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 ...

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

Aomori Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori (city), Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is border ...

> Minamitsugaru District Aomori MinamiTsugaru-gun

is a

rural district A rural district was a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. I ...

located in

. As of September 2013, the district had an estimated population of 33,815 and an area of 222.98 km². All of the cities of Kuroishi and Hirakawa, and parts of the cities of

Aomori , officially Aomori City (, ), is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Aomori Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 264,945 in 136,781 households, and a population density of 321 people per squa ...

and

Hirosaki is a Cities of Japan, city located in western Aomori Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 163,639 in 71,044 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Hirosaki developed as a jōkamachi, ca ...

and the town of Itayanagi were formerly part of Minamitsugaru District. In terms of national politics, the district is represented in 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 ...

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

as a part of the Aomori 3rd district.

Towns and villages

* Fujisaki * Inakadate * Ōwani

History

The area of Minamitsugaru District was formerly part of Mutsu Province. At the time of 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 ...

of 1868, the area consisted of one towns (Kuroishi) and 22 villages formerly under the control of Kuroishi Domain and 117 villages under the control of

Hirosaki Domain file:Hirosakijo.jpg, Hirosaki Castle, the seat of the Hirosaki Domain , also known as , was a ''tozama'' Han (Japan), feudal domain of Edo period JapanRavina, Mark. (1998) ''Land and Lordship in Early Modern Japan,'' p. 222 It is located in Muts ...

. Aomori Prefecture was founded on December 13, 1871, and Minamitsugaru District was carved out of the former Tsugaru District on October 30, 1878. Aomori MinamiTsugaru-gun 1889

With the establishment of the municipality system on April 1, 1889, Minamitsugaru District, was organized into one town (Kuroishi) and 27 villages were established. *1923 – Ishikawa, Ōwani and Fujisaki were elevated to town status. *1929 – Kashiwagi was elevated to town status. *1937 – Onoe was elevated to town status. *1940 – Namioka was elevated to town status. *1943 – Daikoji was elevated to town status. *1951 – Kuradate was elevated to town status. *1954 – Kuroishi merged with four neighboring villages and was elevated to city status. Kuradate merged with Ōwani. *1955 – Hiraga Town was created by the merger of Kashiwagi, Daikoji and three villages. Hataoka villages was transferred to Kitatsugaru District. *1957 – The town of Ishikawa was absorbed into Kuroishi *On March 28, 2005 the village of Tokiwa merged into the town of Fujisaki. *On April 1, 2005 the town of Namioka merged into the city of

. *On January 1, 2006 the towns of Hiraka and Onoe and the village of Ikarigaseki merged to form the new city of Hirakawa.

References

{{authority control Districts in Aomori Prefecture