Tsuru city center area 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 Yamanashi Prefecture,

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 30,311 in 13079 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 190 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Tsuru is located in southeastern Yamanashi Prefecture, in the foothills of Mount Fuji. It is bordered on the south by the Tanzawa Mountains. The Sagami River, known locally as the Katsura River, flows through the city.

Neighboring municipalities

Yamanashi Prefecture * Fujiyoshida * Ōtsuki * Uenohara * Minamitsuru District - Yamanakako, Oshino, Nishikatsura, Fujikawaguchiko

Climate

The city has a climate characterized by characterized by hot and humid summers, and relatively mild winters ( Köppen climate classification ''Cfb''). The average annual temperature in Tsuru is 12.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1610 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.2 °C, and lowest in January, at around 0.9 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Tsuru population statistics
/ref> the population of Tsuru peaked around the year 2000 and has declined since.

History

The area around Tsuru has been continuously inhabited since the Japanese Paleolithic period, and numerous artifacts 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 ...

and Kofun period have been found within its borders. The area has been part of ancient Tsuru County of Kai Province since the Nara period. During the Sengoku period, the area was controlled by the Takeda clan. 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 ...

, all of Kai Province was '' tenryō'' territory under direct control of 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 ...

. During the cadastral reform of the early Meiji period on April 1, 1889, the village of Tani was created within Minamitsuru District, Yamanashi Prefecture. Tani was raised to town status on March 7, 1896. On April 29, 1954 Tani merged with four neighboring villages to form the city of Tsuru.

Government

Tsuru has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 16 members.

Education

* Tsuru University *Tsuru has eight public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the city government and one public high school operated by the Yamanashi Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates the public Yamanashi Industrial Technology Junior College.

Transportation

Railway

Fuji Kyuko - Ōtsuki Line ** - - - - - - -

Highway

* Chūō Expressway *

Sister cities

* Hendersonville, Tennessee, United States

Notable people from Tsuru

* Kazuo Dan, novelist * Jinpachi Nezu, actor * Mika Yamamoto, video and photo journalist * Yasuyo Yamasaki, Colonel in command of IJA forces at Battle of Attu

References

External links

Official Website
* {{Authority control Cities in Yamanashi Prefecture