250px, Seizan-so 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

Ibaraki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,828,086 (1 July 2023) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, ...

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 48,074 in 19,327 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 129.2 persons per km². . The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 36.2%. The total area of the city is .

Geography

Hitachiōta is located in northeastern Ibaraki Prefecture, bordered by Fukushima Prefecture to the north. The city is long from north to south, and has the largest area of any municipality in Ibaraki prefecture. From the west, the Asakawa, Yamada, and Sato rivers flow in parallel to the south, and the villages and cultivated lands are spread in the valleys along each river. The rivers all join the Kuji River, which runs through the southern border of the city.

Surrounding municipalities

Fukushima Prefecture *

Hanawa is a Japanese singer and comedian raised in Saga City. He began his career in 1997 going throughout the 2000s distinguishing himself by use of his bass guitar throughout comedy acts. He rose to fame in Japan during 2003 for a comical song abou ...

* Yamatsuri Ibaraki Prefecture * Daigo *

Hitachi () is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1910 and headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company is active in various industries, including digital systems, power and renewable ener ...

* Hitachiōmiya * Naka * Takahagi

Climate

Hitachiōta 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 ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Hitachiōta is 13.9 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1426 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.2 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.6 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Hitachiōta population statistics
/ref> the population of Hitachiōta peaked in the 1950s and has declined since.

History

The town of Ōta was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. It was raised to city status on July 15, 1954.　On December 1, 2004, the town of Kanasagō, and the villages of

Satomi is a feminine Japanese given name which is also a surname. Written forms Satomi can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *里美, "hometown, beauty" *怜美, "wise, beauty" *聡美, "wise, beauty" *智美, "wisdom, beauty" ...

and Suifu (all from Kuji District) were merged into Hitachiōta, more than tripling its size and increasing its population by about 20,000.

Government

Hitachiōta 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 council of 18 members. Hitachiōta contributes two members to the Ibaraki Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of

Ibaraki 4th district Ibaraki 4th district (茨城県第4区 ''Ibaraki-ken dai-yon-ku'' or 茨城4区 ''Ibaraki 4-ku'') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan. It is located in Northern Ibaraki and consists of the cities o ...

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 economy of Hitachiōta is primarily agricultural.

Education

Hitachiōta has 12 public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government, and three public high schools operated by the Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and 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 are in ...

–

Suigun Line The is a Japanese railway line operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East), which connects Mito Station (Ibaraki), Mito Station in Ibaraki Prefecture and Asaka-Nagamori Station in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. All trains on the line continue ...

* - -

Highway

* – Hitachi-minamiōta Interchange * * *

Sister cities

Hunchun Hunchun is a county-level city in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture within Jilin province to the far east. It borders North Hamgyong Province in North Korea and Primorsky Krai in Russia, has over 250,000 inhabitants, and covers 5,145&nbs ...

Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture The Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in the east of Jilin, Jilin Province, China. Yanbian is bordered to the north by Heilongjiang, Heilongjiang Province, to the west by Jilin's Baishan, Baishan City and Jilin Ci ...

Jilin ) , image_skyline = Changbaishan Tianchi from western rim.jpg , image_alt = , image_caption = View of Heaven Lake , image_map = Jilin in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_al ...

, China, friendship city *

La Trinidad, Benguet La Trinidad (), officially the Municipality of La Trinidad (; ), is a municipality of the Philippines, municipality and capital of the Philippine Province, province of Benguet, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of ...

, Philippines, sister city *

Yuyao Yuyao () is a county-level city in the northeast of Zhejiang province, China. It is under the jurisdiction of the sub-provincial city of Ningbo. It is located west of central Ningbo, east of Hangzhou, bordering Hangzhou Bay in the north. Yuyao ...

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

, China, friendship city

Local attractions

*Bontenyama Kofun cluster *site of Ota Castle *Satake-dera * Seizan-so, National Historic Monument