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 Nita District,

Shimane Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a ge ...

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 ...

. As of August 1, 2023, the town has a

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 11,056 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

of 30 persons per km². The area of the town is .

Geography

Okuizumo is located in the mountains of North East Shimane. The steep mountains are limited to the area near the prefectural border and the border with Unnan, and the entire town is covered in heavy snowfall. The area is the headwaters of the

Hii River The is a river on the island of Honshu in Shimane Prefecture and Tottori Prefecture, Japan. With a length of 153 km and catchment of 2540 km2, it is the largest river in the east of Shimane Prefecture. It flows through the cities of Izum ...

, and the main mountains include Mt. Sarumasa (1267m), which is the highest peak in the Izumo region. Parts of the town are within the borders of the Hiba-Dogo-Taishaku Quasi-National Park.

Neighboring municipalities

Hiroshima Prefecture *

Shōbara 270px, Shōbara City Hall 270px, Bihoku-kyuryo Park 270px, Shobara city center area aerial photograph is a city in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 32,343 in 14984 households and a population density o ...

Shimane Prefecture * Unnan *

Yasugi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Shimane Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 35,965 in 14257 households and a population density of 85 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Yasugi is located ...

Tottori Prefecture * Nichinan

Climate

Okuizumo 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 very warm summers and cool winters. Precipitation is abundant throughout the year. The average annual temperature in Okuizumo is . The average annual rainfall is with July 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 Okuizumo was on 19 August 2010; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 28 February 1981.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Okuizumo in 2020 is 11,849 people. Okuizumo has been conducting censuses since 1920.

History

The area of Okuizumo was the center of ancient

Izumo Province was an Old provinces of Japan, old province of Japan which today consists of the eastern part of Shimane Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province is in the Chūgoku region. History During the early Kofun period (3rd century) this reg ...

, and was one of the early centers of ''Tatara'' steel production from 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 ...

. 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 ...

, the area was mostly under the control of

Matsue Domain 270px, Surviving walls and moat of Matsue Castle 270px, Matsudaira Sadayasu, final ''daimyō'' of Matsue was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now eastern Shimane Prefecture. It was centered around ...

, which was ruled mostly by various branches of the

Matsudaira clan The was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan. It originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture). During the Sengoku period, the chieftain of the main line of the ...

under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

. 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 village of Minari (三成村) was established on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to town status on July 1 , 1941. Minari merged with four surrounding villages to form the town of Nita (仁多町) on April 15, 1955. The town of Okuizumo was formed on March 31, 2005 from the merger of the towns of Nita and Yokota.

Government

Okuizumo 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. Okuizumo contributes one member to the Shimane Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the Shimane 1st 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 economy of Okuizumo is centered on agriculture and forestry. Komaki mine was used to produce

tungsten Tungsten (also called wolfram) is a chemical element; it has symbol W and atomic number 74. It is a metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively in compounds with other elements. It was identified as a distinct element in 1781 and first ...

from 1911 to 1984.

Education

Okuizumo has ten public elementary school and two public junior high schools operated by the city government, and one public high schools operated by the Shimane Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

(JR West) -

Kisuki Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). The line connects in Matsue, Shimane with in Shōbara, Hiroshima. Stations 　Four〜10 Diesel trains are operated every day. There are more trains between Shi ...

* - - - - - -

Highways

* *

References

External links

*
Okuizumo official website
Towns in Shimane Prefecture Okuizumo {{shimane-geo-stub