is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

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 city 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 65,054 in 26670 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 860 persons per km². The total area of the city is ..

Geography

Kōshi is located in a northern inland part of Kumamoto Prefecture. The northern part of the city is one of the prefecture's leading grain-producing areas, with soils consisting of

volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, produced during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to r ...

humus called "Kuroboku", which is the result of volcanic ash falling from

Mount Aso or Aso Volcano is the largest active volcano in Japan and among the largest in the world. Common use relates often only to the somma volcano in the centre of Aso Caldera. It stands in Aso Kujū National Park in Kumamoto Prefecture, on the i ...

. Residential and commercial areas are located along national and prefectural roads and the Kumamoto Electric Railway. A new urban area has also formed in the southwestern area adjacent to Kumamoto City, and the population is on the rise as a

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for Kumamoto City.

Neighboring municipalities

Kumamoto Prefecture * Kikuchi * Kikuyō *

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 ...

* Ōzu

Climate

Kōshi 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 Kōshi is 15.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1988 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 Kōshi is as shown below

History

The area of Kōshi 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 Kōshi and Nishikōshi was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Kōshi was raised to town status on April 1, 1966 and Nishikōshi on October 1, 1966. On February 27, 2006 Kōshi and Nishikōshi merged to form the city of Kōshi. It was the 14th "Great

Heisei The was the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Akihito from 8 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the day after the death of the Emperor Hirohito, when hi ...

Merger" in Kumamoto Prefecture.

Government

Kōshi 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 19 members. Kōshi contributes two members to the Kumamoto Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the

Kumamoto 3rd district , the House of Representatives of Japan is elected from a combination of multi-member districts and single-member districts, a method called parallel voting. Currently, 176 members are elected from 11 multi-member districts (called proportional re ...

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

Kōshi has amixed economy based on manufacturing of automotive parts and precision equipment, as well as agriculture

Education

Kōshi has eight public elementary schools and four public junior high schools operated by the city government. The city does not have a high school. However, the Kumamoto Prefectural Board of Education operates three schools for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railways

Kumamoto Electric Railway The is a public transport company in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. It is abbreviated as or . The company was founded in 1909. The company operates railway and bus lines. Lines * Kikuchi Line (菊池線) ** Kami-Kumamoto — Kita-Kumamoto ...

- Kikuchi Line * - - - - - -

Highways

* *

Notable people

* Yudai Nakashima (1984–), football player * Masato Uchishiba (1978–), Olympic judo wrestler * Kyosuke Usuta (1974–), manga artist

References

External links

* Cities in Kumamoto Prefecture Koshi, Kumamoto {{Kumamoto-geo-stub