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 ...

located in

Hiyama Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan located on the Oshima Peninsula on the Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian ...

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 ...

. 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 5,575 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 9.8 persons per km². The total area is 568.14 km².

Geography

Imakane is located in southern Hokkaido within Setana District,

. The town is on Route 230 at the junction of the Shiribeshi-Toshibetsu and Toshibetsu-Mena rivers. The main landmark and meeting point in the town center is De Molen, a large windmill. ;Neighboring towns and village * Oshamanbe to the east * Setana to the west * Shimamaki to the north * Yakumo to the south east ;Mountains * 981 m ;Rivers * * Toshibetsu-Mena River ;Dams *

Climate

History

Imakane, at the time known as Hanaishi, was founded in the

Kan'ei was a after '' Genna'' and before ''Shōhō.'' This period spanned the years from February 1624 through December 1644. The reigning emperors and single empress were , and .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834) ''Annales des empereurs du japon'', p. 411./re ...

period between 1624 and 1643 after gold, silver and manganese were discovered in the upper Shiribetsu River, near Pirika/Hanaishi. Some of the gold mined from the area was used to build

Nikkō Tōshō-gū is a Tōshō-gū Shinto shrine located in Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Together with Futarasan Shrine and Rinnō-ji, it forms the Shrines and Temples of Nikkō UNESCO World Heritage Site, with 42 structures of the shrine included in the ...

, a

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

shrine in

Tochigi Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,897,649 (1 June 2023) and has a geographic area of 6,408 Square kilometre, km2 (2,474 Square mile, sq mi ...

dedicated to

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

. Agate was found in Hanaishi in 1877. Mining was started by Oshima Kanzaemon. Meanwhile, increasing numbers of people arrived in the area to mine existing seams of manganese, gold and silver and by the middle of the Meiji era many had settled in the Shiribetsu river area. The town was granted independent status as the village of Toshibetsu and formed from the neighboring town of Setana in 1897. It was settled by Norioshi Shikata and 15 other families, including the Imamura and Kanamori houses. These families had arrived in the area during the preceding five years and laid out the town into 129 housing sites, a city hall and a police station. Toshibetsu village formally received the name of Imakane in 1947 as part of its upgrade to town status. The name was taken from the family names of its two celebrated pioneers, and . The town's constitution was established on October 1, 1967. Imakane celebrated its 100th year of autonomous government on July 15, 1997.

Industry

Today Imakane's main industry is farming. Imakane is famous nationwide for potatoes, especially the ''Danshaku'' variety. Fishing is also widespread; ''yamame'', ''ayu'', ''

unagi is the Japanese word for freshwater eel, particularly the Japanese eel, . Unagi is a common ingredient in Japanese cooking, often as '' kabayaki''. It is not to be confused with saltwater eel, which is known as '' anago'' in Japanese. In J ...

'', and ''iwana'' can be found in the area.

Culture

Imakane has a number of festivals, including the Snow festival in mid February (usually the weekend after Sapporo's) and the Autumn Festival on September 19 and 20 every year.

Symbols

The symbol of Imakane comprises the meandering Toshibetsu River and the 1st letter of 農耕 (farming) which can be written in katakana as ノ and pronounced "no". This symbol was decided upon by a public competition on the town’s 70th anniversary (1967) Another symbol of Imakane is a large windmill located in the center of town where the old train station stood. It is called "De Moren Imakane". 　The Name "De Moren" is Dutch for "windmill". In Spring the tulips come into bloom and is one of the symbols for Imakane.

Schools

Due to the steadily decreasing population, a number of schools have closed in recent years, including Yatsuka, Kinbara, Hanaishi and Kamioka elementary schools. Imakane Junior High School has an exchange program with

Burnside High School Burnside High School () is a state co-educational secondary school located in the suburb of Burnside in Christchurch, New Zealand. With a roll of students, it is the largest school in New Zealand outside Auckland, and is among the country's fou ...

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Burnside High School students studying Japanese last visited Imakane in July 2016. Seven Imakane students visited Burnside High School in 2013. 2008 marked the 20th anniversary of the mutual exchange between the two groups, and Burnside Vice-Principal Mrs. Hume visited Imakane along with a number of students. Special events were held to mark the occasion, along with the signing of a Friendship agreement between Imakane and Burnside High School.

Notable people from Imakane

* Nobukazu Kuriki, mountaineer and entrepreneur * Hiroshi Suzuki, bobsledder *

Chiyozakura Teruo is a former sumo wrestler from Imakane, Hokkaidō, Japan. He made his professional debut in March 1966 and reached the top division in September 1976. His highest rank was ''maegashira'' 5. Upon retirement from active competition, he became an ...

, sumo wrestler

References

External links

*
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Imakane, Hokkaido Towns in Hokkaido Hiyama Subprefecture