250px, Gunma Astronomical Observatory 250px, Marble Village Lockheart Castle is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

located in

Gunma Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuk ...

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 village 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 6,889 in 2449 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 110 persons per km². The total area of the village is .

Geography

Located at the easternmost point of Agatsuma District, Takayama is surrounded by mountains at all

cardinal directions The four cardinal directions or cardinal points are the four main compass directions: north (N), south (S), east (E), and west (W). The corresponding azimuths ( clockwise horizontal angle from north) are 0°, 90°, 180°, and 270°. The four ...

. The Gunma Telescope is located on Mount Komochi in the south. * Mountains: Mount Onoko (1208m), Junigadake (1200.9m), Mount Komochi (1296m) * Rivers:

Agatsuma River The is a major river in the northern Kantō region of Japan. It is in length and has a basin area of . Located entirely within Gunma Prefecture, it is one of the prefecture's major rivers. It is also a major tributary of the Tone River. The river ...

Surrounding municipalities

* Minakami * Nakanojō * Numata * Shibukawa

Climate

Takayama 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 cold ...

(Köppen ''Dfb'') characterized by warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Takayama is 6.7 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1548 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 21.7 °C, and lowest in January, at around -5.7 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Takayama population statistics
/ref> the population of Takayama has remained relatively steady over the past century.

History

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 around Takayama was part of the ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the Shōgun, shogunates in History of Japan, Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred ...

''-administered territory within

Kōzuke Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Gunma Prefecture. Kōzuke bordered Echigo Province, Echigo, Shinano Province, Shinano, Musashi Province, Musashi and Shimotsuke Province, Shimotsuke Provinces. Its abb ...

. With the creation of the modern municipalities system after 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 ...

on April 1, 1889, the village of Takayama was created within Agatsuma District of Gunma Prefecture.

Government

Takayama 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 ...

village council of 10 members. Takayama, collectively with the other municipalities in Agatsuma District, contributes two members to the Gunma Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the village is part of Gunma 5th 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 economy of Takayama is primarily agricultural.

Education

Takayama has one public elementary school and one public middle school operated by the village government. The village does not have a high school. * Gumma Paz Gakuen College

Transportation

Takayama is served by a rail line from Nagoya. It is also home to one of 10

musical road A musical road is a road, or section of a road, which when driven over causes a Somatosensory system, tactile vibration and Hearing, audible rumbling that can be felt through the wheels and body of the vehicle. This rumbling is heard within the ...

s located in Gunma prefecture alone; the song played is " When You Wish Upon a Star."