270px, Sameura Dam reservoir is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

located in Tosa District,

Kōchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kōchi Prefecture has a population of 669,516 (1 April 2023) and has a geographic area of 7,103 km2 (2,742 sq mi). Kōchi Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the northwest and Tok ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. , the village had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 352 in 209 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing 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 geog ...

of 3.7 persons per km². The total area of the village is .

Geography

Ōkawa is located in the

Shikoku Mountains The Shikoku Mountains () are a mountain range that runs from east to west in the central part of the Shikoku in Japan. The length of the mountain range is about . The highest peak in the mountain range is Mount Ishizuchi. References

{ ...

in the northern part of Kochi Prefecture, bordering Ehime. The

Yoshino River The Yoshino River (吉野川 ''Yoshino-gawa'') is a river on the island of Shikoku, Japan. It is long and has a watershed of . It is the second longest river in Shikoku (slightly shorter than the Shimanto), and is the only river whose watershe ...

flows through the village from west to east. The former center of the village was submerged due to the completion and flooding of the Sameura Dam, located in nearby Motoyama. Currently, the Komatsu area on the shore of the dam lake has the village office.

Neighbouring municipalities

Ehime Prefecture *

Niihama 270px, Niihama City Hall 270px, Aerial View of Central Niihama is a city located in the eastern part of Ehime Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 115,824 in 57,781 households and a population density of 490 persons per ...

Shikokuchūō is a city located in Ehime Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 83,635 in 28876 households and a population density of 200 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Shikokuchūō is the leading producer of pape ...

Kōchi Prefecture * Ino * Tosa (town)

Climate

Ōkawa has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light snowfall. The average annual temperature in Ōkawa is 11.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2536 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in January, at around 22.4 °C, and lowest in January, at around 0.0 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Ōkawa population statistics
/ref> the population of Ōkawa peaked around 1960 but dropped precipitously in the decades afterwards after the completion of the Sameura Dam flooded the main inhabited portion of the village. Since then, Ōkawa's population has continued to age and decline.

History

As with all of Kōchi Prefecture, the area of Ōkawa 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 , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, the area was part of the holdings of

Tosa Domain The was a Han (Japan), 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 ...

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 former ...

. The village of Ōkawa was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on October 1, 1889. In the late 20th century, large parts of the built-up area of the town were submerged following the completion of the Sameura Dam.

Government

Ōkawa 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 consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

village council of six members. Ōkawa, together with the other municipalities of Tosa District and Nagaoka District, contributes one member to the Kōchi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the village is part of Kōchi 1st district of the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

Economy

The major industry in Ōkawa Village is logging; much of the town's mountains have been converted into a cedar tree farm. Additionally, the Shirataki copper mine (白滝鉱山) located in Ōkawa was in operation between 1919 and 1985.

Education

Ōkawa has one public combined elementary/middle school operated by the village government. The village does not have a high school. There is also a nature center which runs summer camps and a study abroad program which allows Japanese youth the opportunity to live in a very remote mountain village for Elementary and/or Junior High School.

Transportation

Railway

Ōkawa has no passenger railway service. The nearest station is Ōsugi Station on the

JR Shikoku 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 of Japan, prefectures on the island of Shikoku in Jap ...

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

; however, most passengers travel to Kōchi Station by bus.

Highways

Ōkawa is not on any national highway.

Local attractions

Ōkawa is regionally famous for its Black Beef cows and the annual Ōkawa Black Beef Festival (大川村謝肉祭 ''Shanikusai, ''lit. 'Beef Gratitude Festival') has been known to draw up to a thousand-five hundred people from around Shikoku and

Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

. There are also a few hiking trails located in the region that reward travelers with beautiful views of Shikoku.

References

External links

*
Official website

Shirataki-no-sato (Nature's Kingdom)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okawa, Kochi Villages in Kōchi Prefecture