270px, Kashima City Hall 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 the southern part of

Saga Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. Saga Prefecture has a population of roughly 780,000 and has a geographic area of . Saga Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northeast and Nagasaki Prefect ...

on the island of

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...

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 27,360 in 10949 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 240 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Kashima is located in the southern part of Saga Prefecture, about 60 kilometers southwest of Saga City. The eastern part of the city faces the

Ariake Sea The is a body of salt water surrounded by Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, and Kumamoto Prefectures, all of which lie on the island of Kyūshū in Japan. It is the largest bay in Kyūshū. Its deepest point is only about 50 meters (165 ft) deep, and ext ...

, and the southwestern part forms the prefectural border with

Nagasaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan, mainly located on the island of Kyūshū, although it also includes a number of islands off Kyūshū's northwest coast - including Tsushima and Iki. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,246,4 ...

. To the south lies the Tara mountain range, and at its foot, several rivers carve valleys. To the north is a coastal plain where the urban center is located. *

Mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

s: Mount Kyōga (1076 m), Mount Jōdo (501 m), Mount Kotoji (501 m), Mount Gibi (198 m) *

River A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s: Shiota River, Kashima River, Hama River, Naka River

Adjoining municipalities

* Ōmura

* Shiroishi * Tara * Ureshino

Climate

Kashima 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 Kashima is 15.9 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1970 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.5 °C, and lowest in January, at around 5.9 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kashima is as shown below.

History

The area of Kashima was part of ancient

Hizen Province was an old provinces of Japan, old province of Japan in the area of the Saga Prefecture, Saga and Nagasaki Prefecture, Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Higo Province. Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen Province, Ch ...

. 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 ...

it was mostly under Kashima Domain, a sub-domain of Saga Domain ruled by a cadet branch of the Nabeshima clan. 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 villages of Minami-Kashima, Kita-Kashima, Hachihongi, Fureda, Nogomi and Nanaura were established with the creation of the modern municipalities system. Minami-Kashima was raised to town status on December 1, 1912 and Kita-Kashima Village was renamed Kashima Village. Hachihongi Village was elevated to town status on August 3, 1918. Kashima Town absorbed Hama Town, Kashima Village, Furueda Village and Nogomi Village to create Kashima City on April 1, 1954.

Government

Kashima 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 16 members. Kashima, collectively with the municipalities of Fujitsu District, Saga contributes two members to the Saga Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Saga 2nd 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

In the Edo Period, Kashima was famous for its production of Saga Nishiki, a type of brocade. Modern Kashima has a mixed economy with light manufacturing (automotive parts, pharmaceutics), agriculture and aquaculture of edible seaweed.

Education

Kashima has seven public elementary schools and two junior high schools operated by the city government and one public high school operated by the Saga Prefectural Board of Education.

High schools

*Saga Prefectural Kashima High School *Saga Prefectural Kashima Vocational High School

Junior high schools

*Seibu Junior High School *Tōbu Junior High School

Elementary schools

*Furueda Elementary School *Hama Elementary School *Kashima Elementary School *Kita-Kashima Elementary School *Meirin Elementary School *Nanaura Elementary School *Nogomi Elementary School

Transport

Railway

JR Kyushu The , also referred to as , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services within Kyushu, Japan. It formerly operated the Beetle hydrofoil service across the Tsushima Strait be ...

- Nagasaki Main Line : - - -

Highways

* * *

Sister cities

* Goheung County, Jeollanam-do,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, friendship city since 1997

Local attractions

*Hizen Hamajuku sake brewing street (肥前浜宿酒蔵通り) is 15 minutes on foot from Hizen-Hama Station. * Yūtoku Inari Shrine (祐徳稲荷神社), one of the three biggest and most famous Inari shrines in Japan. There is a bus from Hizen-Kashima Station to Yūtoku Inari Shrine.

Festivals

The Kashima Gatalympics is held every May in Hama-chō, a part of Kashima City. This event is a sports competition carried out on the

mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal ...

s on the city's

shoreline, and includes cycling, 25 metre running and sumo wrestling events.

Sport

The local

football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...

is Saga LIXIL F.C., and competes in the Kyushu Football League. Formerly known as Kyushu INAX SC, it changed its name when INAX's parent company LIXIL took over. It's also a pun on the team being from Kashima, as LIXIL also sponsors 8-time Japanese champions

Kashima Antlers The are a professional association football, football club based in Kashima, Ibaraki, Japan. They currently play in the J1 League, the top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The club has financial backing from Mercari, a Japanese ...

(from the city in Ibaraki).

Notable people from Kashima

* Narimi Arimori, actress * Yu Hirakawa,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player *YUKI, one half of the duo BENNIE K

References

External links

Kashima City official website

The Kashima Gatalypic Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Saga Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Kashima, Saga