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 Tsuzuki District,

Kyoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Kyoto Prefecture has a population of 2,561,358 () and has a geographic area of . Kyoto Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the northeast, Shiga 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 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 8,845 in 3872 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 39 persons per km². The total area of the town is .

Geography

Ujitawara is located in southeastern Kyoto Prefecture. The Uji River flows through the village. Approximately 70% of the town area of Ujitawara Town is forested, and more than 50% of this is artificially planted cedar and cypress trees.

Neighboring municipalities

;

* Jōyō * Kuse District ( Kumiyama) * Sōraku District ( Wazuka) * Tsuzuki District ( Ide) * Uji ;

Shiga Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,398,972 as of 1 February 2025 and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to th ...

Kōka was a after ''Tenpō'' and before '' Kaei.'' This period spanned the years from December 1844 through February 1848. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * December 2, 1844 (): The new era name of ''Kōka'', meaning "Becoming Wid ...

Climate

Ujitawara 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 Ujitawara is . The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Ujitawara population statistics
/ref> the population of Ujitawara has fluctuated over the decades and is currently slightly declining.

History

The area of Ujitawara was part of ancient

Yamashiro Province was a province of Japan, located in Kinai. It overlaps the southern part of modern Kyoto Prefecture on Honshū. Aliases include , the rare , and . It is classified as an upper province in the '' Engishiki''. Yamashiro Province included Kyoto it ...

. 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 direct holdings 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 ...

. The villages of Tawara and Ujitawara were established on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. The two villages merged on September 30, 1956 to form the town of Ujitawara.

Government

Ujitawara 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. Ujitawara, collectively with the other municipalities of Tsuzuki District and the city of Kyōtamba, contributes two members to the Kyoto Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the town is part of the Kyoto 6th 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

Ujitawara is a rural area, with an economy based on agriculture and forestry, with the area noted for its production of

green tea Green tea is a type of tea made from the leaves and buds of the '' Camellia sinensis'' that have not undergone the withering and oxidation process that creates oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China in the late 1st millenn ...

and dried

persimmon The persimmon () is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus '' Diospyros''. The most widely cultivated of these is the Chinese and Japanese kaki persimmon, ''Diospyros kaki''. In 2022, China produced 77% of the world's p ...

s. The town has two

industrial parks An industrial park, also known as industrial estate or trading estate, is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more heavyweight version of a business park or office park ...

developed and sold by the private sector, Ujitawara Industrial Park and Midorienzaka Techno Park, and nearly 60 companies are located and operating there.

Education

Ujitawara has two public elementary schools and one public junior high school operated by town government. The town does not have a high school.

Transportation

Railways

Ujitawara does not have any passenger railway service. The nearest train stations are Yamashiro-Aodani Station (Jōyō) and Yamashiro-Taga Station (Ide) on the

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, ...

Nara Line.

Highways

Shin-Meishin Expressway The or simply ''Shin-Meishin'' for short is an expressway, linking Mie prefecture to Hyōgo Prefecture, which is partially open and partially under construction. The expressways current length as of February 2008 is 49.7 km. It connects t ...

References

External links

*
Ujitawara official website
Towns in Kyoto Prefecture {{Kyoto-geo-stub