270px, Niyodo River in Tosa 270px, Aerial view of Tosa city center 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

Kōchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kōchi Prefecture has a population of 669,516 (1 April 2023) and has a geographic area of 7,103 km2 (2,742 sq mi). Kōchi Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the northwest and Tok ...

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 26,427 in 12,671 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 290 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The city of Tosa should not be confused with the historical

Tosa Province was a province of Japan in the area of southern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Tosa bordered on Awa to the northeast, and Iyo to the northwest. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō syst ...

, which covered all of modern-day Kōchi Prefecture.

Geography

Tosa is located in central

on the southern coast of the island of

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

, and faces the

Shikoku Mountains The Shikoku Mountains () are a mountain range that runs from east to west in the central part of the Shikoku in Japan. The length of the mountain range is about . The highest peak in the mountain range is Mount Ishizuchi. References

{ ...

to the north and

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

to the south. The Niyodo River flows through the Takaoka Plain in the town, where rice is grown.

Surrounding municipalities

* Hidaka * Ino *

Kōchi (city) Kochi is a city in Kerala, India. Kochi or Kōchi may also refer to: People * Kochi people, a predominantly Pashtun nomadic people of Afghanistan * , a Japanese surname: ** Arata Kochi (born 1948 or 1949), Japanese physician and World Health Or ...

Kōchi Kochi is a city in Kerala, India. Kochi or Kōchi may also refer to: People * Kochi people, a predominantly Pashtun nomadic people of Afghanistan * , a Japanese surname: ** Arata Kochi (born 1948 or 1949), Japanese physician and World Health Org ...

Sakawa Sakawa is a Ghanaian term for illegal practices which combine modern Internet-based fraud with African traditionalist rituals. The term or word Sakawa is an Hausa word which means ''putting inside, how to make money''. The rituals, which are most ...

* Susaki

Climate

Tosa 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 snowfall. The average annual temperature in Tosa is 15.9 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2631 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in January, at around 25.9 °C, and lowest in January, at around 5.8 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Tosa population statistics
/ref> the population of Tosa has remained relatively stable for the past century.

History

As with all of Kōchi Prefecture, the area of Tosa was part of ancient

. Remains from 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 ...

dated to 4000 years ago have been found within the city limits. 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 was part of the holdings of

Tosa Domain The was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, controlling all of Tosa Province in what is now Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Kōchi Castle, and was ruled throughout its ...

ruled by the

Yamauchi clan The Yamauchi clan (山内氏) were a family of rulers over what was then the Tosa Province which spanned the southern half of Shikoku island. The province was given to the family in 1600 after Yamauchi Kazutoyo led troops under Tokugawa Ieyasu ...

from their seat at

Kōchi Castle is an Edo Period Japanese castle in the city of Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. It is located at Otakayama hill, at the center of Kōchi city, which in turn is located at the center of the Kōchi Plain, the most prosperous area of former ...

. 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, the village of Takaoka (高岡村) was established within

Takaoka District, Kōchi is a district located in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. As of the Shimanto merger but with 2003 population statistics, the district has an estimated population of 68,854 and a density of 45.1 persons per km2. The total area is 1,527.65 km2. Towns ...

with the creation of the modern municipalities system on October 1, 1889. Takaoka was elevated to town status on March 1, 1899. Takaoka was elevated to city status on January 1, 1959, and renamed Tosa.

Government

Tosa 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 15 members. Tosa contributes one member to the Kōchi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Kōchi 1st 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

Benefiting from the warm climate and abundant water, the area has long been a prosperous region for agriculture, with greenhouse horticulture in the plains and fruit tree cultivation in the surrounding mountains. In addition, the rich subsoil water of the Niyodo River has nurtured the paper industry, and in the Usa neighborhood, which faces the Pacific Ocean, coastal fishing and seafood processing have developed as key industries.

Education

Tosa has nine public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the city government and two public high schools operated by the Kōchi Prefectural Department of Education. There is also one private high school. The Kochi Professional University of Rehabilitation is located in Tosa.

Transportation

Railway

Tosa does not have any passenger railway service. The nearest train station is Ino Station on the

JR Shikoku The , commonly known as , is the smallest of the seven constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates of intercity and local rail services in the four Prefectures of Japan, prefectures on the island of Shikoku in Jap ...

Dosan Line The is a railway line in Shikoku, Japan, operated by the Shikoku Railway Company (JR Shikoku). It connects Tadotsu Station in Tadotsu, Kagawa, Tadotsu, Kagawa Prefecture, Kagawa, and Kubokawa Station in Shimanto, Kōchi (town), Shimanto, Kōchi ...

Highways

Kōchi Expressway *

Sister citiess

Ebetsu, Hokkaidō is a city in Ishikari Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. History Ebetsu was settled originally by Japanese people in 1871, who came from the Miyagi Prefecture on Honshu. In 1878, tondenhei began moving into the area. When the Meiji Government, ...

, since July 15, 1978 *

Itatiba Itatiba is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo in Brazil, approximately 80 km from the State Capital. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of Campinas. The population in 2022 was 121 590 in ...

, São Paulo ,

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 August 5, 1989

Local attractions

* Kiyotaki-ji, 35th temple on the

Shikoku Pilgrimage The or is a multi-site pilgrimage of 88 temples associated with the Buddhist monk Kūkai (''Kōbō Daishi'') on the island of Shikoku, Japan. A popular and distinctive feature of the island's cultural landscape, and with a long history, ...

Shōryū-ji Shōryū-ji (青龍寺 ''kana:'' しょうりゅうじ) is a Shingon Buddhist Temple located in Tosa, Kōchi, Japan. It is the 36th temple of the Shikoku Pilgrimage. The Honzon of worship at Shōryū-ji is Acala. History According to the templ ...

, 36th temple on the

Noted people from Tosa

Chisako Hara was a Japanese actress best known for starring in the ''Akai'' and the ''Kishibe no arubamu'' series. Biography Chisako Hara was born Chisako Tahara (田原知佐子, ''Tahara Chisako'') on 6 January 1936 in Takaoka Town (now Tosa), Kōchi Pre ...

, actress *

Michiharu Kusunoki is a Japanese manga artist from Tosa, Kōchi. He is most known for the street racing series ''Wangan Midnight'' serialized in Kodansha's weekly ''Young Magazine'' and which has been adapted into a 26 episode anime series, a series of video games, ...

, manga artist *

Seito Saibara was a Japanese parliament member, politician, administrator, colonist, and farmer. Apart from his missionary activities, he is credited with having first established the rice industry on the Gulf Coast of the United States.Yusuke Morimoto, 2 time champion on SASUKE

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tosa, Kochi Cities in Kōchi Prefecture