290pxHanaguri Ide (Baba Kusunoide canal) 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 Kikuchi District,

Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture t ...

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 43,852 in 19,715 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 1200 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Kikuyō is located in central Kumamoto Prefecture, adjacent to the northeast side of Kumamoto City. The Shirakawa River flows west through the central-southern part of the town, with river terraces spreading along the banks. The Horikawa River also flows through the northern part of the town, and numerous

irrigation canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface f ...

s run through the river basin.

Neighboring municipalities

Kumamoto Prefecture * Kōshi *

Kumamoto is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a populat ...

* Mashiki * Ōzu

Climate

Kikuyō 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 Kikuyō is 15.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1965 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 4.6 °C.

Demographics

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

History

The area of Kikuyō was part of ancient

Higo Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. It was sometimes called , with Hizen Province. Higo bordered on Chikugo, Bungo, Hyūga, Ōsumi, and Satsuma Provinces. History The cas ...

, 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 part of the holdings of

Kumamoto Domain The , which was in existence from 1600 to 1871, had a significant influence in the region. Initially, it controlled its vast territory of 520,000 koku, which later expanded to 540,000 koku after the division of the 8th generation territory and the e ...

. 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 villages of Tsuda, Haramizu and Shirasui was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889.The three villages merged on April 1, 1955 to form the village of Kikuyō. On January 1, 1969 Kikuyō was raised to town status.

Government

Kikuyō 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 18 members. Kikuyō, collectively with the other municipalities in Kikuchi District, contributes two members to the Kumamoto Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Kumamoto 3rd 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

Kikuyō has a mixed economy based on agriculture, notably in the southern and eastern parts of the town around the Shirakawa River. Kikuyō is known for its Kikuyō carrots. From the 1980s onwards, numerous semiconductor manufacturers have located production plants in Kikuyō, and the semiconductor and semiconductor-related industries now dominate the industrial sector of the local economy. The town is growing, due to the presence of a Tokyo Electric plant and the current construction of a new Fujifilm plant on highway 57.

Education

Kikuyō has six public elementary schools and two public junior high schools operated by the town government. The town does not have a high school. Kumamoto-based Shokei College has a campus in Kikuyō.

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 ...

Hōhi Main Line The is a railway line in Kyushu, southern Japan, operated by the Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). It connects the west and east coasts of the island. The line originates at Kumamoto Station in Kumamoto and ends at terminal of Ōita Station ...

* -

Highways

The Kyushu Expressway passes though Kikuyō, but there is no interchange within the town borders. * *

Notable people from Kikuyō

* Masanobu Komaki, football player * Takashi Sawada, football player * Daisuke Yano, football player

References

External links

*
Kikuyō official website
Towns in Kumamoto Prefecture {{Kumamoto-geo-stub