270px, Yatogi Falls is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

located in Koyu District,

Miyazaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Miyazaki Prefecture has a population of 1,028,215 as of 1 January 2025 and has a geographic area of 7,735 Square kilometre, km2 (2,986 sq mi). Miyazaki Prefectur ...

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 town has 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 9,577 in 3997 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 94 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Tsuno is located in the central eastern part of Miyazaki Prefecture, approximately 40 kilometers north-northeast of Miyazaki City. The town is long from east-to-west, measuring 15 kilometers from east-to-west and 10 kilometers from north-to-southThe west side is a mountainous area that is part of the

Kyushu Mountains Kyushu Mountains () is a mountain range that runs from northeast to southwest in central Kyushu. The highest peak of the mountain range is Mount Sobo is one of the 100 Famous Japanese Mountains. The mountain lies on the border of Taketa, � ...

, and the east side faces the

Hyūga Sea The Hyūga Nada () is the part of the Pacific Ocean that lies off the eastern shore of the island of Kyushu, to the south-west of the island of Honshu, off the south coast of Japan. Its name is derived from the former province of Hyūga, which co ...

. Approximately 63% of the town's land is forest, and the Osuzu Mountain Range is home to more than 30 large and small waterfalls, including Yatogi Falls, which has been selected as one of

Japan's Top 100 Waterfalls is a list of waterfalls in Japan compiled by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment in 1990. Background According to the Japanese government, there are 517 named waterfalls in Japan. Many of these waterfalls are located in remote mountain l ...

Neighbouring municipalities

Miyazaki Prefecture * Hyuga * Kawaminami * Kijo

Climate

Tsuno 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 Tsuno is 15.5 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2234 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.3 °C, and lowest in January, at around 5.6 °C. Tsuno climate: Average Temperature, weather by month
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Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Tsuno has been decreasing for the past 30 years.

History

The area of Tsuno was part of ancient

Hyūga Province was a province of Japan in the area of southeastern Kyūshū, corresponding to modern Miyazaki Prefecture Hyūga bordered on Ōsumi to the south, Higo to the west, and Bungo to the north. Its abbreviated form name was , although it was als ...

. The area was under the control of the

Shimazu clan The were the ''daimyō'' of the Satsuma han, which spread over Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga provinces in Japan. The Shimazu were identified as one of the '' tozama'' or outsider ''daimyō'' familiesAppert, Georges ''et al.'' (1888). in contr ...

from the Nanboku-chō period, and was a contested borderland fought over many times 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 ...

. 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 ...

, it was part of the holdings of

Sadowara Domain 270px, Shimazu Tadahiro, final ''daimyō'' of Sadowara Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now central Miyazaki Prefecture. It was centered around Sadowara Castle in what is now the city of ...

. The village of Tsuno within

Koyu District, Miyazaki is a district in Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. As of October 1, 2019, the district has an estimated population of 68,269 and the density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. Th ...

was established on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to town status on August 1, 1920.

Government

Tsuno 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 ...

town council of 11 members. Tsuno, collectively with the other municipalities of Koyu District contributes three members to the Miyazaki Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the

Miyazaki 2nd district Miyazaki 2nd district (宮崎県第2区, ''Miyazaki-ken dai-niku '' or simply 宮崎2区, ''Miyazaki-niku '') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives in the national Diet of Japan located in Miyazaki Prefecture. Areas cove ...

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

The main industry of Tsuno is agriculture and food processing.

Education

Tsuno has three public elementary schools and one public junior high school operated by the town government, and one public high school operated by the Miyazaki Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railways

JR Kyushu The , also referred to as , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services within Kyushu, Japan. It formerly operated the Beetle hydrofoil service across the Tsushima Strait be ...

Nippō Main Line The is a railway line in Kyushu, in southern Japan, operated by Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). Also known as the Fukuhoku Nippo Line, The line connects Kokura Station in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, and Kagoshima Station in Kagoshima, Kagoshima, K ...

* -

Highways

Higashikyushu Expressway The is one of the expressways of Japan from Kitakyūshū (and the bridge to Honshū) to east of Kagoshima linking with the Kyushu Expressway. It runs north to south, through the prefectures of Fukuoka, Oita, Miyazaki and the Kagoshima prefec ...

Local attractions

Tsuno Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in the Kawakita neighborhood of the town of Tsuno, Miyazaki, Tsuno, Miyazaki Prefecture, Japan. It is the ''ichinomiya'' of the former Hyūga Province. The main festival of the shrine is held annually on December 5. ...

, ''

ichinomiya is a Japanese language, Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a Provinces of Japan, province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth.''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retr ...

'' of Hyūga Province

References

External links

*
Tsuno official website
Towns in Miyazaki Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan {{Miyazaki-geo-stub