is a city in

Hyōgo Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to th ...

, Japan. , 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 74,414 in 31119 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 6200 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The city's name is spelled "たつの", using

hiragana is a Japanese language, Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' means "common" or "plain" kana (originally also "easy", ...

, but the name of Tatsuno Station uses the kanji characters "竜野", while the historic name for the place uses the characters "龍野." According to the ''Harima no Kuni Fudoki'', the origin of the name "Tatsuno" was that upon the death of Nomi no Sukune in Ibo District (now in the city of Tatsuno), many came from

Izumo Izumo (出雲) may refer to: Locations * Izumo Province, an old province of Japan * Izumo, Shimane, a city located in Shimane Prefecture ** Izumo Airport * Izumo-taisha, one of Japan's most ancient and important Shinto shrines Ships * ''Izumo ...

and used rock from the

Ibo River The Ibo River (揖保川) is a river in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The Ibo, Kako, Ichi River, Ichi, Yumesaki, and Chikusa rivers are collectively referred to as the Harima Gokawa, the five major rivers that flow into the Harima Sea. The basin area ...

to make a grave, standing stones in a row on the plain. Thus, it was called "立野", with characters meaning "stand" and "plain", from which it is thought to have changed to "龍野". Nomi no Sukune Shrine is located at the place said to be his grave.

Geography

Tatsuno city center area Aerial photograph

Tatsuno is located in southwestern Hyōgo Prefecture extending largely south to north. The city's northern region is mountainous, the southern region faces the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka Ba ...

, and the Ibo River runs through from north to south. *Mountains: Mt. Ayabe (in Mitsu-chō) *Rivers:

, Kurisu River *Passes and Hills: Aisaka Pass ( Japan National Route 179), Futagi Pass ( Prefectural Route 5), Azawara Pass, Iwami Pass M.t Ayabe.JPG, Mt. Ayabe Shingutown Hashizaki Tatusnocity Hyogopref Ibo river.JPG, Ibo River
Taken at Hashisaki, Shingū-chō Ibogawatown Umaba Tatsunocitoy Hyogopref Hyogoprefectural road 442 Iwami Ibogawa line No,3.JPG, Iwami Hill

Neighboring municipalities

*North: Shisō; Sayō, Sayō District *West: Aioi; Kamigōri, Akō District *East:

Himeji 260px, Himeji City Hall is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 525,682 in 227,099 households and a population density of 980 persons per km2. The total area of the city is ...

; Taishi, Ibo District *South:

( Ieshima Islands)

Climate

Tatsuno 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 warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Tatsuno is 14.4 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1519 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.7 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.7 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Hyōgo population statistics
/ref> the population of Tatsuno has remained relatively constant over the past 40 years.

History

The Tatsuno area was part of ancient

Harima Province or Banshū (播州) was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is the southwestern part of present-day Hyōgo Prefecture. Harima bordered on Tajima, Tanba, Settsu, Bizen, and Mimasaka Provinces. Its capital was Himeji. During th ...

and was an important location for traffic on the Izumo Kaidō highway running along the Ibo River, and was the location of Kinoyama Castle, a stronghold of the Akamatsu clan in the

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

. After

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

gained supremacy during the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

, the area became the territory of the

Ikeda clan was a Japanese clan that claimed descent from Minamoto no Yorimitsu (948-1021) of the Seiwa Genji. Minamoto no Yasumasa, the fourth generation descending from Yorimitsu, and younger brother of Minamoto no Yorimasa (1104-1180), was the first to ...

, who ruled

Himeji Domain was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Harima Province in what is now the southern portion of modern-day Hyōgo Prefecture. It was centered around Himeji Castle, which is located in what ...

in the early

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 ...

. Following Ikeda Toshitaka's death, his lands were divided by the

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 ...

and Honda Masatomo, was installed as ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' of the newly created Tatsuno Domain. The town 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, ...

and the domain passed through various rulers, ultimately coming under the rule of the Wakisaka clan beginning in 1672, lasting 200 years and 10 generations, after which came 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 ...

. The castle town's area from the early modern period is extant today in what is now the "old Tatsuno-chō area,” which still contains samurai residences and white-plastered earthen storehouses, giving the city the moniker of"Little Kyoto of Harima".地名歴史 p. 238 The town of Tatsuno was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. On October 1, 2005, the towns of Ibogawa, Mitsu and Shingū (all from Ibo District) were merged into Tatsuno. To reflect the new character of the city, the ''

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

'' characters in the city's name were changed from to .

Government

Tatsuno 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 council of 22 members. Tatsuno, together with the town of Taishi, contributes one member to the

Hyogo Prefectural Assembly The is the prefectural parliament of Hyōgo Prefecture. The assembly's 87 members are elected every four years in 40 districts by single non-transferable vote. Nine of the electoral districts correspond with the wards of Kobe city and the rema ...

. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Hyōgo 12th 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

Tatsuno has traditionally been famous for production of sōmen and

soy sauce Soy sauce (sometimes called soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of China, Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermentation (food), fermented paste of soybeans, roasted cereal, grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or ''A ...

in Japan. However, much of the city is rural, with rice farming and

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...

playing roles in the economy. The city is increasing becoming a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

, with 25.0% of those commuting to work go to

(2010 National Census).

Education

Tatsuno has 16 public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government and two public high schools operated by the Hyōgo Prefectural Department of Education. There is also one private elementary school and one private middle school. The prefecture also operates two special education schools for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railway

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

– San'yō Main Line *

–

Kishin Line is a railway line operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) between Himeji, Hyōgo and Niimi, Okayama, Japan. The name of the line comes from the first kanji of Himeji () and Niimi () which the line connects. Stations *S: Trains stop *s: ...

* - - - -

Highways

San'yō Expressway * JP Expressway E29

Harima Expressway * * * *

Sister cities

* Covington, Washington, United States, sister city since 2015

Local attractions

* Shingū Miyauchi Site, National Historic Site * Tatsuno Castle and surrounding Important Preservation District for Traditional Buildings * Yoshima Kofun, National Historic Site

Notable people from Tatsuno

* Akira Hori, author * Kazuya Maruyama, politician * Rofū Miki, composer of the folk melody " Akatombo" (The red dragonfly) *

Shizuichi Tanaka was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army and Japanese Governor-General of the Philippines#Japanese military governors (1942–1945), Military Governor of the Philippines during World War II. Biography Early life and military service Tanaka ...

, Imperial Japanese Army general and Japanese Military Governor of the Philippines during World War II * Fumito Ueda, director of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus

References

External links

*
Tatsuno City official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tatsuno, Hyogo Cities in Hyōgo Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Tatsuno, Hyōgo