is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

in the

Okhotsk subprefecture is a Subprefectures of Hokkaido, subprefecture of Hokkaido, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan. It was renamed from the earlier Abashiri Subprefecture on April 1, 2010. Abashiri Subprefecture was established in 1897. Etymology Abashiri Prefecture was n ...

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

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 name comes from the Ainu place name ''Inkar-us-i'' ("overlook-always doing-place"), meaning a lookout point. On October 1, 2005, the towns of Ikutahara and Maruseppu, and the village of Shirataki, all from Monbetsu District

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...

into the expanded town of Engaru."遠軽町の沿革"
Engaru Town Hall As of September 2016, the town has 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 20,757. The total area is , making it the fifth largest municipality in Hokkaido. Engaru is known as the place where

Aikido Aikido ( , , , ) is a gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art which is split into many different styles including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai, and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practic ...

originated, in the Shirataki area."合気道開祖・植芝盛平翁（Aikido Founder・Morihei Ueshiba）"
Tanabe City Hall It is also where the largest cosmos flower park in Japan is located. An

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories ...

site at Shirataki Site Group is the source of some Yubetsu technique stone blades dating from approximately 13,000 years ago.

History

*1869: Current town area was part of the

Wakayama Domain Wakayama may refer to: *Wakayama Prefecture, a prefecture of Japan *Wakayama (city) file:Wakayama city hall03nt3200.jpg, Wakayama City Hall is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Wakayama Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. , the city had ...

(or

Kishū Domain The Kishū Domain (紀州藩, Kishū-han), also referred to as Kii Domain or Wakayama Domain, was a feudal domain in Kii Province, Japan. This domain encompassed regions in present-day Wakayama and southern Mie Prefecture, Mie prefectures and ...

) jurisdiction."旧遠軽町の沿革"
Engaru Town Hall There were expanses of plains. *1896: The Church of Christ in Japan established the Hokkaido Comrades Education Association, and planned a Christian university at Engaru."遠軽町百年史" Engaru Town Hall, August 1998
The Church of Christ in Japan *1897: On 7 May, the first immigrant party of the Hokkaido Comrades Education Association arrived in Engaru, the first party to immigrate at Engaru. But the final construction of the university's plan did not materialize. *1919: The village of Engaru is split off from Kamiyūbetsu (now the town of Yūbetsu). *1925: The village of Ikutahara split off, becoming its own town in 1934. *1934: Engaru becomes a town. *1946: The villages of Maruseppu (later becoming a town) and Shirataki are split off. *2005: The towns of Engaru, Ikutahara, Maruseppu, and the village of Shirataki merge to form the new town of Engaru.

Notable geography

* Mountains: Mt. Murii, ; Mt. Hirayama, ; Mt. Shiyūbetsu, ; Mt. Chitokaniushi, ; Mt. Kitami-Fuji, * Major rivers: Yūbetsu River; Ikutahara River; Maruseppu River; Setose River; Shanafuchi River; Murii River * Waterfalls: Yamabiko no Taki, Rokumei no Taki, Jūsan no Taki, Shirataki * Others: , a rocky hill made of underwater lava of andesitic (

hyaloclastite Hyaloclastite is a volcanoclastic accumulation or breccia consisting of glass (from the Greek ''hyalus'') fragments (clasts) formed by quench fragmentation of lava flow surfaces during submarine or subglacial extrusion. It occurs as thin marg ...

) which was spewn out from an underwater volcano in the Miocene Epoch of the Neogene Period in the

Cenozoic Era The Cenozoic Era ( ; ) is Earth's current geological Era (geology), era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, Insect, insects, birds and flowering plant, angiosperms (floweri ...

(about 7 million years ago) with volcanic sandstone conglomerate. The top of the cliff is about high.

Industry

The major industries are commercial

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

wood processing Wood processing is an engineering discipline in the wood industry comprising the production of forest products, such as pulp and paper, construction materials, and tall oil. Paper engineering is a subfield of wood processing. The major wo ...

, and

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. In the past,

Engaru Station is a railway station in Engaru, Monbetsu, Hokkaidō Prefecture, Japan. Its station number is A50. Lines *Hokkaido Railway Company **Sekihoku Main Line is a railway line in Hokkaido, Japan, operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkai ...

was the intersection of the Nayoro Main Line (closed in 1989) and the

Sekihoku Main Line is a railway line in Hokkaido, Japan, operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaido) between in Asahikawa and Abashiri Station in Abashiri. The name comes from the first Kanji characters of and , names of 19th century provinces along t ...

. It had an important position in business and overall development.

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

, Engaru has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(''Dfb'') with warm, rainy summers and extremely snowy, long, and cold winters.

Gallery

file:Engaru Hokkaido April 2004.jpg, Gambōiwa file:Engaru Hokkaido May 2004 2.jpg, View from Gambōiwa file:Engaru, Hokkaido, March 2004.JPG, Town area in front of Engaru Station file:Amemiya 21gou Steam Locomotive Hokkaido Japan.jpg, Preserved forest railway locomotive at Maruseppu file:Setose spa 2011.JPG, Setose Spa file:North King 2011.JPG, Ikutahara Spa "North King" file:北大雪スキー場2.JPG, Kita-Taisetsu ski area file:遠軽高校.JPG, Hokkaido Prefectural Engaru High School

Sister cities

* Bastos,

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Brazil * Moirans-en-Montagne, Jura, France

Notable people

Tomonori Kogawa is a Japanese animator and character designer, often noted for his work in the 1980s with noted anime studio Sunrise. Works * Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato (1978) - Chief Animation Director * Space Runaway Ideon (1980) - Character Design ...

(born 1950)

animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...

, and animation director of 1980 TV series ''

Space Runaway Ideon is a 1980 anime television series produced by Sunrise, created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, produced immediately following his signature work, '' Mobile Suit Gundam''. It first premiered on TV Tokyo from 1980 to 1981, followed by two f ...

'' *

Masami Tanaka is a former breaststroke swimmer from Japan. She won the bronze medal in the 4 × 100 m Medley Relay at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia Sydney is the capital city of the state of New South Wales and the most populous city ...

(born 1979) a former swimmer *

Morihei Ueshiba was a Japanese martial artist and founder of the Japanese martial art, martial art of aikido. He is often referred to as "the founder" or , "Great Teacher". The son of a landowner from Tanabe, Wakayama, Tanabe, Ueshiba studied a number of ...

(1883 - 1969) the founder of

, leading ''Kishū Settlers Group'' at Shirataki area from Tanabe *

Yoshikazu Yasuhiko is a Japanese animator, manga artist, and anime director. He is best known for being the character designer and animation director of the original '' Mobile Suit Gundam'' anime, which began in 1979. That same year, he began working as a mang ...

(born 1947)

manga artist A manga artist, also known as a mangaka (), is a Cartoonist, comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist before entering the indus ...

, and character designer of 1979-1980 TV series ''

Mobile Suit Gundam , also retrospectively known as ''First Gundam'', ''Gundam 0079'' or simply ''Gundam '79'', is a Japanese anime television series produced by Nippon Sunrise. Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Na ...

''"ガンダム遠軽（だいち）に立て!!～町職員から広がるまちづくり～ - 第34回兵庫自治研集会第8分科会都市（まち）と地方の再生とまちづくり"
All-Japan Prefectural and Municipal Workers Union, October 2012

References

External links

Official Website

Taiyo-no-Oka Engaru Park Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Engaru, Hokkaido Towns in Hokkaido