or is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

located in

Gifu is a Cities of Japan, city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. Durin ...

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 city 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 24,726, 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 31 persons per km², in 8,905 households. The total area of the city was . The official ''

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, 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 and are ...

'' for the city is actually 飛驒, which uses the old rendering of the 騨 character. However, the 驒 character is not included on the official list of usable characters (as decided by the

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications The is a Cabinet (government), cabinet-level ministry in the Government of Japan. Its English name was Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT) prior to 2004. It is housed in the 2nd Building of the Centr ...

), so the 騨 character is often used outside of the city.

Geography

Hida is the northernmost city in Gifu Prefecture, and is located in the northern part of the Hida Highlands bordering on

Toyama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Toyama Prefecture has a population of 993,848 (1 January 2025) and has a geographic area of 4,247.61 km2 (1,640.01 sq mi). Toyama Prefecture borders Ishikawa Prefecture to the ...

to the north. The majority of the area of the city is forested, with many mountains exceeding 1,000 meters within the city borders. The northeastern edge of the Hida Mountain range exceeds 2,000 meters. Most of the population is concentrated along river terraces along the

Jinzū River The is a river that flows from Gifu Prefecture to Toyama Prefecture in Japan. The upper reaches of the river in Gifu are called the Miya River. It is in length and has a watershed of . Etymology The official name for the river is "Jinzu Gawa" ( ...

and the Takahara River.

Climate

The city has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and mild winters (

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 ...

''Dfa''). The average annual temperature in Hida is . The average annual rainfall is with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Neighbouring municipalities

* Gifu Prefecture ** Shirakawa ** Takayama *

** Nanto ** Toyama

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Hida has decreased steadily over the past 50 years.

History

The area around Hida Furukawa was part of traditional Hida Province. 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 whole Hida province was ''

tenryō 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 war ...

'' territory under the direct control of 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 ...

. During the post-

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 ...

whole Japan was under a massive westernization and new reforms, the area was organised into Yoshiki District, Gifu. On July 1, 1889, with the establishment of the modern municipalities system, the town of Furukawa and the villages of Kawai and Miyagawa were created. The modern city of Hida Furukawa was established on February 1, 2004, from the merger of these municipalities with the town of Kamioka. In this region there is always a disambiguation between Hida Furukawa and Hida Takayama or Takayama city. Even though Furukawa has is own municipality, Takayama is a mayor city in the area after Gifu city, and Furukawa is under Hida Takayama's precints.

Government

Hida Furukawa 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 ...

city legislature of 14 members

Economy

The main two traditional economies in the city are the production of ''

sake Sake, , or saki, also referred to as Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indeed any East Asi ...

'' and traditional Japanese candles. The Furukawa area of the city is known for both of these crafts, while the Kamioka section is mainly known for its ''sake'' production.

Education

Hida has five public elementary schools, two public middle schools and one combined elementary/middle school operated by the city government. The city has two public high schools operated by the Gifu Prefectural Board of Education.

Tokyo University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

Super-Kamiokande Super-Kamiokande (abbreviation of Super-Kamioka Neutrino Detection Experiment, also abbreviated to Super-K or SK; ) is a neutrino detector, neutrino observatory located Kamioka Observatory, under Mount Ikeno near the city of Hida, Gifu, Hida, ...

neutrino observatory together with the data processing centre ( Kamioka Observatory) has been located in Kamioka since 2002.

Transportation

Railway

JR Tōkai – Takayama Main Line * - - - - - -

Local bus

From Takayama ohi bus

Highway

* Tōkai-Hokuriku Expressway, which connects the cities of

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

and

with Toyama. * * * *

Sister cities

* Leutasch, Austria, friendship city since January 23, 1998 * Libin, Belgium, sister city since September 9, 1996 *

Xingang, Chiayi Xingang Township or Singang Township () is a Township (Taiwan), rural township in Chiayi County, Taiwan. Geography It has a population of 30,543 and an area of . Administrative divisions The township comprises 22 villages: Anhe, Bantou, Beilu ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

, sister city since October 13, 2017

Local attractions

Festivals in Hida

The Furukawa Festival is held annually on April 19 and 20. This traditional event is an annual festival of the Keta Wakamiya Shrine. It attracts many tourists every year, especially on the night of the 19th when the large drum float, Okoshi-Daiko, is paraded through the town by hundreds of half-naked men.

Popular culture

Kimi no Na Wa

Hida Furukawa was featured in several key locations in the popular 2016 animated film, Kimi no Na Wa (君の名は, ''Your Name'').

References

External links

*
Hida City official website
(Japanese, English, Korean and Chinese)
Takayama city official website
(Japanese, English, Italiano, Francais, Russian, Korean, Deutsch, Portugues, Espanol, Chinese, Hebrew ) {{Authority control Hida, Gifu Cities in Gifu Prefecture