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

Shiga Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,398,972 as of 1 February 2025 and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to th ...

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 6,721 in 2619 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 490 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Kōra is the second smallest municipality in Shiga in terms of surface area (after neighboring Toyosato). It is located on an

alluvial fan An alluvial fan is an accumulation of sediments that fans outwards from a concentrated source of sediments, such as a narrow canyon emerging from an escarpment. They are characteristic of mountainous terrain in arid to Semi-arid climate, semiar ...

of the Inukami River in central Shiga Prefecture in the Ōmi Basin, near the foothills of the

Suzuka Mountains are a mountain range running through Mie Prefecture and along the borders of Gifu and Shiga prefectures in central Japan. The tallest peak in the range is Mount Oike at . In spite of its height, Mount Oike is not the most visited mountain; tha ...

. The entire area is a lowland with almost no undulations.

Surrounding municipalities

Shiga Prefecture * Aishō, to the south *

Hikone is a city located in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 111,958 in 49,066 households and a population density of 570 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Hikone is located in central Shig ...

, to the north * Taga, to the east * Toyosato, to the west

Climate

Kōra 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 Kōra is 14.1 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1810 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.9 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.7 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Kōra population statistics
/ref> the population of Kōra peaked around 1980 and has declined since.

History

The area of Kōra was part of ancient

Ōmi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō Circuit (subnational entity), circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, ...

and

archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

s have found the traces of settlements dating to at least the

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

. From the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

, the area was divided between several ''

shōen A was a field or Manorialism, manor in Japan. The Japanese language, Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese language, Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4''). Shōen, from about the 8th to th ...

'' landed estates. The noted

Tendai , also known as the Tendai Dharma Flower School (天台法華宗, ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just ''Hokkeshū''), is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition with significant esoteric elements that was officially established in Japan in 806 by t ...

-sect temple of Saimyō-ji in Kōra was founded in the Heian period. During the Nanboku-chō and into 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 ...

, the area was hotly contested between the

Kyōgoku clan The were a Japanese ''daimyō'' and samurai clan which rose to prominence during the Sengoku and Edo periods. The clan descend from the Uda Genji through the Sasaki clan.Papinot, Jacques. (2003)''Nobiliare du Japon'', pp. 27–28./ref> The ...

and the

Rokkaku clan The was a Japanese samurai clan. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)">DF 53 of 80">"Rokkaku" at ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 49 DF 53 of 80/nowiki> retrieved 2013-4-3 ...

. The noted warlord Todo Takatora was born in what is now part of Kōra town and master carpenters who built Nikkō Tōshō-gū came from this area. During the Edo period, the entire area of the town was part of the holdings of Hikone Domain under the Tokugawa shogunate. The villages of Higashi-Kōra and Nishi-Kōra were created on April 1, 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. The two villages were merged on April 1, 1955 to create the town of Kōra.

Government

Kōra 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 12 members. Kōra, collectively with the other municipalities of Inukami District, contributes one member to the Shiga Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Shiga 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

Agriculture has dominated the local economy since ancient times. Manufacturing includes a number of small to medium sized textile, chemicals, and metals processing factories.

Education

Kōra has two public elementary schools and one public middle school operated by the town government. The town does not have a high school; however, the prefecture does operate one special education school for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railway

Ohmi Railway is a Japanese private railway company which operates in Shiga Prefecture, and a member of the Seibu group since 1943. The company is named after the Ōmi Province, the former name of the present-day Shiga. The railway is nicknamed by local users ...

– Main Line *

Highway

Meishin Expressway The , or Nagoya-Kōbe Expressway is a toll expressway in Japan. It runs from a junction with the Tōmei Expressway in Komaki, Aichi (outside Nagoya) west to Nishinomiya, Hyōgo (between Osaka and Kobe). It is the main road link between Osaka a ...

Local attractions

* Hoyoji Ruins: Remains of an Asuka period settlement * Saimyō-ji: Major Buddhist temple * Shimonogō Site: Remains of a Kofun period settlement * Zaijihachiman Shrine: Shinto shrine connected with the Todo clan, noted for its wisteria.

References

External links

* *
Kōra Tourist Association
{{Authority control Towns in Shiga Prefecture Kora, Shiga