is a

rural district A rural district was a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. I ...

located in

Yamagata Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It has a population of 1,005,926 (1 February 2025) and an area of 9,325 Square kilometre, km2 (3,600 Square mile, sq mi). Its neighbours are Akita Prefectu ...

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 ...

. In August 2013, the district had an estimated population of 14,695 and an area of 208.41 km². All of the city of Sakata north of the

Mogami River The is a river in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. Description and history The river is 224 km long and has a watershed of 7,040 km2. It is regarded as one of the three most rapid rivers of Japan (along with the Fuji River and the Kuma R ...

was formerly part of the Akumi District.

Towns and villages

* Yuza

History

Akumi County was formerly part of

Dewa Province was a province of Japan comprising modern-day Yamagata Prefecture and Akita Prefecture, except for the city of Kazuno and the town of Kosaka. Dewa bordered on Mutsu and Echigō Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History Early per ...

, and was mentioned in the

Engishiki The is a Japanese book of laws and customs. The major part of the writing was completed in 927. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Engi-shiki''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 178. History Emperor Daigo ordered the compilation of the ''Engishi ...

records of the early

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 Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

. The area came to be known as Yuza District from the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

through 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 ...

. Under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

, much of the area was ruled as part of

Tsuruoka Domain is a city in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 125,389 in 49,024 households, and a population density of 95.74 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Tsuruoka is the biggest city in Tōhoku region i ...

or its subsidiary domain, Matsumine Domain. Following 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

it came under the new province of Uzen Province, which became part of Yamagata Prefecture in 1876. At that time, the area consisted of two towns and 154 villages. The area became and was organized as Akumi District in 1878. Yamagata Akumi-gun 1889

With the establishment of the municipality system on April 1, 1889, two towns (Sakata and Matsumine) and 27 villages were established. akata was raised to city status on April 1, 1933, and Yura was raised to town status on April 1, 1941. The town of Yawata was created on December 1, 1954, and Hirata was elevated to town status on August 1, 1964. On November 1, 2005, as part of the

Heisei period The was the Japanese era name, period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Akihito from 8 January 1989 until his 2019 Japanese imperial transition, abdication on 30 April 2019. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the ...

Municipal mergers and dissolutions in Japan have occurred since the Meiji era to join the facilities and legal boundaries of municipal districts, towns, and cities. Often, these mergers are driven by a necessity to consolidate villages and 'natural settlements' into larger-scale cities as ...

, the city of Sakata and the towns of Hirata,

Matsuyama 270px, Matsuyama City Hall 270px, Ehime Prefectural Capital Building is the capital city of Ehime Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku, in Japan and is also Shikoku's largest city. , the city had an estimated population of 505,948 in 243,541 h ...

and

Yawata 270px, Iwashimizu Hachiman-gū 270px, Confluence of Kizu and Yodo Rivers is a city located in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 69,306 in 33972 households and a population density of 2800 persons per km2. The to ...

merged to form the new city of Sakata.

References

{{Authority control Districts in Yamagata Prefecture