250px, Reconstructed portion of Shimotsuke Kokubun-ji is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...

located in

Tochigi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,943,886 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,408 km2 (2,474 sq mi). Tochigi Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the nort ...

, Japan. , the city had an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using ...

of 60,274 in 24,654 households, and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical ...

of 810 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Shimotsuke is located in southern

Surrounding municipalities

Utsunomiya is the prefectural capital city of Tochigi Prefecture in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 519,223, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Utsunomiya is famous for its ''gyoza'' ...

* Oyama * Tochigi * Mooka * Mibu * Kaminokawa

Climate

Shimotsuke has a

Humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Shimotsuke is 13.9 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1373 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.2 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.4 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Shimotsuke has recently plateaued after a long period of growth.

History

The city of Shimotsuke was established on January 10, 2006, from the merger of the towns of Minamikawachi (from Kawachi District), and the towns of Kokubunji and Ishibashi (both from Shimotsuga District).

Government

Shimotsuke 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, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

city legislature council of 18 members. Shimotsuke contributes one member to the Tochigi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between the Tochigi 1st district and the Tochigi 4th district of the lower house of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paral ...

Economy

Agriculture and light manufacturing are mainstays of the local economy, with production of ''Kanpyō'',

turmeric Turmeric () is a flowering plant, ''Curcuma longa'' (), of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, the rhizomes of which are used in cooking. The plant is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast ...

and

spinach Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed eith ...

being prominent local crops. The city is increasingly a bedroom community for neighboring Utsunomiya.

Education

* Jichi Medical University * Shimotsuke also has twelve public

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

s and two public

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...

s operated by the town government. The town has one public

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

operated by the Tochigi Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railway

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters ar ...

– Tōhoku Main Line ( Utsunomiya Line) * - -

Highway

* *

Local attractions

Shimotsuke Kokubun-ji is a Buddhist temple in the city of Shimotsuke, Tochigi, Japan, belonging to the Shingon-shu Buzan-ha sect, and is the provincial temple ("kokubunji") of former Shimotsuke Province. The present temple is of uncertain foundation, but claims t ...

ruins, National Historic Site * Shimotsuke Kokubunni-ji ruins, National Historic Site *

Shimotsuke Yakushi-ji was a Buddhist temple located in what is now the city of Shimotsuke, Tochigi Prefecture, in northern Kantō region of Japan. It is one of the earliest Buddhist temples in western Japan, having been founded in the Asuka period. The temple is no ...

temple and grave of Dōkyō, National Historic Site * Kabutozuka Kofun, National Historic Site * Koganei Ichirizuka, National Historic Site

International relations

* –

Dietzhölztal The municipality of Dietzhölztal is the northernmost municipality in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis in Hesse, Germany. Geography The community is located in a valley of the same name, only a few kilometres east of the border with North Rhine-Westphalia. Ri ...

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Da ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

– Friendship city
Germany Embassy in Japan

Noted people from Shimotsuke

* Eiji Ochiai, professional baseball player * Arisa Komiya, actress and voice actress

References

External links

Website
{{Authority control Cities in Tochigi Prefecture Shimotsuke, Tochigi