is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

Aomori Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori (city), Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is border ...

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 village 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 7,420 in 2845 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 362 persons per km². The total area of the village is .

Geography

Inakadate occupies the flatlands within Minamitsugaru District of south-central Aomori, east of the city of Hirosaki.

Neighbouring municipalities

Aomori Prefecture * Fujisaki * Hirakawa *

Hirosaki is a Cities of Japan, city located in western Aomori Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 163,639 in 71,044 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Hirosaki developed as a jōkamachi, ca ...

* Kuroishi

Climate

The village has a cold

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 Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dfb'') characterized by warm short summers and long cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Inakadate is 10.5 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1294 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.1 °C, and lowest in January, at around -1.9 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Inakadate has decreased steadily over the past 60 years.

History

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 area around Inakadate was controlled by the

Tsugaru clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled the northwestern half of what is now Aomori Prefecture in the Tōhoku region of Japan under the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate. The Tsugaru were ''daimyō'' of Hirosaki Domain and its semi-subsidiary, ...

Hirosaki Domain file:Hirosakijo.jpg, Hirosaki Castle, the seat of the Hirosaki Domain , also known as , was a ''tozama'' Han (Japan), feudal domain of Edo period JapanRavina, Mark. (1998) ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan,'' p. 222 It is located in Muts ...

. After the

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 ...

, it became part of Minamitsugaru District. On April 1, 1889, Inakadate was proclaimed as a village with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. On April 1, 1955, it annexed neighboring Kodaji Village, but lost a portion of its territory to Onoe Town on October 1, 1956.

Government

Inakadate 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 ...

village legislature of eight members. Minamitsugari District contributes one member to the Aomori Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the village is part of Aomori 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

The economy of Inakadate is heavily dependent on agriculture, notably rice and horticulture.

Education

Inakadate has one public elementary school and one public junior high school operated by the village government. The village does not have a high school.

Transportation

Railway

East Japan Railway Company 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 ...

(JR East) -

Ōu Main Line The is a railway line in Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Fukushima Station (Fukushima), Fukushima Station through Akita Station to Aomori Station. Since the opening of the Yamagata Shinkansen on July 1, 1 ...

, Gono Line * Konan Testudo logo

Kōnan Railway Company The , also known as Konan Tetsudo, is a railway company that provides transportation services in western Aomori Prefecture, Japan. The company operates two regional railway lines: the Kōnan Line, which connects Hirosaki Station in the city of ...

Kōnan Railway Kōnan Line The is a railway route operated by the Japanese private railway operator Kōnan Railway in Aomori Prefecture, from Hirosaki Station in Hirosaki to Kuroishi Station in Kuroishi. Station list * Tamboāto Station is open from April to Novemb ...

* -

Highway

Local attractions

* Tareyanagi Site, a Yayoi-period ruin and National Historic Site

Art stimulus

In 1993, as part of a revitalization effort, Inakadate began creating rice paddy art, murals of art using rice paddy fields. The people were looking for a way to revitalize their village. Archaeology showed that rice had been grown in the area for more than 2000 years. To honor this history, the villagers started a rice field behind the town hall. The villagers cultivated and used four different types of heirloom and modern strains of rice to create a giant picture in the field. To allow viewing of the whole picture, a mock castle tower 22 meters high was erected at the village office. In 2006, more than 200,000 people visited the village to see the art. To encourage visitation outside of rice growing season, the village began using the same fields for winter rice paddy art in 2016. The designs are created by compressing snow into patterns by walking on it with

snowshoes Snowshoes are specialized outdoor gear for walking over snow. Their large footprint spreads the user's weight out and allows them to travel largely on top of rather than through snow. Adjustable bindings attach them to appropriate winter footw ...

Notable people from Inakadate

Tochinoumi Teruyoshi was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Aomori. He was the sport's 49th ''yokozuna'', earning promotion in 1964. He was somewhat overshadowed by his ''yokozuna'' contemporaries Taihō and Kashiwado, but he was a noted technician and ear ...

, sumo wrestler

References

External links

*
Enchanting Murals bring Japan's farm to life'
September 3, 2017, NTRJournal {{Authority control Villages in Aomori Prefecture