270px, Haiden and Honden of Kasuga Shrine in Kasuga 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

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...

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 111,840 in 50874 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 260 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Kasuga is located in western Fukuoka Prefecture. It is adjacent to Fukuoka City to the southeast and forms part of the Fukuoka metropolitan area. The distance from the city limits to the center of Fukuoka City is approximately 10 kilometers.

Neighboring municipalities

Fukuoka Prefecture *

Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...

* Nakagawa * Ōnojō

Climate

Kasuga 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 Kasuga is 14.9 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1766 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.2 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.1 °C. Kasuga climate: Average Temperature, weather by month
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Demographics

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

History

The area of Kasuga is believed to be the center of the

Yayoi period The Yayoi period (弥生時代, ''Yayoi jidai'') (c. 300 BC – 300 AD) is one of the major historical periods of the Japanese archipelago. It is generally defined as the era between the beginning of food production in Japan and the emergence o ...

Nakoku was a stateIn Japanese, the character 国/國, read as ''koku'' (in on'yomi) or ''kuni'' (in kun'yomi), can be translated as "country" or "province" which was located in and around modern-day Fukuoka City, on the Japanese island of Kyūsh ...

. It was later part of ancient

Chikuzen Province was a province of Japan in the area of northern Kyūshū, corresponding to part of north and western Fukuoka Prefecture. Chikuzen bordered on Hizen to the east, and Buzen east, and Bungo to the southeast. Its abbreviated form name was (a ...

and its name comes from a

Kasuga Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It is the shrine of the Fujiwara family, established in 768 CE and rebuilt several times over the centuries. The interior is famous for its many bronze lanterns, as well as the many stone la ...

which was constructed in the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capita ...

by the

Fujiwara clan The was a powerful family of imperial regents in Japan, descending from the Nakatomi clan and, as legend held, through them their ancestral god Ame-no-Koyane. The Fujiwara prospered since ancient times and dominated the imperial court until th ...

which then ruled the area.. 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 was under the control of Fukuoka Domain. 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 ...

, the village of Kasuga was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Kasuga was raised to town status on January 1, 1953. Kasuga was elevated to city status on April 1, 1972.

Government

Kasuga 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 20 members. Kasuga contributes two members to the Fukuoka Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Fukuoka 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 ...

. The

Japan Air Self-Defense Force The , , also referred to as the Japanese Air Force, is the Aerial warfare, air and space warfare, space branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, responsible for the defense of Japanese airspace, other air and space operations, cyberwarfare and ...

has its western regional headquarters here, namely the Kasuga Air Base.

Economy

Kasuga is a regional commercial center, and is largely a

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for neighboring Fukuoka.

Education

Kasuga has 12 public elementary schools and six public junior high schools and one public high school operated by the Fukuoka Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railways

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 ...

Kagoshima Main Line The is a major railway line operated by the Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) between Mojiko Station, Mojikō in Kitakyushu, and Kagoshima Station in Kagoshima, Kagoshima, Kagoshima City, at the southern end of Kyushu. Until March 13, 2004, it ...

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, ...

- Hakataminami Line : NNR logo

Nishitetsu The , also called or NNR, is one of Japan's "Big 16" private railroad companies. With headquarters in Fukuoka, it operates local and highway buses, supermarkets, real estate and travel agencies, as well as railways in Fukuoka Prefecture. It ...

- Tenjin Ōmuta Line :

Highways

Notable people from Kasuga

* Yū Aoi – Actress and model * Toshiya Sugiuchi – Baseball player * Aoi Teshima – Voice actress and singer

Local attractions

* Hihaizuka Kofun, National Historic Site * Suguokamoto Site, National Historic Site

References

External links

*
Kasuga City official website
Cities in Fukuoka Prefecture Kasuga, Fukuoka {{Fukuoka-geo-stub