280px, Aerial photograph; Kaita (middle to upper left) Fuchu (bottom right), Saka (upper right) 280px, Bayside Beach in Saka 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 Aki District, Hiroshima 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 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 12,853 in 5879 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 . The total area of the town is .

Geography

Saka is located on the coast of Hiroshima Bay in south-central Hiroshima. A sits name implies, the area is very hilly and despite dense urbanization, forests cover over 50% of the town area.

Adjoining municipalities

Hiroshima Prefecture * Aki-ku, Hiroshima * Kaita * Kure *

Minami-ku, Hiroshima is one of the eight Wards of Japan, wards of the city of Hiroshima, Japan. As of March 1, 2012, the ward had an estimated population of 138,471, with 66,706 households and a population density of 5,307.44 persons per km2. The total area was 26.0 ...

Climate

Saka 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. The average annual temperature in Saka is 15.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1543 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around 26.3 °C, and lowest in January, at around 5.0 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Saka has been steady for the past 60 years.

History

The area of Saka was the part of ancient

Aki Province or Geishū () was a province in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, comprising the western part of what is today Hiroshima Prefecture. History When Emperor Shōmu ordered two official temples for each province (one for male Buddhist prie ...

. In 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

Hiroshima Domain The was a large domain that owned all of Aki Province and half of Bingo Province. It occupies most of current Hiroshima Prefecture. The domain office was located at Hiroshima Castle in Sato District, Aki Province (renamed Numata District in 1 ...

. Following 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 Saka was established within

Aki District, Hiroshima is a district, and is within the Minami-ku, Hiroshima ward, Ward (electoral subdivision), one of the eight wards that comprise the Hiroshima Prefecture, in Japan. 'Minami', is Japanese for 'South'. 'Ku', is loosely suggestive of a division, ...

with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Saka was raised to town status on August 1, 1950.

Government

Saka 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 12 members. Saka, collectively with the other municipalities of Aki District contributes three members to the Hiroshima Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the Hiroshima 4th 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 ...

. The current mayor of Saka, Takayuki Yoshida (72), had run unopposed for the nine elections preceding the 2025 mayoral election, which was the first contested mayoral election for the town in 44 years.

Economy

Saka is a regional commercial center and 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 neighboring Hiroshima.

Education

Saka has three public elementary schools and one public junior high school operated by the town government, and one public high school operated by the Hiroshima Prefectural Board of Education. The Hiroshima Prefectural Police Academy is located in Saka.

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) - Kure Line * - -

Highways

Hiroshima-Kure Road *

References

External links

*
Saka official website
{{Hiroshima Towns in Hiroshima Prefecture Saka, Hiroshima Populated coastal places in Japan