the past 60 years.

Neighboring municipalities

;

Toyohashi is a city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 377,453 in 160,516 households and a population density of 1,400 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . By area, Toyohashi was Aichi Prefecture's second-la ...

History

Origin

The area of present-day Tahara has been continuously occupied since prehistoric times. Archaeologists have found numerous remains from the

Jōmon period The is the time in Japanese history, traditionally dated between 6,000–300 BCE, during which Japan was inhabited by a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united through a common Jōmon culture, which reached a c ...

and

burial mounds A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a ...

from the

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

Ancient history

During the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the cap ...

, the area was assigned to ancient Atsumi County, and was divided into several ''

shōen A was a field or manor in Japan. The Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4''). Shōen, from about the 8th to the late 15th century, describes any of the private, ...

'' during the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

Middle Ages

During the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

, the area was noted for production of a certain type of pottery. 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 under the control of the

Toda clan Toda may refer to: *Toda (surname), a Japanese surname *Queen Toda of Navarre (fl. 885–970) *Toda people *Toda language *Toda Embroidery *Toda lattice *Toda field theory *Oscillator Toda *Toda, Saitama, Japan * TODA Racing, who tune and race veh ...

, who constructed

Tahara Castle is a Japanese castle located in Tahara, southern Aichi Prefecture, Japan. At the end of the Edo period, Tahara Castle was home to the Miyake clan, ''daimyō'' of the 12,000 ''koku'' Tahara Domain. History Tahara Castle is located on a small h ...

Early modern period

The Toda, who were allied with

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

were dispossessed by

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

, but returned as ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...

'' of

Tahara Domain was a minor '' fudai'' Japanese domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in southern Mikawa Province (modern-day southeastern Aichi Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Tahara Castle in what is now the city of Tahara. ...

at the start of 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 Toda were later replaced by the

Miyake clan were a ''samurai'' kin group which rose to prominence in the Sengoku period and the Edo period. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003).html" ;"title="DF 39 of 80">"Miyake ...

, who ruled until the end of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

. The noted scholar

Watanabe Kazan was a Japanese painter, scholar and statesman member of the samurai class. Biography He was born Watanabe Sadayasu in Edo (now Tokyo) to a poor samurai family, and his artistic talent was developed from an early age. His family served the ...

was from Tahara.

Late modern period

At the start of the

Meiji period 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 ...

, on October 1, 1889, Tahara was organized into a number of villages within Atsumi District,

with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. Tahara Village was elevated to town status on October 3, 1892, and Fukue village became Fukue Town on February 22, 1897.

Contemporary history

Fukue later changed its name to Atsumi Town on April 15, 1955. On November 11, 1958, the village of was raised to town status. The city of Tahara was established on August 20, 2003, from the merger the former town of Tahara, absorbing the town of Akabane (both from Atsumi District) to elevate city status. On October 1, 2005, the town of Atsumi (also from Atsumi District) was merged into Tahara. Therefore, Atsumi District was dissolved as a result of this merger.

Government

Tahara 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 legislature of 18 members. The city contributes one member to the Aichi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Aichi District 15 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 ...

External relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

International

;Sister city * Georgetown（

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, United States of America） **since April 20, 1990 *

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

（

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, United States of America） **since August 8, 2002 ;Friendship city *

Kunshan Kunshan is a county-level city in southeastern Jiangsu province with Shanghai bordering its eastern border and Suzhou on its western boundary. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Suzhou. Name There is a strong pos ...

（

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...

, China） **since May 14, 1993 *

Dongjak-gu Dongjak District (Dongjak-gu) is one of the 25 '' gu'' that make up the city of Seoul, South Korea. Its name was derived from the Dongjaegi Naruteo Ferry, on the Han River which borders the district to the north. It was the 17th ''gu'' create ...

（

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

） **since December 2006

National

Friendship city * Shitara（

, Chūbu region） **since

Marchi Moscow Architectural Institute (State Academy) - MArchI (russian: Московский Архитектурный Институт (Государственная Академия) - МАрхИ) is a famous architecture school located in Moscow, ...

24, 1999 * Miyata（

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 ...

, Chūbu region） **since November 9, 1999

Economy

Tahara is a regional commercial center with a mixed economy of manufacturing and agriculture. Due to its long coastline, Tahara has many ports for

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...

Secondary sector of the economy

Manufacturing

The main industrial employer is

Toyota Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

, which has its award-winning

Tahara plant The is an automobile plant in Tahara, Aichi, Japan owned by Toyota Motor Corporation. The address is 3-1 Midorigahama, Tahara City , Aichi Prefecture. History It was opened in January 1979. It is the most computerized and robotized automotive pl ...

in Tahara which makes many

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese ...

-brand cars and some

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

models. The

Toyota Celica The is an automobile produced by Toyota from 1970 until 2006. The Celica name derives from the Latin word '' coelica'' meaning 'heavenly' or 'celestial'. In Japan, the Celica was exclusive to the ''Toyota Corolla Store'' dealer chain. Produce ...

was manufactured in Tahara from 1979 to 1999. Many

models are manufactured within this plant, as are many

models for domestic and international markets.

Lifeline

Energy

Tahara has a

consortium A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...

of companies investing in

renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

needs. , a new

solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...

and

wind energy Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...

power generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission, distribution, etc.) to end users or its stor ...

facility will provide 19,000 households with electricity on an infrequent basis that is dependent upon the weather. JERA operates the Atsumi Thermal Power Station, an oil-fired power plant with capacity of 1400 MW in Tahara.JERA official home page
/ref>

Education

Schools

Tahara has 18 public elementary schools, five public middle schools operated by the city government and three public high schools operated by the Aichi Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railways

Conventional lines

;

Toyohashi Railroad The is a private railroad company in Japan, and a subsidiary of the Meitetsu Group. The company or its lines are commonly known as . The company operates the Atsumi Line train service on Atsumi Peninsula in Aichi Prefecture and a tram syste ...

* Atsumi Line：- – – –

Bus

Bus services

Toyotetsu buses and city-operated environmentally friendly public transport facilitate access throughout Tahara, even to the westernmost point at

Cape Irago is the terminal point of land at the west end of Atsumi Peninsula in southern Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The cape forms one side of the entrances to Ise Bay and Mikawa Bay, which are divided by the Chita Peninsula Chita Peninsula (知� ...

Roads

Japan National Route

* is the main highway that runs the length of

. An alternate reading of the

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 ...

in this highway numeral designation is ''ji-go-ku''. In Japanese, the word '' jigoku'' means

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

, and thus some locals refer to it as ''ji-go-ku-douro'', or the "Highway to Hell". This term was encouraged by the perception of a higher fatality rate along the road, especially before it was widened and improved. *

Seaways

Seaports

From the Port of Irago, the

Ise-wan Ferry The , or Ise Bay Ferry is a ferry that runs between the Port of Toba in Toba, Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie ...

connects Tahara with the town of

Toba Toba may refer to: Languages * Toba Sur language, spoken in South America * Batak Toba, spoken in Indonesia People * Toba people, indigenous peoples of the Gran Chaco in South America * Toba Batak people, a sub-ethnic group of Batak people from ...

Mie prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

. The ferry can accommodate motor vehicles. The ferry also docks at the Central Japan International Airport, built on an artificial island in

Ise Bay is a bay located at the mouth of the Kiso Three Rivers between Mie and Aichi Prefectures in Japan. Ise Bay has an average depth of and a maximum depth of . The mouth of the bay is and is connected to the smaller Mikawa Bay by two channels: th ...

, south of

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

Local attractions

Yoshigo Shell Midden 250px, Yoshigo Shell Midden Museum The is an archaeological site containing a Jōmon period shell midden located in the Yoshigo neighborhood of the city of Tahara, Aichi on the Atsumi Peninsula in the Tōkai region of Japan. The site was desig ...

, a

shell midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and eco ...

and National Historic Site * Irago Tōdai-ji Tile Kiln ruins, Kamakura-period kiln ruins, a National Historic Site *

Ōarako Old Kiln ruins The is an archaeological site containing the ruins of five ''noborigama''-style kilns located in the Ashimura neighborhood of the city of Tahara, Aichi in the Tōkai region of Japan. The kilns were built in the late Heian period and were in us ...

, a National Historic Site *Site of

*Kojigahama Beach, Cape Irago, the wave sounds of which were listed as one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan by the Ministry of the Environment * Kazan Jinja * Akabane Long Beach, also known as "Akabane Beach" or "Long Beach", is a very scenic area for locals and tourists. The Akabane Beach hosted the 2018 World Surfing Games, among other international surfing competitions over the years. Iragomisaki5.jpg,

Irago view hotel.jpg, View of Cape Irago from Irako View Hotel Taiheiyou long beach.jpg, Akabane Long Beach Tahana nanohana.jpg, Rape Blossoms Taharajou.JPG, Tahara Castle Atsumi Peninsula3.JPG, Nishinohama Wind Farm Yoshigo kaizuka.JPG, Yoshigo Kaizuka

Notable people

samurai and artist *

Noboru Ueda is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He was exclusively a 125 class rider. Ueda began his Grand Prix career with a win in his inaugural race at the 1991 Japanese Grand Prix. His best seasons were in 1994, when he finished second in the ...

, motorcycle racer

References

External links

* * * * (with link to English pages) {{Authority control Cities in Aichi Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan Populated places established in 1955