280px, Tenri City Hall 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

Nara Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the ...

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 60,890 in 29456 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 700 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The city is named after the

Japanese new religion Japanese new religions are new religious movements established in Japan. In Japanese, they are called or . Japanese scholars classify all religious organizations founded since the middle of the 19th century as "new religions"; thus, the term refe ...

Tenrikyo, which has its

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

in the city.

Geography

Tenri is located in the north-central part of Nara Prefecture.

Neighboring municipalities

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

* Sakurai * Yamatokōriyama * Tawaramoto * Miyake * Kawanishi

Climate

Tenri 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 Tenri is 13.4 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1636 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.4 °C, and lowest in January, at around 1.9 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Tenri is as shown below

History

The area of Tenri is part of ancient

Yamato Province was a province of Japan, located in Kinai, corresponding to present-day Nara Prefecture in Honshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005). "Yamato" in . It was also called . Yamato consists of two characters, 大 "great", and 和 " Wa". At first, th ...

. Tenri was briefly the

capital of Japan The capital of Japan is Tokyo."About Japan"
The Government of Japan. Retrieved 9 March 2022.

during the reign of Emperor Ninken. Ponsonby-Fane. (1915). ''The Imperial Family of Japan,'' p. 15. The life of the Imperial court was centered at ''Isonokami Hirotaka'' Palace where the emperor lived in 488–498.Koch, W. (1904)
''Japan; Geschichte nach japanischen Quellen und ethnographische Skizzen. Mit einem Stammbaum des Kaisers von Japan,'' p. 13
The village of Yamanobe was established on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to town status on September 26, 1893 and renamed Tambaichi (丹波市町). On April 1, 1954, Tambaichi merged with the villages of Asawa, Fukuzumi, and Nikaido and the towns of Ichinomoto and Yanagimoto to form the city of Tenri.

Relations with Tenrikyo

About a quarter of the city's residents are believed to be affiliated with the Tenrikyo religion, and the remaining residents are thought to include several thousand students belonging to Tenrikyo-affiliated educational institutions. Since almost half of the city area is occupied by non-taxable religious facilities related to Tenrikyo, the city has faced a problem of reduced revenue from property taxes, etc. To compensate for this, the religious organization has been making large donations to Tenri City since 1967. The amount of the donation is close to the total local tax revenue of Tenri City. The amount of the donation is decided in consultation between Tenri City and the religious organization when the annual budget is compiled, depending on the content of the city planning projects for that year. In addition, donations tend to increase sharply in years close to the Tenrikyo Founder's Festival, which is held every 10 years. Thus, Tenri City cannot survive as a municipality without a relationship with the religious organization. While the city emphasizes its development as a city integrated with the sect, the Tenrikyo Church Headquarters has a policy of not fielding candidates in mayoral and city council elections.

Government

Tenri 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 16 members. Tenri contributes two members to the Nara Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Nara 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

There are many Tenrikyo-related facilities in the city center, giving it the appearance of a religious city, but the city as a whole is an agricultural area. Strawberry cultivation is particularly popular. Industrial activities center on semiconductors and light manufacturing. Due to its location on major east-west highways, the city is increasing becoming a

commuter town 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 ...

for the great Osaka metropolis.

Education

Tenri has nine public elementary schools and five public junior high schools operated by the city government and two public high schools operated by the Nara Prefectural Board of Education. There is also one private elementary school junior high schools and one private high school. Tenri University and Tenri Health Care University, both private universities are located in the city.

Transportation

Railways

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, ...

Sakurai Line The is a railway line operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West) in Nara Prefecture. It connects Nara Station, Nara on the Yamatoji Line to Takada Station (Nara), Takada on the Wakayama Line, with some services continuing on the Wakayama L ...

(Manyō-Mahoroba Line) : - - - 20px

Kintetsu Railway , referred to as and officially Kinki-Nippon Railway, is a Japanese passenger railway company, managing infrastructure and operating passenger train service. Its railway system is the largest in Japan, excluding Japan Railways Group. The railw ...

- Tenri Line : 16px - -

Highways

Nishi-Meihan Expressway * JP Expressway E24

Keinawa Expressway * * *

Sister city relations

* Bauru,

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, since April 1940 *

La Serena, Chile La Serena () is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune in northern Chile, capital of the Coquimbo Region. Founded in 1544, it is the country's second oldest city after the national capital, Santiago. As of 2012, it had a ...

, since October 1966 * Seosan,

South 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 ...

, since November 1991

Local attractions

Shrines and temples

* Isonokami Shrine * Ōyamato Shrine * Chōgaku-ji

Tenrikyo

* Tenrikyo Church Headquarters

National Historic Sites

* Akatsuchiyama Kofun * Kushiyama Kofun * Kurozuka Kofun * Nishiyama Kofun

Notable people from Tenri

* So Yamamura, actor and director

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Tenrikyo Cities in Nara Prefecture Former capitals of Japan