was 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 ...

located in Minamishitara District,

Aichi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the ...

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 ...

. As of May 1, 2004, the town 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 13,565 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

of 51.45 persons per km². Its total area was 263.66 km².

Geography

Hōrai was located in east-central of Aichi Prefecture. Some 90 percent of the village area was covered in mountains and forest, and most was within the borders of the

Aichi Kōgen Quasi-National Park is a quasi-national park in the Tōkai region of Honshū in Japan. It is rated a protected landscape (category III) according to the IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in ...

History

Hōraiji village was created in the early

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

cadastral reform on 1878, but has existed since at least the

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

as a monzen machi to the mountain cult temple of Hōrai-ji. On April 1, 1956, Hōraiji and Nagashino villages merged with Nanago village and Ono Town from Yana District to form the town of Hōrai. They were joined by Ebi Town from Minamishitara District and Yamayoshida Village from Yana District on September 30 of the same year. On October 1, 2005, Hōrai, along with the village of Tsukude (also from Minamishitara District), was merged into the expanded city of

Shinshiro is a city located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 44,581 in 17,691 households, and a population density of 89.3 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Shinshiro is located in east-centr ...

and has ceased to exist as an independent

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Recreation

Mount Horai, Aichi is a climbing area located just north of Shinshiro. It is an area with both

bouldering Bouldering is a form of rock climbing that is performed on small rock formations or Climbing wall, artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or Climbing harness, harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers ...

and hard

sport climbing Sport climbing (or bolted climbing) is a type of free climbing in the sport of rock climbing where the Lead climbing, lead climber clips their climbing rope, rope — via a quickdraw — into pre-drilled in-situ bolt (climbing), bolts for their ...

, up to 5.14d, on steep volcanic rock. ''Byaku-dou'' (V15) and ''Epitaph'' (V15) are well known

boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...

problems opened by

Dai Koyamada Dai Koyamada (, born 23 August 1976) is a Japanese rock climber and known as one of the leading boulderers of his generation who established some of the first-ever boulder problems at . He has also established and repeated, some of the hardest ...

. Climbers are not allowed to leave quick-draws hanging from the routes overnight. According to the priests in charge of the many shrines on Mount Horai, this would greatly upset the numerous spirits that visit the forest.

References

Dissolved municipalities of Aichi Prefecture Shinshiro, Aichi {{Aichi-geo-stub