Storehouse along Uzuma river,tochigi-city,japan

is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...

located in

Tochigi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,943,886 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,408 km2 (2,474 sq mi). Tochigi Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the nort ...

, in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using ...

of 159,056 in 66,018 households, and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical ...

of 480 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Because the city escaped war damage during World War II, many historical temples, traditional shops and '' kura'' (Japanese traditional storehouses) remain in the city center. The city was awarded th
"Utsukushii-machinami Taisho"
prize from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in 2009.

Geography

Tochigi is located in the very southern portion of

, bordering on

Ibaraki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, Tochigi Prefectur ...

and Gunma Prefecture to the southwest. The city is located in the northern part of the Kanto plain, with a mountain range extending in the northern part of the city. The Tomawa River runs through the city center, the Oshigawa River runs through the eastern part, and the Watarase River runs through the southern part. At the confluence of these three rivers is the Yanaka Reservoir, which is used for sailboating and windsurfing. It was designated a

Ramsar Site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

* Oyama * Shimotsuke * Kanuma * Sano * Mibu * Nogi

* Koga Gunma Prefecture * Itakura

Climate

Tochigi 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 freez ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Tochigi is 14.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1325 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.5 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.9 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Tochigi has remained relatively steady over the past 50 years.

History

In the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

, Tochigi prospered from its location on the Uzumagawa River, which connected with the Tone River to

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

. Envoys using the ''Reiheishi Way'' sent from the Imperial Court going to Shrines and Temples of Nikkō stayed at the lodging area in the city. Most of the area was formerly ''

tenryō The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedi ...

'' territory controlled directly by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in ...

; however, the minor feudal domain of

Fukiake Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Shimotsuke Province (modern-day Tochigi Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Fukiage ''jin'ya'' in what is now part of the city of Tochigi. Fukiage was ruled thro ...

was located within the borders of modern city of Tochigi. Following 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 practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were r ...

and the creation of Tochigi Prefecture, Tochigi Town was the prefectural capital from 1871 until its relocation to

Utsunomiya is the prefectural capital city of Tochigi Prefecture in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 519,223, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Utsunomiya is famous for its ''gyoza'' ...

in 1884. On April 1, 1937, Tochigi was elevated to city status. On September 30, 1954, Tochigi absorbed the villages of Ōmiya, Minagawa, Fukiage and Terao (all from Shimotsuga District). This was followed by the village of Kōō (from Shimotsuga District) on March 31, 1957. Tochigi hosted its first film festival, the ''Kuranomachikado'', or, "Eizo Film Festival" from October 5, 2007, to October 8, 2007. On March 29, 2010, Tochigi absorbed the towns of Fujioka, Ōhira and

Tsuga ''Tsuga'' (, from Japanese (), the name of ''Tsuga sieboldii'') is a genus of conifers in the subfamily Abietoideae of Pinaceae, the pine family. The common name hemlock is derived from a perceived similarity in the smell of its crushed foliage ...

(Shimotsuga District). This was followed by the town of Nishikata (from Kamitsuga District) on October 1, 2011, and the town of Iwafune (from Shimotsuga District) on April 5, 2014.

Government

Tochigi 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, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

city legislature of 30 members. Tochigi contributes four members to the Tochigi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between the Tochigi 2nd district, Tochigi 4th district and

Tochigi 5th district , the House of Representatives of Japan is elected from a combination of multi-member districts and single-member districts, a method called Parallel voting. Currently, 176 members are elected from 11 multi-member districts (called proportional r ...

of the lower house of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paral ...

Economy

Tochigi city is a regional commercial center, and has a mixed local economy. Food processing, automotive parts and light manufacturing dominated the industrial sector. Isuzu has maintained a factory since 1961. In 2010, the city ranked first in the number of farming families in the prefecture.

Education

Kokugakuin Tochigi Junior College is a private junior college in Tochigi, Tochigi, Japan. The school was founded as a junior women's college in 1966 before it became coeducational 2004. The college is affiliated with the Kokugakuin University located in Tokyo Tokyo (; ...

*Tochigi has 29 public

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

s and 15 public

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school ...

s operated by the city government. The city has eight public

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

s operated by the Tochigi Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operated one special education school for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railway

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters ar ...

– Ryōmō Line * - - Tōbu Tetsudō Logo

Tobu Railway – Tobu Nikko Line * - - - - - - - Tōbu Tetsudō Logo

Tobu Railway – Tobu Utsunomiya Line * - -

Highway

* – Sano-Fujioka Interchange, Iwafune Junction, Tochigi Interchange, Tochigi-Tsuga Junction, Tsuga-Nishikata Parking Area * – Iwafune Junction, Tochigi-Tsuga Junction, Tsuga Interchange * *

Local attractions

*the sound of Tree frogs in Ajisai-zaka, Mount Ohirasan in Tochigi have been designated as one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan by the Ministry of the Environment

Sister City relations

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

, USA,

Noted people from Tochigi

* Namihei Odaira, founder of

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...

* Yūzō Yamamoto, author *

Tanaka Isson Tanaka Takashi (田中孝, 22 July 1908 – 11 September 1977), known by his art name , was a Japanese ''Nihonga'' painter from the Shōwa period noted for his flower-and-bird paintings of the Amami Islands. Biography He was born in what is no ...

, artist * Toyo Shibata, poet * Tomoko Yamaguchi, actress * Toshio Furukawa, voice actor *

Yuriko Handa is a retired Japanese volleyball player. She was a member of the Japanese winning teams, , at the 1962 World Championships and 1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an internati ...

, Olympic volleyball athlete Yuriko Handa
sports-reference.com * Hirokazu Sawamura, professional baseball player * Takayuki Terauchi, professional baseball player *

Takuya Takei is a Japanese football player currently playing for Matsumoto Yamaga FC. Career statistics ''Updated to 23 February 2017''.Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社"2016J1&J2&J3選手名鑑" 10 February 2016, Japa ...

, professional football player *

Shingo Tomita is a former Japanese football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where ...

, professional football player *

Koji Hachisuka Koji Hachisuka (蜂須賀孝治, born 20 July 1990) is a Japanese football defender who plays for Vegalta Sendai in the J. League. Career statistics Club As of 2 November 2022.Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出� ...

, professional football player * Toshiaki Kawada, professional wrestler * Ryoji Isaoka, Olympic weightlifter Ryoji Isaoka
sports-reference.com * Tochigiyama Moriya, sumo wrestler * Kosuke Hagino, swimmer

References

External links

*
Official Website
* {{Authority control Cities in Tochigi Prefecture Tochigi, Tochigi