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

Mie Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture an ...

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 88,895 in 40,620 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 160 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Iga is located in northwestern Mie Prefecture. The northeastern part of the city is in the Suzuka Mountains, and the northwestern part is in the Shigaraki Plateau. The southwestern of the city is the Yamato Highlands, and the southeastern portion is a basin surrounded by the Nunobiki Mountains. The area is very hilly. Since it is on the upper reaches of the Kizu River, which belongs to the

Yodo River The , also called the Seta River (瀬田川 ''Seta-gawa'') and the Uji River (宇治川 ''Uji-gawa'') at portions of its route, is the principal river in Osaka Prefecture on Honshu, Japan. The source of the river is Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefectur ...

system, and borders on Shiga, Nara, and Kyoto prefectures, although Mie prefecture is classified as part of the

Tōkai region The is a subregion of the Chūbu region and Kansai region in Japan that runs along the Pacific Ocean. The name comes from the Tōkaidō, one of the Edo Five Routes. Because Tōkai is a sub-region and is not officially classified, there is ...

, the Iga region, including Nabari city, is designated as part of the

Kansai region The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropol ...

Neighboring municipalities

Kyoto Prefecture * Minamiyamashiro Mie Prefecture * Kameyama * Nabari * Tsu Nara Prefecture *

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

* Yamazoe Shiga Prefecture * Kōka

Climate

Iga has a

Humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Iga is . The average annual rainfall is with June and July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Iga has remained relatively constant over the past 60 years.

History

The area around the modern city of Iga corresponds to a portion of ancient

Iga Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan located in what is today part of western Mie Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Iga" in . Its abbreviated name was . Iga is classified as one of the provinces of the T� ...

. The area was noted in 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 ...

as one of the centers for ''

ninjutsu , and are terms for the techniques and skills used by spies and scouts in pre-modern Japan known as ninja. Some of these techniques are recorded in ninja scrolls, some which have been published and translated. The study of these scrolls have c ...

''. From around the 1460s until 1581, the province of Iga was an effectively autonomous confederation governed by a council of local

ninja A , or was a spy and infiltrator in pre-modern Japan. The functions of a ninja included siege and infiltration, ambush, reconnaissance, espionage, deception, and later bodyguarding.Kawakami, pp. 21–22 Antecedents may have existed as ear ...

families. The town developed in 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 ...

as a

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, ...

under Iga Ueno Castle. Iga is known as the birthplace of the ''

haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 Mora (linguistics), morae (called ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' in Japanese) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a ''kire ...

'' poet

Matsuo Bashō ; born , later known as was the most famous Japanese poet of the Edo period. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative '' haikai no renga'' form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as th ...

and the home of the ''

'' Hattori Hanzō. The town of Ueno was established on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to city status on September 10, 1941. On November 1, 2004 Ueno merged with the towns of Iga and Ayama, the villages of Shimagahara and Ōyamada (all from Ayama District); and the town of Aoyama (from Naga District) to form the city of Iga.

Government

Iga 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 22 members. Iga contributes two members to the Mie Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Mie 3rd district 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

Iga is traditionally known as a center for ''

Kumihimo is a traditional Japanese artform and craftwork for making braids and cords. In the past, ''kumihimo'' decorations were used as accessories for kimono as well as samurai armor. ''Japanese braiding'', as is sometimes known in English, is also ...

'', a traditional braiding art, with several artisans still in activity. The city is a regional commercial center and the local economy is dominated by agriculture and seasonal tourism. Since Iga is geographically located between Osaka and Nagoya, the number of factories located along the Meihan National Highway is increasing, especially due to the convenience of logistics.

Education

Iga has 19 public elementary schools and ten public middle schools operated by the city government and three public high schools operated by the Mie Prefectural Department of Education. The city also has two private high schools and one combined private middle/high school.

International schools

* Colégio Positivo - Brazilian primary school,Escolas Brasileiras Homologadas no Japão

Archive
. Embassy of Brazil in Tokyo. Retrieved on October 13, 2015. founded in 2013.

Transportation

Railway

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

–

Kansai Main Line The is a railway line in Japan, which connects Nagoya Station with JR Namba Station in Osaka. It is jointly run by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West), with the boundary between both compan ...

* - - - -

– Kusatsu Line * 20px

Kintetsu Railway , referred to as and officially Kinki-Nippon Railway, is a Japanese passenger railway company, managing infrastructure and operating passenger train service. Its railway system is the largest in Japan, excluding Japan Railways Group. The railw ...

–

Osaka Line The is a railway line in Japan owned by Kintetsu Railway, connecting Osaka and Mie Prefecture via Nara Prefecture. The line is the longest double-tracked railway of non-JR operators. Together with the Nagoya Line, this line forms the route for ...

* - - - Iga Railway – Iga Line * - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Highway

* 24px, link=, alt=E25 Meihan Expressway * * * * *

Local attractions

Two of Iga's main tourist attractions are the Iga Ueno Castle and the Iga-ryū Ninja Museum (the area around the city being the historical home of the famous Iga Ninja). There is also an annual Iga Ueno Ninja Festa ninja festival (April 1 to May 6). Other not so well known attractions include: * Otogitoge Pass is one pass that Tokugawa Ieyasu passed over as he hurriedly crossed Iga to return to Okazaki, helped along by the people of Iga and Koka, during the Honnoji War. * Momochi Fortress is the fortress of Momochi Tanbanomikami, who is said to be one of the three great ninja, and nearby is Seiunzenji, where his grave is located. * Sainenji Temple is a Jodoshu (Pure Land) temple and is the burial place of Fujibayashi Samujiyasutake, the author of one of the great books of ninjutsu, "Bansenshukai". * Fujiwara no Chikata Kutsu is the castle of Fujiwara no Chikata who appears in the Taiheiki, or Records of Great Peace. * A statue of

Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battle ...

which was erected in the 1990s for a

Sega World Sega World (Japanese language, Japanese: セガワールド, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: ''Segawārudo''), sometimes stylized as SegaWorld, is a formerly international chain of amusement arcades and entertainment centers created by Sega. Tho ...

location in Kadoma. The statue's owner died, and it is now owned by their children. It was deteriorating until 2020, when the owners finally restored it. * One of the last operational examples of a first generation Yamaha Music Siren is located on top of the Iga City Hall and can be heard playing music at set times throughout the day. The siren uses a system of dampers around ten choppers, each with different sized holes, in order to produce music. Due to Yamaha ending support for all models of the Music Siren, it has become extremely difficult to find examples still in operation.

International relations

Jurong, Jiangsu Jurong () is a county-level city under the administration of Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province, China. In 129 BC, the then Prince of Changsha Liu Fa's son, Dang became the Marquis of Jurong. As he died soon, the lands enfeoffed to him became Jurong cou ...

, China

Notable people from Iga

, poet * Hakaru Hashimoto, medical scientist *

Akiko Iwasaki is a Sterling Professor of Immunobiology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale University. She is also a principal investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Her research interests include innate immunity, autophag ...

, immunologist and professor at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

* Jirō Kawasaki, politician * Shuto Machino, professional soccer player * Genichi Mitsuhashi, first Ninja studies graduate * Wasabi Mizuta, voice actor * Ichizo Nakata, professional soccer player * Koji Nishimura, professional soccer player * Kippei Shiina, actor * Chiyonokuni Toshiki, sumo wrestler *

Kazuhiro Yamaji is a Japanese actor and voice actor affiliated with the Seinenza Theater Company. He has been married to Romi Park since 2020. Filmography Live-action films * 2000: '' Whiteout'' (Takayoshi Yoshikane) * 2001: ''Inugami'' (Takanao) * 2004: '' Ka ...

, actor, voice actor

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Cities in Mie Prefecture Iga, Mie