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 Mikata District,

Hyōgo Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to th ...

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 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 16,256 in 6368 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 44 persons per km². The total area of the town is . The Ojiro neighborhood of the town is designated as one of

the Most Beautiful Villages in Japan is a Japanese nonprofit organization of listing some of the most beautiful villages and towns in Japan. The association is active on enhancement and protection of Japanese rural heritage, cultural fairs, and branding and promotion of regional, ...

. Kami is the birthplace of Tajiri-go, a Tajima Cattle who is the ancestor of more than 99.9% of Japanese Black ''

wagyu Wagyu (, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: ''wagyū'', ) is the collective name for the four principal List of Japanese cattle breeds, Japanese breeds of beef cattle. All wagyū cattle originate from early twentieth-century cross-breeding between ...

''.

Geography

Kami is located in the northern part of Hyōgo Prefecture and the Kinki region, facing 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 Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

in the north. It lies entirely within the San'in Kaigan Geopark. In addition, the mountainous area in the south is within the borders of the Hyōnosen-Ushiroyama-Nagisan Quasi-National Park. The area is part of the snow country and is characterized by heavy accumulations of snow in winter.

Neighbouring municipalities

Hyōgo Prefecture * Shin'onsen * Toyooka * Yabu Tottori Prefecture * Wakasa

Climate

Kami 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 climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Cfa'') with hot summers and cool to cold winters. Precipitation is significantly higher in summer than in winter, though on the whole lower than most parts of Honshū, and there is no significant snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kami is . The average annual rainfall is with December as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Kami was on 11 August 1994; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 26 February 1981.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kami in 2020 is 16,064 people. Kami has been conducting censuses since 1920.

History

The area of the modern town of Kami was within ancient

Tajima Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of northern Hyōgo Prefecture. Tajima bordered on Tango Province, Tango and Tanba Province, Tanba to the east, Harima Province, Harima to the south, and Inaba Province, Inaba to the west. ...

.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 ...

, it was divided between

Izushi Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Tajima Province in what is now the northern portion of modern-day Hyōgo Prefecture. It was centered initially around Izushi Castle in what is now the Izushi n ...

, Toyooka Domain and '' tenryo'' territory under direct administration 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 ...

. Following 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 ...

, the village of Kasumi (香住) was created within Mikami District, which later became Kinosaki District, Hyōgo. It was raised to town status on October 1, 1925. The town of Kami was formed by the merger of Kasumi with the towns of Mikata and Muraoka, both from Mikata District on April 1, 2005.

Government

Kami 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 ...

town council of 16 members. Kami, together with the town of Shin'onsen contributes one member to the

Hyogo Prefectural Assembly The is the prefectural parliament of Hyōgo Prefecture. The assembly's 87 members are elected every four years in 40 districts by single non-transferable vote. Nine of the electoral districts correspond with the wards of Kobe city and the rema ...

. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Hyōgo 5th 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

Kami has a mixed economy of

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...

and agriculture. It is one of then leading fishing ports for

snow crab ''Chionoecetes'' is a genus of crabs that live in the northern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Common names for crabs in this genus include "queen crab" (in Canada) and " spider crab". The generic name ''Chionoecetes'' means snow (, ') inhabitant ...

. The town is known for its production of "Tajima beef".

Education

Kami has ten public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the town government and two public high schools operated by the Hyōgo Prefectural Department of Education. The prefecture also operates a special education school for the handicapped.

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, ...

–

San'in Main Line The is a railway line in western Japan, which connects Kyoto and Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It is the major railway line of the San'in region, approximately paralleling the Japan Sea, crossing Kyot ...

* - - - -

Highway

* * *

Sister cities

Amagasaki 270px, Amagasaki Castle 270px, Aerial view of Amagasaki city center 270px, Amagasaki Station is an industrial city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 455,555 in 223,812 households, and a population de ...

, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan * Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture, Japan *

Suita is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 381,238 in 182,636 households, and a population density of 11,000 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It is a suburban city of Osaka City and a p ...

, Osaka Prefecture, Japan

Local attractions

* Amarube Viaduct * Mount Hachibuse (鉢伏山) (1,221 metres), a sacred mountain in the

Oomoto file:Chouseiden.jpg, 200px, ''Chōseiden'' (長生殿) in Ayabe, Kyoto, Ayabe , also known as , is a religion founded in the 1890s by Nao Deguchi, Deguchi Nao (1836–1918) and Onisaburo Deguchi, Deguchi Onisaburō (1871–1948). Oomoto is typ ...

religion * San'in Kaigan Geopark * Tajima Plateau Botanical Gardens

References

External links

*
Kami official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kami, Hyogo (Mikata) Towns in Hyōgo Prefecture Kami, Hyōgo (Mikata) Populated coastal places in Japan