was 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
Yuri District,
Akita Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is estimated 915,691 as of 1 August 2023 and its geographi ...
,
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 ...
.
In 2003, 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 12,836 and a
density
Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...
of 103.50 persons per km
2. The total area was 124.02 km
2.
On October 1, 2005, Kisakata, along with the town of
Konoura, was merged into the town of
Nikaho (all from
Yuri District) to become the city of
Nikaho.
The poet
Bashō visited Kisakata as part of his 1689 travels in
Honshū
, historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian ...
, and composed a famous
waka
WAKA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Selma, Alabama, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Montgomery area. It is owned by Bahakel Communications alongside Tuskegee-licensed CW+ affiliate WBMM (channel 22); B ...
about Kisakata's islands. However, an eruption of
Mount Chōkai
is an active volcano located on the border of Akita and Yamagata in the Tōhoku region of Japan, and is tall. Because of its (roughly) symmetrical shape and massive size, it is also variously known as , or depending on the location of the vi ...
and
Kisakata earthquake in 1804 caused the sea bed to rise, and the islands are now surrounded by land, not water. There is a statue of Bashō at the Kanman Temple, which he visited.
For hikers and climbers Kisakata is the jumping-off point for trips to Mount Chōkai. There are also a number of picturesque waterfalls, including the Naso no Shirataki (奈曽の白滝) and the Mototaki (元滝).
References
External links
Nikaho official website
Dissolved municipalities of Akita Prefecture
Nikaho, Akita
{{Akita-geo-stub