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 Koyu District,

Miyazaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Miyazaki Prefecture has a population of 1,028,215 as of 1 January 2025 and has a geographic area of 7,735 Square kilometre, km2 (2,986 sq mi). Miyazaki Prefectur ...

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 14,647 in 6,075 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 160 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Kawaminami is located in the north-central part of Miyazaki Prefecture, approximately 35 kilometers, about 35 km northeast of Miyazaki City. Part of the west side is the Osuzu Mountains, and the rest is a

river terrace Fluvial terraces are elongated terraces that flank the sides of floodplains and fluvial valleys all over the world. They consist of a relatively level strip of land, called a "tread", separated from either an adjacent floodplain, other fluvial t ...

that approaches the coast of the Hyūga Sea. The Hirata River flows through the center of the town, and the Nanuki River flows through the northern end of the town. The town's name, Kawanami, comes from the southern part of the Nanuki River. The hilly area that occupies much of the town is arid, and remained largely undeveloped for many years until full-scale development began after World War II.

Neighbouring municipalities

Miyazaki Prefecture * Kijo * Takanabe * Tsuno

Climate

Kawaminami 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 Kawaminami is 16.4 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2234 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.1 °C, and lowest in January, at around 6.5 °C. Kawaminami climate: Average Temperature, weather by month
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Demographics

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

History

The area of Kawaminami was part of ancient

Hyūga Province was a province of Japan in the area of southeastern Kyūshū, corresponding to modern Miyazaki Prefecture Hyūga bordered on Ōsumi to the south, Higo to the west, and Bungo to the north. Its abbreviated form name was , although it was als ...

. The area was under the control of the

Shimazu clan The were the ''daimyō'' of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan. The Shimazu were identified as one of the '' tozama'' or outsider ''daimyō'' familiesAppert, Georges ''et al.'' (1888). in contr ...

from the

Nanboku-chō period The , also known as the Northern and Southern Courts period, was a period in Japanese history between 1336-1392 CE, during the formative years of the Ashikaga shogunate, Muromachi (Ashikaga) shogunate. Ideologically, the two courts fought for 50 ...

, and was a contested borderland fought over many times during the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

. 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 ...

, 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 ...

, the ex-

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 ...

Takanabe Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now central Miyazaki Prefecture. It was centered around Takanabe Castle and was ruled by the ''tozama daimyō'' Akizuki clan for all of its history. In its ear ...

built irrigation canals to develop new rice fields, and large-scale farm development was carried out by gathering farmers from inside and outside the prefecture, but most of the area remained undeveloped, and there were constant conflicts over water. Before World War II, much of the hilly land was acquired to provide fodder and grazing land for warhorses. In the fall of 1941, the training range for the

Imperial Japanese Army The Imperial Japanese Army (IJA; , ''Dai-Nippon Teikoku Rikugun'', "Army of the Greater Japanese Empire") was the principal ground force of the Empire of Japan from 1871 to 1945. It played a central role in Japan’s rapid modernization during th ...

Airborne Regiment was moved from

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...

to Kawaminami, which became the site for parachute training. Post-war, despite the difficult conditions for agriculture, settlers came from all prefectures, so the town came to be nicknamed the "Kawaminami United States.'' The village of Kawaminami within

Koyu District, Miyazaki is a district in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. As of October 1, 2019, the district has an estimated population of 68,269 and the density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. Th ...

was established on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to town status on February 11, 1953.

Government

Kawaminami 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 13 members. Kawaminami, collectively with the other municipalities of Koyu District contributes three members to the Miyazaki Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the Miyazaki 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

The main industry of Kawaminami is large-scale agriculture, mainly livestock, is carried out on the vast plateau. The Shiotsuke Industrial Park in the northern part of the town is the largest

industrial park An industrial park, also known as industrial estate or trading estate, is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more heavyweight version of a business park or office par ...

in the prefecture.

Education

Kawaminami has five public elementary schools and two public junior high schools operated by the town government. The town does not have a high school.

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 ...

Nippō Main Line The is a railway line in Kyushu, in southern Japan, operated by Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). Also known as the Fukuhoku Nippo Line, The line connects Kokura Station in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, and Kagoshima Station in Kagoshima, Kagoshima, K ...

Highways

Higashikyushu Expressway *

Local attractions

* Kawaminami Kofun Cluster, National Historic Site * Sōrinbaru kuyōtō, National Historic Site

References

External links

*
Kawaminami official website
{{Miyazaki Towns in Miyazaki Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Kawaminami, Miyazaki