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 ...

on the northern border of

Ōita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,081,646 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, K ...

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...

, Japan. , 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 82,301 in 41222 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 96 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Nakatsu is in the northwest corner of Ōita Prefecture, Kyushu and faces the Gulf of Suō on the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka Ba ...

to the northeast. To the east of Nakatsu is Usa and to the southwest is Hita. Nakatsu touches the border of Fukuoka Prefecture on its west. Some 80% of the city area is mountainous, mainly in the south There is a wide stretch of flat, agricultural land which begins at the mouth of Yamakuni River and extends to Mount Hiko called the Nakatsu plain, making it the largest agricultural area in the prefecture. The tallest mountain in Nakatsu is Mount Hachimen (八面山, ''Hachimen-zan'') which literally means "eight-faced mountain." Its name is said to have come from the fact that the mountain looks nearly same from every angle. It seen as a symbol of Nakatsu with many legends surrounding it.

Neighboring municipalities

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...

* Buzen * Chikujō * Kōge * Miyako * Soeda * Yoshitomi

* Hita * Kusu * Usa

Climate

Nakatsu 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 climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Cfa'') with hot summers and cool winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year, but is somewhat lower in winter. The average annual temperature in Nakatsu is . The average annual rainfall is with June as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Nakatsu was on 25 July 2013; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 24 January 2016.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Nakatsu in 2020 is 82,863 people. Nakatsu has been conducting censuses since 1920.

History

The area of Nakatsu was part of ancient

Buzen Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of northeastern Kyūshū, corresponding to part of southeastern Fukuoka Prefecture and northwestern Ōita Prefecture. Buzen bordered on Bungo Province, Bungo to the south, and Chikuzen Pro ...

. During 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 ...

Kuroda Yoshitaka , also known as , was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku through the early Edo period. Renowned as a man of great ambition, he succeeded Takenaka Hanbei as a chief strategist and adviser to Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Kuroda b ...

(Josui) built Nakatsu Castle as a flatland castle near the Yamaguni River in 1587. 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 became the center of the 100,000 ''

koku The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. One koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about of rice. It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1,000 gō. One ''gō'' is the traditional volume of a single serving of rice (before co ...

'' Nakatsu Domain which was ruled by the Okudaira clan. 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 town of Nakatsu within Shimoge District, Ōita was established on May 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to city status on April 20, 1929. On October 1, 2005 Kitsuki merged with the town of Yamaka from Hayami District and the village of Ota from

Nishikunisaki District, Ōita was a district located in Ōita Prefecture, 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 ...

. *April 1951: The village of Miho was merged into Nakatsu. *October 1954: The village of Wada was merged into Nakatsu. *February 1955: The village of Imazu was merged into Nakatsu. *March 2005: The towns of Hon'yabakei,

Yabakei The gorge of is a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty spanning the municipalities of Kusu and Nakatsu in Ōita Prefecture, Japan. Located within Yaba-Hita-Hikosan Quasi-National Park, it was selected as one of the 100 Landscapes of ...

and Yamakuni, and the village of Sankō (all from Shimoge District) were all merged into Nakatsu.

Government

Nakatsu 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 24 members. Nakatsu contributes four members to the Ōita Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Ōita 3rd 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

Nakatsu is the third most populous city in Ōita Prefecture after Ōita City and Beppu and has strong economic and cultural ties with the Kitakyushu area of Fukuoka Prefecture. A large number of Nakatsu inhabitants commute to work and school to Fukuoka Prefecture. At the end of 2004,

Daihatsu is a Japanese automobile manufacturer headquartered in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. One of the oldest surviving Japanese internal combustion engine manufacturers, the company was known for building three-wheeled vehicles and off-road vehicle ...

Auto Body Co., Ltd. moved its head office and factory to Nakatsu, resulting in an increasing concentration of automobile-related factories. Other industries include ceramics, semiconductors and plastics.

Education

Nakatsu has 21 public elementary schools and ten public junior high schools operated by the city government and four public high schools operated by the Ōita Prefectural Board of Education. The city also has one private high school. The Higashikyushu Junior College is located in Nakatsu.

Transportation

Railways

Nippō Main Line The is a railway line in Kyushu, in southern Japan, operated by Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). Also known as the Fukuhoku Nippo Line, The line connects Kokura Station in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, and Kagoshima Station in Kagoshima, Kagoshima, K ...

* - -

Highways

Higashikyushu Expressway * * * * * *

Local specialties

* Karaage - Nakatsu is known for being the "holy land" of chicken karaage. Nakatsu Karaage ( 中津唐揚げ) is known throughout Japan. The city, along with neighboring Usa City, is known for being the origin of the

post-war A post-war or postwar period is the interval immediately following the end of a war. The term usually refers to a varying period of time after World War II, which ended in 1945. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, ...

boom in the popularity of chicken karaage.

Local attractions

Aonodōmon is a tourist attraction located in the gorge of Yabakei, now part of Nakatsu, Ōita, Nakatsu City, in Ōita Prefecture, Japan. Legend has it that before the tunnel was built, people had to climb over the cliffs through which the tunnel is buil ...

* Fukuzawa Yukichi former residence, National Historic Site *Komo Jinja * Nakatsu Castle * Rakan-ji * Yabakei Bridge File:NakatsuCastle.JPG, Nakatsu castle File:Former Residence of Fukuzawa Yukichi.jpg,

Fukuzawa Yukichi was a Japanese educator, philosopher, writer, entrepreneur and samurai who founded Keio Gijuku, the newspaper ', and the Institute for Study of Infectious Diseases. Fukuzawa was an early advocate for reform in Japan. His ideas about the or ...

's former residence File:Kyoshuho.jpg, Kyōshūhō Ridge, Yabakei File:Rakan Temple 02.jpg, Cave of Rakan-Temple (Rakanji), built on the middle cliff of Mt. Rakan

Festivals and events

The Nakatsu Gion Festival (中津祇園) is held every year in July. 13 floats and two '' mikoshi'' are paraded through the streets of Nakatsu. Concert on the Rock was an international rock festival established in 2004 in Nakatsu. It aided

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

. It had

J-Pop J-pop (often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in trad ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

, salsa,

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans during colonial times. Cumbia is said to have com ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

nu jazz Nu jazz (also spelt nü jazz or known as jazztronica, or future jazz) is a genre of jazz and electronic music. The music blends jazz elements with other musical styles, such as funk, electronic music, and free improvisation. Nu jazz typically ve ...

, and traditional

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

performances. The 2005 edition was held on May 14 and 15. Due to noise complaints, organizers decided to discontinue the event.

Notable people from Nakatsu

* Risa Honda * Mai Matsumuro *

Fuyumi Ono is a Japanese novelist best known for writing , which was adapted into a popular anime series. She is married to Yukito Ayatsuji, the author of the horror novel '' Another''. Biography Ono is married to , a mystery novelist who writes under th ...

Yoshijirō Umezu (January 4, 1882 – January 8, 1949) was a Japanese general in World War II and Imperial Japanese Army General Staff, Chief of the Army General Staff during the final years of the conflict. He was convicted of Japanese war crimes, war crimes an ...

, Imperial Japanese Army general *

References

* Nakatsushi-shi kankokai (Hrsg.): ''Nakatsu-shi'' (History of Nakatsu). Nakatsu: Nakatsushi-shi kankōkai, 1965 (). * Kuroya Naofusa: ''Nakatsuhan-shi'' (History of the Nakatsu Clan). Tōkyō: Kokusho kankōkai, 1987 ().

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nakatsu, Oita Cities in Ōita Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan