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 ...

located in

Fukushima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,771,100 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi Prefecture and Yamagata 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 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 59,393 in 23,546 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 190 persons per km². The total area of the city was .

Geography

Shirakawa is located in south-central Fukushima prefecture facing the Nasu plateau, and extending to the lowland Shirakawa Basin. *Rivers:

Abukuma River The , with a length of , is the second longest river in the Tōhoku region of Japan and the 6th longest river in the country. It is designated as a Classification of rivers in Japan, Class A river. It runs through Fukushima Prefecture and Miyagi P ...

Neighboring municipalities

* Fukushima Prefecture ** Asakawa ** Ishikawa ** Izumizaki ** Nakajima ** Nishigō ** Tanagura ** Ten'ei ** Yabuki *Tochigi Prefecture ** Nasu

Climate

Shirakawa 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 ''Cfa'') characterized by mild summers and cold winters. The average annual temperature in Shirakawa is 11.4 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1377 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.0 °C, and lowest in January, at around 0.3 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Shirakawa peaked around the year 2000 and has declined since.

History

The area of present-day Shirakawa was part of ancient Mutsu Province and was the location of a barrier gate on the Ōshū Kaidō connecting the capital at

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

with the northern provinces. In the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

, the Buddhist monk and ''waka'' poet Nōin composed the following poem about the region: 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 ...

the area prospered as a

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, ...

Shirakawa Domain, and was the site of a major battle in the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Impe ...

during 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 ...

. In the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

, it was organized as part of Nakadōri region of Iwaki Province. The town of Shirakawa was formed on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. On April 1, 1949, Shirakawa was elevated to city status after merging with the neighboring village of Ōnuma. Subsequent mergers occurred in 1954 and 1955 with the inclusion of the villages of Shirasaka, Odagawa, Goka and a portion of Omotegō into the territory of Shirakawa. On November 7, 2005, the villages of Taishin, Higashi, and the remainder of Omotegō (all from Nishishirakawa District) were merged into Shirakawa, increasing its population from 48,297 to approximately 66,000 and territory from to .

Government

Shirakawa 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 legislature of 26 members. Shirakawa, together with Nishishirakawa District contributes three members to the Fukushima Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Fukushima 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

Shirakawa has a mixed economy, and is a major commercial center for the surrounding region. Principal industries include electrical appliances, construction materials and clothing. The D+M Group has a plant where

Marantz Marantz is a company that develops and sells high-end audio products. The company was founded in New York, but is now based in California. The first Marantz audio product was designed and built by Saul Marantz in his home in Kew Gardens, Quee ...

and

Denon is a Japanese electronics company dealing with audio equipment. The Denon brand came from a merger of Denki Onkyo (not to be confused with the other Onkyo) and others in 1939. It originally started as Nippon Chikuonki Shoukai in 1910 by Freder ...

high fidelity High fidelity (hi-fi or, rarely, HiFi) is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat (neutral, uncolored) ...

components are produced.

Education

Shirakawa has fifteen public elementary schools and eight junior high schools operated by the city government and four public high schools operated by the Fukushima Prefectural Board of Education.

Post offices

Shirakawa has nineteen

post offices Post, POST, or posting may refer to: Postal services * Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries ** An Post, the Irish national postal service ** Canada Post, Canadian postal service ** Deutsche Post, German posta ...

within the boundaries of the city.List of Post Offices in Shirakawa

Transportation

Railway

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and 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 are in ...

Tōhoku Main Line The Tōhoku Main Line () is a railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The line starts from Tokyo Station in Chiyoda, Tokyo and passes through such cities as Saitama, Saitama, Saitama, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Uts ...

** – ( Shin-Shirakawa) – -

Highway

* – Shirakawa-chūō Interchange – Abukuma Parking Area * * *

Local attractions

*Site of Shirakawa Barrier - National Historic Site * Komine Castle – One of the 100 Castles of Japan * Nanko Park – National Historic Site and National Scenic Site * Shirakawa Funada-Motonuma Sites –

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 ...

burial tumulus, National Historic Site * Yūki-Shirakawa Castle, National Historic Site *Festivals held in Shirakawa include "Daruma Ichi", celebrating the traditional Daruma doll, wherein the city streets are packed with stalls selling Daruma, a variety of festival foods and charms, and " Chōchin Matsuri" (Lantern Festival), which is held each summer, with a special three-day celebration held once every three years.

International relations

Compiègne Compiègne (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Oise Departments of France, department of northern France. It is located on the river Oise (river), Oise, and its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois'' (). Administration Compiègne is t ...

, France, since October 20, 1988 *

Anoka, Minnesota Anoka ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Anoka County, Minnesota, United States. Its population was 17,142 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Anoka is the "Halloween Capital of the World" because it hosted one of the first Hal ...

, United States, since October 13, 2002

Noted people from Shirakawa

* Atsushi Fujita, Olympic marathon runner * Toshiaki Fushimi, Olympic cyclist *

Koji Igarashi is a Japanese video game producer, programmer, writer, and creative director. In 2009, he was chosen by IGN as one of the top 100 game creators of all time. Often credited as IGA, he began his career by joining Konami in 1990 as a programmer ...

, longtime '' Castlevania'' series producer and creator of '' Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night'' * Hideo Madarame, Olympic cyclist * Gishu Nakayama, writer

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Cities in Fukushima Prefecture