270px, Hikosan Jingu 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 Tagawa District,

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...

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 8725 in 4496 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 66 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Soeda is located in the southeastern part of the Chikuhō region, in the southern part of Tagawa District, and borders Oita Prefecture in the Chikushi Mountains, which is home to a series of mountains such as Mt. Hiko. The Aburagi Dam is located in the upper reaches of the Imagawa River, and much of the town is in the mountains.

Neighboring municipalities

Fukuoka Prefecture * Aka * Kawasaki *

Kama ''Kama'' (Sanskrit: काम, ) is the concept of pleasure, enjoyment and desire in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. It can also refer to "desire, wish, longing" in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh literature.Monier Williamsका� ...

* Miyako * Ōtō * Tōhō

Ōita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,081,646 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, K ...

* Hiji * Nakatsu

Climate

Soeda 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 Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Soeda 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 Soeda was on 14 August 2018; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 9 January 2021.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Soeda in 2020 is 8,801 people. Soeda has been conducting censuses since 1920.

History

The area of Soeda was part of ancient

Buzen Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of northeastern Kyūshū, corresponding to part of southeastern Fukuoka Prefecture and northwestern Ōita Prefecture. Buzen bordered on Bungo Province, Bungo to the south, and Chikuzen Pro ...

, and artifacts from as early as the late

Jōmon period In Japanese history, the is the time between , during which Japan was inhabited by the Jōmon people, a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united by a common culture, which reached a considerable degree of sedentism an ...

have bene found within town limits, including large jade stones which had been imported from distance

Itoigawa, Niigata is a city located in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 38,224 living in 17,028 households, and a population density of 51 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Itoigawa is located in the ...

. 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 part of the holdings of

Kokura Domain 270px, Ogasawara Tadanobu, final daimyo of Kokura Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now eastern Fukuoka Prefecture. It was centered around Kokura Castle in what is now Kitakyushu, Fukuoka ...

. The village of Soeda was established on May 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to town status on April 1, 1912. On February 11, 1942 Soeds annexed the neighboring village Hikoyama, and on January 1, 1955 the village of Tsuno. The town was severely damaged by torrential rains on On July 5, 2017.

Government

Soeda 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 11 members. Soeda, collectively with the other municipalities of Tagawa District contributes two members to the Fukuoka Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the

Fukuoka 11th district Fukuoka 11th district (福岡県第11区, ''Fukuoka-ken dai-ju-ikku'' or simply 福岡11区, ''Fukuoka-ju-ikku'') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the national Diet of Japan. List of representat ...

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

During 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 ...

, Soeda, along with the other municipalities of the Chikuho area, developed with the Kitakyushu industrial zone through

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

, and is still considered part of to the Greater Kitakyushu Metropolitan Area. However, as the demand for coal decreased due to the energy revolution, the coal mines that had sponsored prosperity have all closed, leading to depopulation. The main economic activity is now agriculture.

Education

Soeda has four public elementary high schools and one public junior high school operated by the town government and one public high school operated by the Fukuoka Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railways

JR Kyushu The , also referred to as , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services within Kyushu, Japan. It formerly operated the Beetle hydrofoil service across the Tsushima Strait be ...

Hitahikosan Line The is a railway line in Japan, operated by Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). It connects Jōno Station (JR Kyushu), Jōno Station in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture with Yoake Station in Hita, Ōita Prefecture and features the 4380 m Shakadake ...

* - - < '' - - '' >*

Highways

Kyushu Expressway * JP Expressway E10

Higashikyushu Expressway * JP Expressway E34

Ōita Expressway is a Japanese expressway in Kyushu that travels from Tosu to Hiji, where it connects to the Higashikyushu Expressway. It runs through the southern half of Fukuoka Prefecture, and the northern half of Ōita Prefecture. The total length of Ōi ...

Sister cities

Incheon Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...

Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Local attractions

* Hikosan Jingū * Mount Hiko

References

External links

*
Soeda official website
{{Authority control Towns in Fukuoka Prefecture Soeda, Fukuoka