290px, Misumi West Port 290px, Street in Matsuae 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 ...

Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture t ...

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 56,491 in 25302 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 300 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Uki occupies the southern half of the

Uto Peninsula The Uto Peninsula () is a peninsula in the central part of Kumamoto Prefecture in Japan. The length of the peninsula is about 18km. References

Peninsulas of Japan Landforms of Kumamoto Prefecture {{Kumamoto-geo-stub ...

. It is located in the center of Kumamoto Prefecture, the city limits extend from the northern coast of the

Yatsushiro Sea The , also called the , is a shallow semi-enclosed inland sea separating the island of Kyūshū from the Amakusa Islands. It lies mostly within Kumamoto Prefecture and at the southern end of the sea it also borders Kagoshima Prefecture. To the n ...

to the east inland, the south and west sides of the Uto Peninsula, and Tochijima Island, located south of the western tip of the peninsula. It is about 31.2 kilometers from east-to-west and 13.7 kilometers from north-to-south, and about 15 kilometers south of the center of Kumamoto City. The city consists of several urban concentrations, corresponding to the former municipalities with which it is comprised. The urban center is in the former Matsubase Town, and stretches over the former Ogawa Town to the south and the former Shiranui Town to the west, forming an entertainment district with general merchandise stores, restaurants, and entertainment districts. The former Toyono Town to the east and the former Mikata Town area on the west edge of the city are agricultural areas filled with greenery. Misumi Port, located in the former Misumi Town area, once flourished as the sea gateway to Kumamoto Prefecture and the starting point of the shipping route to the Amakusa Islands. Misumi West Port, built during the Meiji period, is counted as one of the "Three Great Ports of the Meiji Period" and is a component part of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution: Iron and Steel, Shipbuilding and Coal Mining.

Neighboring municipalities

Kumamoto Prefecture * Hikawa * Kamiamakusa * Kumamoto * Misato * Uto * Tatsushiro

Climate

Uki 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 hot, humid summers and cool winters. There is significant precipitation throughout the year, especially during June and July. The average annual temperature in Uki is . The average annual rainfall is with June 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 Uki was on 14 August 2018; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 25 January 2016.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Uki in 2020 is 57,032 people. Uki has been conducting censuses since 1950.

History

The area of Uki was part of ancient

Higo Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. It was sometimes called , with Hizen Province. Higo bordered on Chikugo, Bungo, Hyūga, Ōsumi, and Satsuma Provinces. History The cas ...

, 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

Kumamoto Domain The , which was in existence from 1600 to 1871, had a significant influence in the region. Initially, it controlled its vast territory of 520,000 koku, which later expanded to 540,000 koku after the division of the 8th generation territory and the e ...

. 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 Matsubase was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. The city of Uki was established on January 15, 2005, as a result of the merger between the towns of Misumi and

Shiranuhi is a seedless and sweet variety of satsuma orange. It is a hybrid between Kiyomi and ponkan (Nakano no. 3), developed in Japan in 1972. Originally a brand name, "Dekopon" has become a genericized trademark and it is used to refer to all bran ...

(both from Uto District), and the towns of Matsubase, Ogawa and Toyono (all from Shimomashiki District).

Events

2016 Kumamoto earthquake The were a series of earthquakes, including a magnitude 7.0 mainshock which struck at 01:25 JST on April 16, 2016 (16:25 UTC on April 15) beneath Kumamoto City of Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu Region, Japan, at a depth of about ...

Government

Uki 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 22 members. Uki, collectively with the town of Misato, contributes two members to the Kumamoto Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the

Kumamoto 4th district is a current single-member electoral district for the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. It is located in Kumamoto and since 2017 covers roughly the Southern half of Kumamoto. Before 2013, it consisted of a ...

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

Uki is a reguional commercial center, and has an economy based on agriculture, commercial fishing, food processing and light manufacturing.

Education

Uki has 12 public elementary schools and five public junior high schools operated by the city government and two public high schools operated by the Kumamoto Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates three special education schools for the handicapped.

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 ...

Kagoshima Main Line The is a major railway line operated by the Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) between Mojiko Station, Mojikō in Kitakyushu, and Kagoshima Station in Kagoshima, Kagoshima, Kagoshima City, at the southern end of Kyushu. Until March 13, 2004, it ...

: - -

- Misumi Line : - - -

Highways

Kyushu Expressway * * * *

Local attractions

* Ishiuchi Dam * Odara Kofun, National Historic Site *

Shiranui is an atmospheric ghost lights, atmospheric ghost light told about in Kyushu. They are said to appear on days of the noon moon such as the (29th or 30th day) of the seventh month of the lunisolar Japanese calendar when the wind is weak, in t ...

- atmospheric optical phenomenon. *Tofuku-ji -

Takezaki Suenaga was a retainer of the Higo Province, Japan who fought in both the Battle of Bun'ei and the Battle of Kōan during the Mongol invasions of Japan. Suenaga commissioned the '' Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba'', an illustrated handscroll, in order to prov ...

's (a samurai of

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

) family temple. He was owner of Moko Shurai Ekotoba.

Notable people from Uki

* Karina Maki, handball player *

Seiichiro Maki is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a forward. He played for the Japan national team. Club career Maki was a key player for Komazawa University in Tokyo along with Masaki Fukai. After graduating from Komazawa Univers ...

, football player * Yuki Maki, football player * Kiichi Matsuda, educator of agriculture * Tetsuya Noda, contemporary artist *

Haruki Uemura is a judoka from Japan, who won the gold medal in the Open class at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. In the final of the Olympic tournament in Canada he defeated Great Britain's Keith Remfry. In 2009 Uemura was elected President of Kodo ...

, former judo wrestler

References

External links

* Cities in Kumamoto Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan {{Kumamoto-geo-stub