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

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to t ...

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 95,266 in 43,191 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 2800 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Located inland on the Shimosa Plateau in north-central part of Chiba Prefecture, Yotsukaidō borders the prefectural capital of Chiba to the south and west. Kashima River in the

Tone River The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It is in length (the second longest in Japan after the Shinano) and has a drainage area of (the largest in Japan). It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō (); ''Bandō'' is an obsolete alias of the Kantō ...

system runs north to Lake Inba on the eastern edge of the city.

Neighboring municipalities

Chiba Prefecture *

Inage-ku, Chiba is one of the six wards of the city of Chiba in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. As of April 2012, the ward had an estimated population of 156,860 and a population density of 7,380 persons per km2. The total area was . Geography Inage Ward is located ...

Hanamigawa-ku, Chiba is one of the six wards of the city of Chiba in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. As of April 2012, the ward has an estimated population of 179,770 and a population density of 5,250 persons per km². The total area is 34.24 km². Geography Hanami ...

Wakaba-ku, Chiba is one of the six wards of the city of Chiba in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. As of April 2012, the ward had an estimated population of 151,593 and a population density of 1,800 persons per km². The total area was 84.21 km², making it the la ...

* Sakura

Climate

Yotsukaidō 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 Yotsukaidō is 15.0 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1431 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.4 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.7 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Yotsukaidō population statistics
/ref> the population of Yotsukaidō has grown rapidly over the past 60 years.

History

Yotsukaidō was inhabited by the Mononobe clan in ancient Japan, from whose name the Monoi region of the city is derived. In the

Heian The Japanese word Heian (平安, lit. "peace") may refer to: * Heian period, an era of Japanese history * Heian-kyō, the Heian-period capital of Japan that has become the present-day city of Kyoto * Heian series, a group of karate kata (forms) * ...

and

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 b ...

s, it was under the control of ''

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 ...

'' ruled by the Chiba clan for over 600 years. 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 ...

, portions were ruled by the

Sakura Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Shimōsa Province (modern-day Chiba Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Sakura Castle in what is now the city of Sakura, Chiba. It was ruled for most of it ...

, and portions were '' tenryō'' under the direct control 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 ...

. After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, the villages of Chiyoda and Asahi were founded on April 1, 1889 within Inba District, Chiba Prefecture with the creation of them modern municipalities system. However, much of the area of these villages was already under the control of the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emper ...

, which had established a

field artillery Field artillery is a category of mobile artillery used to support armies in the field. These weapons are specialized for mobility, tactical proficiency, short range, long range, and extremely long range target engagement. Until the early 20t ...

training school in 1886. The artillery school remained an active military installation until 1945. Chiyoda was elevated to town status on December 23, 1940, and merged with Asahi Village on March 10, 1955 to form Yotsukaidō Town. Yotsukaidō was elevated to city status on April 1, 1981. Proposals to merge the city into neighboring Chiba were rejected by public referendum in 2003 and 2004.

Government

Yotsukaidō 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 ...

city council of 20 members. Yotsukaidō contributes two members to the Chiba Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of

Chiba 9th district , the House of Representatives of Japan is elected from a combination of multi-member districts and single-member districts, a method called Parallel voting. Currently, 176 members are elected from 11 multi-member districts (called proportional ...

of the lower house 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

Yotsukaidō is a regional commercial center and a bedroom community for nearby Chiba and Tokyo. The largest industry within the city borders is a large food processing facility operated by

Yakult is a Japanese sweetened probiotic milk beverage fermented with the bacteria strain ''Lacticaseibacillus casei'' Shirota. It is sold by Yakult Honsha, based in Tokyo. It is distributed through convenience stores and supermarkets in single-servi ...

Education

* Aikoku Gakuen University *Yotsukaidō has 12 public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government, and two public high schools operated by the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education. There are also two private high schools. The prefecture also operates two special education school for the handicapped. Public high schools: * (千葉県立四街道高等学校) * (千葉県立四街道北高等学校) Private high schools: * Chiba Keiai Senior High School * (愛国学園大学附属四街道高等学校)

Transportation

Railway

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters ar ...

– Sōbu Main Line * -

Highway

* *

Notable people

Kazuo Shii is a Japanese politician who has served as the Chairman of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP) since 24 November 2000. Early life Shii was born in Yotsukaidō in Chiba Prefecture, the son of two schoolteachers. He graduated with the Bachel ...

, Japan Communist Party chairman * Yusuke Kobori, professional boxer * Kodai Watanabe, professional soccer player

Sister city relations

* –

Livermore, California Livermore (formerly Livermorès, Livermore Ranch, and Nottingham) is a city in Alameda County, California. With a 2020 population of 87,955, Livermore is the most populous city in the Tri-Valley. It is located on the eastern edge of Californi ...

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., ...

, from April 19, 1977

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yotsukaido, Chiba Cities in Chiba Prefecture