280px, 160104-11 The north side of Yamato River 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 Shiki District,

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 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 7,985 in 3594 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 1300 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Kawanishi is located in the flatlands of northeast Nara Prefecture 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

Yamato River The is a river that flows through Nara Prefecture and Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is designated Classification of rivers in Japan, Class A by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). The river flows via towns: *Nara ...

flows through the town, and branches off into three

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, the Asuka River, the Tera River, and the Soga River.

Surrounding municipalities

* Yamatokōriyama *

Tenri 280px, Tenri City Hall is a city located in Nara Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 60,890 in 29456 households, and a population density of 700 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . The city is named after t ...

* Ando * Miyake * Kawai

Climate

Kawanishi 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 Kawanishi is 14.1 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1636 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.1 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.6 °C.Kawanishi climate: Average Temperature, weather by month
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Demographics

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

History

The area of Kawanishi 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 ...

, and many

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 ...

burial mounds A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. ...

are located within the town. The village of Kawanishi was established on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was elevated to town status on April 1, 1975.

Government

Kawanishi 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 12 members. Kawanishi, collectively with the other municipalities of Shiki District, contributes two members to the Nara Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the

Nara 2nd district Nara 2nd district (奈良2区 ''Nara ni-ku'', more formally 奈良県第2区 ''Nara-ken dai-ni-ku'') is a single-member electoral district for the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet of Japan, located in Nara Prefecture ...

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 local economy is based on agriculture and light manufacturing. The local speciality is green onions, and in terms of manufacturing, the area is traditionally a center for button production.

Education

Kawanishi has one public combined elementary/junior high school operated by the town government. The town does not have a high school.

Transportation

Railways

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 ...

- Kashihara Line : 16px

Highways

Kawanishi is not on any expressway or national highway.

Local attractions

* Shimanoyama Kofun, National Historic Site

References

External links

*
Kawanishi official website
Towns in Nara Prefecture {{Nara-geo-stub