was 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 ...

located in Nishikanbara District,

Niigata Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,131,009 (1 July 2023) and is the List of Japanese prefectures by area, fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area ...

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 area is famous for

onsen In Japan, are hot springs and the bathing facilities and Ryokan (inn), traditional inns around them. There are approximately 25,000 hot spring sources throughout Japan, and approximately 3,000 ''onsen'' establishments use naturally hot water ...

near Yahiko mountain. Farming remains the predominant industry in the area. It is served by National Route 116 and Niigata Route 55. On April 1, 2007, Iwamuro became part of Nishikan-ku ward (西蒲区, Nishikan-ku?) of Niigata city.

History

Iwamuro, which means 'stone' and 'room' in

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

, lies at the foot of . It was originally surrounded by lagoons and marshes before major irrigation work was undertaken in the late 19th and early 20th century. Nevertheless, people have been coming to the area since the

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

period to bathe in naturally-created geothermal waters. Currently there are more than 20

s which range in price from cheap (500 yen) to expensive (+20,000 yen). Iwamuro's fame stems from its waters 'perceived' healing properties. An apocryphal tale tells of a farmer's wife who found a goose with a broken leg. She put it in a hot

sulphur Sulfur (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundance of the chemical ...

-smelling pool near her home. The goose's leg got better. The farmer and his wife then became very rich by opening the first onsen in Iwamuro. Behind Yahiko mountain lies the fishing village of . During the

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 ...

copper mining flourished in the foothills north west of Maze. At its peak, 60 tons of copper were being extracted each month. Output decreased in the 1920s but in 1943, mining was temporarily revived. Work ended at the end of the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

. During the period of 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 ...

, Maze was one of the ferry points to the banishment island of Sado. A small watch tower was sited just of north of the village.

Samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

were tasked with guarding the shore and questioning all who landed from boats. South of the harbour is Maze Beach, which is popular with surfers. North of the village is the Nihonkai Maze Circuit which holds regular weekend meetings throughout the summer months, attracting sports car drivers from across Japan.

Geography

The sulphurous waters in Iwamuro rise from depths of up to . They have an average surface temperature of 24.3 °C and are highly saturated in mineral salts. Iwamuro lies on a fault zone between Yahiko mountain and the bedrock beneath the Niigata Plain. In 2006, due to the number of onsens in the area, additional bore holes were drilled to a depth of . Rice farming is predominant throughout the area although there are several dairy and pig-rearing farms. As the village is on the Niigata plain, the rich

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

deposited by the Shinano and Agano River make it ideal for agriculture.

Demographics

As of 2005, 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 9,917 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 274.63 persons per km². Its total area was 36.11 km². On March 21, 2005, Iwamuro, along with the cities of Niitsu, Shirone and Toyosaka, the towns of Kameda, Kosudo and Yokogoshi (all from Nakakanbara District), the town of Nishikawa, and the villages of Ajikata, Katahigashi, Nakanokuchi and Tsukigata (all from Nishikanbara District), was merged into the expanded city of Niigata. Since Iwamuro became part of there have been several changes in the area. For instance local government services have moved to Maki, Iwamuro's farming cooperative opened a new rice storage centre centralising grain collection for the entire area In April 2008 after closing six independent silos and the fishing cooperatives of Maze and Niigata city have both merged, although the fish market and boat repair yard both remain open. Iwamuro also has two independent

sake Sake, , or saki, also referred to as Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indeed any East Asi ...

makers both located in the heart of the old district at Iwamuro-onsen. Products are sold locally and are of a higher quality than commercially-made rice wine. There are two

elementary schools A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

and one

Junior High School Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes ...

within Iwamuro. Iwamuro, as an area, incorporates more than 20 hamlets, villages and townships: *Hiso *Sakai *Hashimoto *Iwamuro-onsen *Ishize *Kubota *Saragase *Kanaike *Minami-yachi *Kitano *Shitatori *Nishinagashima *Tokozone *Araya *Oburajima *Takabatake *Nishifunakoshi *Katakami *Nishinaka *Natsui *Wano *Maze *Kami-Wano

External links

Niigata official website

Niigata Nishikan-ku website

岩室甚句(新潟民謡)
Iwamuro Folk Song
Iwamuro Onsen Information page
{{Authority control Dissolved municipalities of Niigata Prefecture

History

Geography

Demographics

See also

External links