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

Mie Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture an ...

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 17,741 in 8328 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 170 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Toba is located on the northeastern tip of Shima Peninsula in far eastern Mie Prefecture, facing

Ise Bay is a bay located at the mouth of the Kiso Three Rivers between Mie prefecture, Mie and Aichi prefecture, Aichi Prefectures in Japan. Ise Bay has an average depth of and a maximum depth of . The mouth of the bay is and is connected to the small ...

of the Pacific Ocean to the north and east. The area is famous for

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

s and for

cultured pearl Cultured pearls are pearls which are formed within a cultured pearl sac with human intervention in the interior of productive living molluscs in a variety of conditions depending upon the mollusc and the goals. Having the same material as natur ...

s. The entire city area is within the borders of the

Ise-Shima National Park is a national park in Mie Prefecture, Japan. It is characterized by its ria coast and islands scattered around a number of bays. The interior is hilly with Mount Asama-ga-take ( the highest peak. Natural areas * Ago Bay * Kami-shima * Kashi ...

. Toba administers numerous islands in the

, the most important of which are: * Kamishima * Kozukumi Island * Mitsujima * Ōzukumi-jima * Sakatejima * Sugashima * Tōshijima

Climate

Toba 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 Toba is . The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Demographics

The population of Toba has decreased rapidly over the past 30 years.

History

The area of modern Toba has been continuously inhabited since before the

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 ...

. 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 was under the control of pirates, from whom emerged Kuki Yoshitaka (from Nakiri district) as a dominant ruler. After having dominated the local seacoasts, he established Toba as his capital and built a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

there. Under 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 ...

, the castle became the center for Toba Domain. In 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 ...

, Toba flourished in trade and as a transshipment port between

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

and Edo. The town of Toba was created with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Toba was raised to city status on November 1, 1954, by merging with seven neighboring villages in Shima District.

Government

Toba 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 14 members. Toba contributes one member to the Mie Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Mie 4th 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

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 ...

, including cultivated pearls, and tourism play important roles in the local economy.

Education

Toba has nine public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government and one public high school operated by the Mie Prefectural Department of Education. The

Toba National College of Maritime Technology is one of five maritime colleges in Japan. Established in 1881, it is the oldest continuously-operated national maritime college in the country. Toba maritime programs The programs are of about 4.5 years and an additional 1.5 years of practical ...

, one of the five maritime technology colleges in Japan which offers merchant marine programs such as Deck officer, Marine Engineering and other advanced programs related to maritime education. is located in Toba, as is the Sugashima Marine Biological Laboratory - Graduate School of Science,

Nagoya University , abbreviated to or NU, is a Japanese national research university located in Chikusa-ku, Nagoya. It was established in 1939 as the last of the nine Imperial Universities in the then Empire of Japan, and is now a Designated National Universit ...

Culture

Toba city hosts the highest number of ama divers in Japan. "Toba and Shima, cities where you can meet ama divers" has been defined as the 73rd stories of Japanese heritage.

Transportation

Railway

JR Tōkai - Sangū 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 ...

- Toba Line * - 20px

- Shima Line * - - - - - -

Highway

* Iseshima Skyline * * *

Ferry

* Ise-wan Ferry

Local attractions

* Mikimoto Pearl Island * Toba Aquarium *

Toba Castle was a Japanese castle (now in ruins) located in the city of Toba, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Throughout the Edo period, Toba Castle was the administrative center for Toba Domain, a feudal domain of Shima Province under the Tokugawa shogunate. Toba ...

* Toba Sea-Folk Museum

Sister city relations

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

, United States, since 1966 *

Sanda, Hyōgo is a Cities of Japan, city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 108,452 in 47,018 households and a population density of 520 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Sanda City is ...

, friendship city since July 1, 1971

Notable people from Toba

* Mitsuru Hattori, Manga artist * Tsunekazu Ishihara, President of The Pokémon Company * Mikimoto Kōkichi, Entrepreneur and businessman

External links

* *
Official city website
in Japanese)
Toba tourism association official website
(in Japanese)
A Day Tripper's Guide to Ise and Toba
''Japanzine'' by Zack Davisson

References

{{Authority control Cities in Mie Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Toba, Mie