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 Kanoashi District,

Shimane Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a ge ...

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 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 6,657 in 3352 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 22 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Popularly called the "Little Kyoto of San'in," Tsuwano is known for its picturesque main street, "Tono-machi," which is an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Building lined with

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 ...

buildings and Koi ponds. Its annual ''

Yabusame is a type of mounted archery in traditional Japanese archery. An archer on a running horse shoots three special "turnip-headed" arrows successively at three wooden targets. This style of archery has its origins at the beginning of the Kamak ...

'' festival on the second Sunday of April is a large tourist draw for the

San'in region The is an area in the southwest of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the northern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Sea of Japan. Specifically, it is the two prefectures of Shimane Prefecture, Shimane and Tottori Prefecture ...

Geography

Tsuwano is located in southwest Shimane Prefecture. The townscape that spreads out in a small basin between the mountains on a narrow flat land along the Tsuwano River.

Neighboring municipalities

Shimane Prefecture *

Masuda is a city located in Shimane Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 43,885 in 21,249 households and a population density of 60 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Masuda is located on the western e ...

* Yoshika Yamaguchi Prefecture * Hagi * Yamaguchi

Climate

Tsuwano 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 climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Cfa'') with very warm summers and cool winters. Precipitation is abundant throughout the year. The average annual temperature in Tsuwano is . The average annual rainfall is with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Tsuwano was on 21 August 2024; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 28 February 1981.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Tsuwano in 2020 is 6,875 people. Tsuwano has been conducting censuses since 1920.

History

The area of Tsuwano was part of ancient

Iwami Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today the western part of Shimane Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Iwami bordered Aki, Bingo, Izumo, Nagato, and Suō provinces. In the Heian period (794–1192) the capital was at moder ...

. 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 town developed as the ''

jōkamachi The were centres of the domains of the feudal lords in medieval Japan. The ''jōkamachi'' represented the new, concentrated military power of the daimyo in which the formerly decentralized defence resources were concentrated around a single, cent ...

'' of

Tsuwano Domain 270px, Surviving ''yagura'' of Tsuwano Castle 270px, Kamei Koremi, final ''daimyō'' of Tsuwano was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, in what is now western Shimane Prefecture. It was centered around Tsuwano ...

, which was ruled by the Kamei clan for most of its history. In 1868, it was the site of particular gruesome persecutions of ''

Kakure Kirishitan ''Kakure Kirishitan'' () is a modern term for a member of the Catholic Church in Japan who went underground at the start of the Edo period in the early 17th century (lifted in 1873) due to Christianity's repression by the Tokugawa shogunate (Apr ...

'', who had been exiled to this location after their discovery and arrest in the

Urakami Yoban Kuzure was the last and biggest of four crackdowns on Christians in Urakami Village, Nagasaki, Japan in the 19th century. Overview The introduction of Christianity to Japan occurred in 1549 with the arrival of the Navarrese missionary Francis Xavier ...

. After 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 town of Tsuwano was established on within

Kanoashi District, Shimane is a district located in Shimane Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the district has an estimated population of 17,879 and a density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbo ...

on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. On September 25, 2005 the town of Nichihara was merged into Tsuwano.

Government

Tsuwano 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 12 members. Tsuwano, collectively with the town of Yoshika, contributes one member to the Shimane Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the

Shimane 2nd 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 re ...

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

Tsuwano is a very rural area, with an economy based on agriculture and forestry. Tourism also plays a very important factor in the local economy. As it is close to Yamaguchi Prefecture, many tourists who come to Tsuwano also visit Hagi on the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

and Yamaguchi at the same time, and Tsuwano is often mistaken as being in Yamaguchi prefecture.

Education

Tsuwano has four public elementary school and two public junior high schools operated by the city government, and one public high school operated by the Shimane Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

(JR West) -

Yamaguchi Line The is a railway line in western Japan operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). The line connects Shin-Yamaguchi Station in Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi and Masuda Station in Masuda, Shimane. History The Ogori (now Shin-Yamaguchi) - Yamaguch ...

* - - - -

Highways

* *

Sister cities

Mitte Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuz ...

-district,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, from August 1995

Local attractions

*Otometoge Maria Seido, dedicated in 1951 and is part of a memorial for 37 Japanese Christians persecuted and tortured in Tsuwano by the government during the Edo and Meiji periods. *Taikodani Inari Jinja, with its 1000 vermilion torii gates *

Tsuwano Castle was a Japanese castle located in what is now the city of Tsuwano, Shimane Prefecture, in the San'in region of far western Japan. Its ruins have been protected by the central government as a National Historic Site since 1942. In its early histor ...

ruins, a National Historic Site

''Yamaguchi-gō'' steam locomotive

A popular

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

destination, Tsuwano is served by the

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

''Yamaguchi-gō'', which runs once daily on weekends, national holidays, and certain other days between March and November (daily in August) on the

between

Shin-Yamaguchi Station is a passenger railway station located in the city of Yamaguchi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West). Lines Shin-Yamaguchi Station is served by the Sanyō Shinkansen and is 474.4 kilometers ...

to Tsuwano. It stops for about three hours in Tsuwano before returning to Shin-Yamaguchi station. The train is usually pulled by a C57 locomotive, but a D51 does the job on several weekdays between July and September, and both engines are linked in a double-header configuration on weekends in August. Carriages are decorated in the styles of three Japanese eras—Meiji, Taisho, and Showa—as well as in European style, and the rearmost carriage has an outdoor observation deck. A scene in director

Masahiro Shinoda was a Japanese film director, whose career spanned over four decades and covered a wide range of genres and styles. He was one of the central figures of the Japanese New Wave during the 1960s and 1970s. He directed films for Shochiku Studio fro ...

’s ''Spy Sorge'', a 2003 movie about

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

spy

Richard Sorge Richard Gustavovich Sorge (; 4 October 1895 – 7 November 1944) was a German-Russian journalist and GRU (Soviet Union), Soviet military intelligence officer who was active before and during World War II and worked undercover as a German journa ...

, was shot on the train for period effect.

Notable people from Tsuwano

Nishi Amane was a Japanese philosopher. He studied law and economics in the Netherlands. He became a political advisor to Tokugawa Yoshinobu before and after the Meiji Restoration. He served as a bureaucrat in the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Educati ...

, philosopher *

Mitsumasa Anno was a Japanese illustrator and writer of children's books, known best for picture books with few or no words. He received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1984 for his "lasting contribution to children's literature." Life Ann ...

, illustrator and author of children's books *

Akiko Kamei is a Japanese politician of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, and a member of the House of Representatives. She is a former member of People's New Party and of the House of Councillors. A native of Tokyo and graduate of Gakushuin Un ...

, politician *

Hisaoki Kamei is a former Japanese politician of the now defunct People's New Party and was a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Kanoashi District, Shimane and graduate of Gakushuin University is a priv ...

, politician *

Shisei Kuwabara is a photojournalist best known for his depiction of the effects of mercury poisoning on people in and near Minamata over a period of some forty years. Kuwabara was born — as Fumiaki Kuwabara (, ''Kuwabara Fumiaki'') — in the village ...

, photographer *

Mori Ōgai Lieutenant-General , known by his pen name , was a Japanese people, Japanese Military medicine, Army Surgeon general officer, translator, novelist, Japanese poetry, poet and father of famed author Mori Mari, Mari Mori. He obtained his medical l ...

, novelist, doctor, government minister. Mori's tomb is at Yomei-ji in Tsuwano, built in 1420 and known as one of the two great

Sōtō Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai school, Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Caodong school, Cáodòng school, which was founded during the ...

sect temples in Japan

References

External links

* *
Tsuwano Tourism Association

Official website
{{Authority control Towns in Shimane Prefecture Tsuwano, Shimane