Mount Iwate and Mount Kurakake from Shizukuishi Ski Area

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

Iwate Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture (behind Hokkaido) at , with a population of 1,165,886 (as of July 1, 2023). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Pre ...

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 16,263 in 6354 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 27 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Shizukuishi is located in the

Ōu Mountains The are a mountain range in the Tōhoku region of Honshū, Japan. It is the longest range in Japan and stretches south from the Natsudomari Peninsula of Aomori Prefecture to the Nasu volcanoes at the northern boundary of the Kantō region. T ...

of west-central Iwate Prefecture, bordering

Akita Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Provinces and prefectures" in ; "Tōhoku" in . Its population is estimated 915,691 as of 1 August 2023 and its geographi ...

to the west. Mount Iwate (2038 m), an active volcano, lies just to the north of Shizukuishi and dominates the landscape. The

form the boundary to the west as well with Akita Komagatake, another active volcano, just across the border in

. The downtown area is located where the Shizukuishi and Kakkonda Rivers meet. Gosho Lake was created in 1981 with the completion of Gosho Dam.

Neighboring municipalities

Akita Prefecture * Semboku Iwate Prefecture * Hachimantai * Hanamaki * Morioka * Nishiwaga * Shiwa * Takizawa * Yahaba

Climate

Shizukuishi has a cold

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 cold ...

(Köppen ''Dfa'') characterized by mild summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Shizukuishi is 9.2°C. The average annual rainfall is 1469 mm, with September as the wettest month and February as the driest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 23.2 °C, and lowest in January, at around -3.7 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Shizukuishi has declined since the year 2000.

History

The area of present-day Shizukuishi has been inhabited since the earliest times. Archaeologists have found remains dating to the

Japanese Paleolithic The is the period of human inhabitation in Japan predating the development of pottery, generally before 10,000 BC. The starting dates commonly given to this period are from around 40,000 BC, with recent authors suggesting that there is good evi ...

period. The area come under the control of the

imperial dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

during the early

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 ...

under the campaigns of Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, and was part of ancient Mutsu Province. The area was a battlefield during the Former Nine Years War and the Gosannen War. It eventually came under the control of the Nambu clan, who ruled from Morioka Domain under 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 ...

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 ...

. 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 ...

, the villages of Shizukuishi, Gosho, Nishiyama and Omyojin within Minami-Iwate District were created on April 1, 1889, with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. Kita-Iwate District and Minami-Iwate Districts merged to form Iwate District on March 29, 1896. Shizukuishi was raised to town status on December 23, 1940. On April 1, 1955, Shizukuishi merged with Gosho, Nishiyama and Omyojin, but lost a portion of its territory in a border adjustment with Morioka City on October 1 of the same year. The All Nippon Airways Flight 58 accident occurred over Shizukuishi on July 30, 1971.

Government

Shizukuishi 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 16 members. Shizukuishi, together with the city of Takizawa, contributes three seats to the Iwate Prefectural legislature. In terms of national politics, the town is part of Iwate 2nd 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 local economy is based on agriculture, forestry and seasonal

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

. Koiwai Farm, based in Takizawa, is currently the largest privately owned

dairy A dairy is a place where milk is stored and where butter, cheese, and other dairy products are made, or a place where those products are sold. It may be a room, a building, or a larger establishment. In the United States, the word may also des ...

production center in Japan. The farm produces a full range of dairy products distributed throughout the nation.

Education

Shizukuishi has five public elementary schools and one public middle school operated by the town government, and one public high school operated by the Iwate Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

East Japan Railway Company 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 ...

(JR East) - Akita Shinkansen *

(JR East) - Tazawako Line * - -

Highway

Local attractions

*In winter, numerous ski resorts come to life. Due to the town's rural nature, low income and low population Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, Japan's richest man at the time, was able to build a large ski area and hotel without the kind of "organized opposition of environmentalists" which stymied his plans elsewhere in Japan."Japanese tycoon building top-notch ski, golf resort", The Chicago Daily Herald, August 25, 1991, section 4, page 2 *Koiwai Farm is a working dairy and tourist attraction. A number of the farm buildings have been named National Tangible Cultural Properties. The farm has been used as a shooting location for television dramas and movies. Every year Koiwai Farm puts on the . This festival is noteworthy for its giant snow sculptures. *The town is known for its annual hemp festival every year in August which draws "crowds of sightseers"."Legal hemp in Shizuoka, bizarre drug laws"
Reuters Newswire, August 25, 1998 Retrieved 31 August 2010.

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Towns in Iwate Prefecture