280px, 竹取公園 Taketori Park 280px, 竹取公園 Suyama Kofun 280px, 竹取公園 Kudara-ji 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 Kitakatsuragi 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 35,035 in 14106 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 2100 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Kōryō served as a temporary capital of Japan from 640 to 642 AD.

Geography

Kōryō is located in the flatlands of northeast Nara Prefecture in the Nara Basin. The town has many rivers, including the Takada River and Katsuragi River, which flow north, and the Soga River, which runs along the eastern edge of the town. The eastern part of the town is flat, while the western part is hilly. Koryo has two distinct districts, Mamigaoka and Kasa. Mamigaoka is a relatively new neighborhood that houses many shops and restaurants. It is much more affluent than Kasa, which is sometimes referred to as 'Old Town'.

Surrounding municipalities

* Kashihara * Kanmaki * Yamatotakada * Kawai * Kanmaki * Tawaramoto * Miyake * Ando

Climate

Kōryō 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 Kōryō is 14.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1636 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.7 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.8 °C.Kōryō climate: Average Temperature, weather by month
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Demographics

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

History

The area of Kōryō was part of ancient Yamato Province, and is the location of 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. The Umami Kofun Group spreads out in the western part of the town. Among them, the Suyama Kofun, a Special National Historic Site, has unearthed a wooden product that appears to be a hearse used to transport the dead to the tumulus. The town is also home to Sanuki Shrine, associated with '' Taketori Monogatari''. In the area between the Katsuragi River and the Soga River in the eastern part of the town, there was a

Baekje Baekje or Paekche (; ) was a Korean kingdom located in southwestern Korea from 18 BCE to 660 CE. It was one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla. While the three kingdoms were in separate existence, Baekje had the h ...

settlement, and the three-story pagoda of Baekje Temple remains. In 640 the

capital of Japan The capital of Japan is Tokyo."About Japan"
The Government of Japan. Retrieved 9 March 2022.

moved from Kashihara to Kōryō, with Kudara no Ohi Palace serving as the seat of power. In 642 the capital of Japan was relocated from Kōryō to Asuka. From the 11th to the 14th century, the area was a ''

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 estate controlled by the temple of

Tōdai-ji is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Nanto Shichi Daiji, Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Nara, Nara, Japan. The construction of the temple was an attempt to imitate Chinese temples from the much-admir ...

. The villages of Mami, Senan and Kudara were established on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. Mami was elevated to town status on May 1 1955. The town of Kōryō was established by the merger of Mami with Senan and Kudara on April 15, 1955. The town annexed neighboring Hashio on September 1, 1956.

Etymology

''Kudara'' is a reference to the ancient Korean kingdom of

and "Kōryō" is a reference to

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

. However, the ''

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

'' making up the town's name literally translate to 'many tombs', as the town has one of the highest concentrations of

in Japan.

Government

Kōryō 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 14 members. Kōryō, collectively with the other municipalities of Kitakatsuragi District, contributes three members to the Nara Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the Nara 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

The local economy is based on agriculture (strawberries, eggplants) and light manufacturing. The town was traditionally known for its production of textiles, notably socks.

Education

Kōryō has five public elementary schools and two public junior high school operated by the town government and one public high school operated by the Nara Prefectural Board of Education. The private Kio University and associated Kio Junior College are located in Kōryō.

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 ...

- Tawaramoto Line : 16px

Highways

Kōryō is not on any national expressway or national highway.

Local attractions

* Suyama Kofun * Kudara-ji *Sanuki Jinja *Umami Kofun cluster * Bakuya Kofun

Notable residents

* Tadahiro Nomura,

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

ka * Toyokazu Nomura, retired judoka

References

External links

*
Kōryō official website
Towns in Nara Prefecture Former capitals of Japan Kōryō, Nara {{Nara-geo-stub