exclave
An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...
village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
Wakayama Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 876,030 () and a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture to ...
,
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 ...
Nara
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...
Prefectures. It lies along the Kitayama River and has become a popular spot for log rafting.
As of 2016, the village has 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 432 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 9 persons per km2. The total area is 48.21 km2.
Kitayama is the only remaining village in Wakayama Prefecture. Kitayama is known in Japan for growing a fruit called '' jabara'', which is considered a potent cure for hay fever.
History
Kitayama has a long history associated with
logging
Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksShingū. When the transition from 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 ...
to the modern era of
prefectures
A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...
occurred, the people of Kitayama desired to remain a part of Wakayama prefecture due to their close connections with Shingu City, and as a result this request was granted and the village remains an exclave. In 2005, there were plans for the village to merge with Shingu but those plans were canceled.
Transportation
Highway
*
Japan National Route 169
National Route 169 is a national highway of Japan connecting Nara, Nara and Shingū, Wakayama in Japan, with a total length of 184.6 km (114.71 mi).
History
National Route 169 was originally designated on 18 May 1953 as a second-cla ...
See also
*
List of enclaves and exclaves
In political geography, an enclave is a piece of land belonging to one country (or region etc.) that is totally surrounded by another country (or region). An exclave is a piece of land that is politically attached to a larger piece but not physica ...