280px, Katsuragi 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

Nara Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the ...

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 37,809 in 15842 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 1100 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Katsuragi is located at the eastern foot of the mountain range that stretches from Mount Katsuragi to

Mount Nijō Mount Nijō (二上山, Nijōzan) is a mountain in the Kongō Range straddling the prefectural border between Taishi, Osaka, Taishi, Osaka Prefecture, Osaka and Katsuragi, Nara, Katsuragi, Nara Prefecture, Nara in Japan. Mount Nijō has twin peaks ...

, bordered by Osaka Prefecture to the west. Located in the

Nara Basin The Nara Basin (奈良盆地 ''Nara-bonchi''), also known as the Yamato Basin (大和盆地 ''Yamato-bonchi''), is a valley in the north-western part of Nara Prefecture, Japan. It has an area of roughly . It is surrounded on four sides by mountai ...

, the climate is cold enough to cause frost in the winter and humid in the summer. Also, since there is little rain throughout the year, there were reservoirs all over the city to deal with water shortages.

Mountains

Mt Iwahashiyama
* Mt Katsuragi * Mt Kongo
Mt Nijo

Neighboring municipalities

* Yamatotakada *

Gose Gose () is a warm fermented beer that is usually brewed with at least 50% of the grain bill being malted wheat (with the rest being malted barley such as Pilsner malt), fruit syrups - such as lemon and coriander - and salt - either added or a ...

Kashiba 280px, Kashima Jinja in Kashiba 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 larg ...

Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nara ...

Taishi Taishi may refer to: Names *Taishi (surname), Chinese family name * Taishi (given name), Japanese given name Ranks *Grand Preceptor, ancient Chinese top civilian position: ''taishi'' () in Chinese *Taishi, an alternate name of the Japanese Daij� ...

* Kanan

Climate

Katsuragi 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 Katsuragi is 14.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1636 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.4 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.7 °C.Katsuragi climate: Average Temperature, weather by month
/ref>

Demographics

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

History

The area of Katsuragi was part of ancient

Yamato Province was a province of Japan, located in Kinai, corresponding to present-day Nara Prefecture in Honshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005). "Yamato" in . It was also called . Yamato consists of two characters, 大 "great", and 和 " Wa". At first, th ...

. The city has many temples, shrines and ''

kofun are megalithic tombs or tumulus, tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century AD.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞 ...

'', many which contain important

national treasures A national treasure is a structure, artifact, object or cultural work that is officially or popularly recognized as having particular value to the nation, or representing the ideals of the nation. The term has also been applied to individuals or ...

and important cultural properties. The villages of Shinjō and Taima in Kitakatsuragi District) were established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Shinjō was raised to town status on August 31, 1923 followed by Taima on April 1, 1966. The city of Katsuragi was established on October 1, 2004, from the merger of the two towns.

Government

Katsuragi 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 15 members. Katsuragi contributes one member to the Nara Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the

Nara 3rd district Nara 3rd district (奈良県第3区, ''Nara-ken dai-sanku'' or simply 奈良3区, ''Nara-sanku'') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives in the national Diet of Japan located in Nara Prefecture. LDP candidate Taido Tanos ...

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

Katsuragi is basically a rural area, and the production of knitted goods and socks was popular as a home industry for farmers, but it is now in decline. It also serves as 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 Osaka Prefecture and the neighboring city of Yamatotakada.

Education

Katsuragi has four public elementary schools and two public junior high schools operated by the city government and one public high school operated by the Nara Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railways

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, ...

Wakayama Line The is a railway line that links Nara Prefecture to Wakayama Prefecture, both in the Kansai region of Japan, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It connects Ōji Station on the Yamatoji Line to Wakayama Station on the Hanwa Line ...

: 20px

Kintetsu Railway , referred to as and officially Kinki-Nippon Railway, is a Japanese passenger railway company, managing infrastructure and operating passenger train service. Its railway system is the largest in Japan, excluding Japan Railways Group. The railw ...

Gose Line The is a railway line of Kintetsu Corporation in Nara Prefecture, Japan connecting Shakudo Station in Katsuragi and Gose Station in Gose Gose () is a warm fermented beer that is usually brewed with at least 50% of the grain bill being m ...

: 16px - - 20px

Minami Osaka Line is a railway line operated by Kintetsu Railway. It runs between in Osaka and in Kashihara, Nara Prefecture. The line connects Osaka to southern part of the Nara Basin, running through Osaka's southern suburb cities of Matsubara, Fujiidera ...

: 16px - - -

Highways

Minami-Hanna Road is a national expressway in the Kinki region of Japan. It is owned and operated by West Nippon Expressway Company. The route is signed E91 under Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's "2016 Proposal for Realization of Expr ...

* * * *

Local attractions

Buddhist temples

Sekko-ji
*

Taima-dera } is a Buddhist temple located in the Taima neighborhood of the city of Katsuragi, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It belongs to the Shingon and Jōdo sects of Japanese Buddhism and its '' honzon'' is the Taima Mandala, a graphical representation o ...

Shrines

Fuefuki Shrine

Kakinomoto Shrine
* Nagao Shrine

Kofun

Imperial mausoleum of Empress Iitoyo

Tomb of Prince Otsu

Other

Katsuragi city history museumSanroku ParkSumo PavilionTakenouchi route

Notable people from Katsuragi

* Empress Iitoyo (Iitoyo Tenno) * Kakinomotono Hitomaro
Maekawa Samio
* Princess Chujyo (Chujyohime) * Princess Oku (Okunohimemiko) and Prince Otsu (Otsunomiko) *

Ryōtarō Shiba , also known as , was a Japanese author. He is best known for his novels about historical events in Japan and on the Northeast Asian sub-continent, as well as his historical and cultural essays pertaining to Japan and its relationship to the r ...

, author *

Mitsuo Fuchida was a Japanese Naval ranks of the Japanese Empire during World War II, captain in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and a bomber Air observer, observer in the Imperial Japanese Navy before and during World War II. He is perhaps best known fo ...

, Imperial Japanese Navy admiral

References

External links

Katsuragi City official website
(in Japanese)
Katsuragi City official website
(in English) * {{Authority control Cities in Nara Prefecture Katsuragi, Nara