270px, Tsuzura rice terraces 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

Fukuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...

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 27,723 in 11449 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 240 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Ukiha is located in southern Fukuoka Prefecture, adjacent to Hita City in Oita Prefecture. It borders Asakura City across the

Chikugo River The flows through Kumamoto, Ōita, Fukuoka and Saga prefectures in Japan. With a total length of , it is the longest river on Kyūshū. It flows from Mount Aso and empties into the Ariake Sea. It is also nicknamed "Tsukushi Jirō". The upp ...

, Tanushimaru-cho, Kurume City to the west, and Hoshino-mura, Yame City to the south.

Neighboring municipalities

Fukuoka Prefecture * Asakura *

Kurume is a city in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 295,367 in 137,140 households, and a population density of 1309 people per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kurume is located in the Chikugo Plain ...

Yame 270px, Yame City Hall 270px, Iwatoyama Kofun is a city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 37,782 in 16050 households, and a population density of 240 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . ...

Ōita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,081,646 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, K ...

* Hita

Climate

Ukiha 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 Ukiha is 13.9 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1875 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.0 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.7 °C.Ukiha climate: Average Temperature, weather by month
/ref>

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Ikiha is as shown below

History

The area of Ukiha was part of ancient

Chikugo Province was a province of Japan in the area of northern Kyūshū, corresponding to part of southwestern Fukuoka Prefecture. Chikugo bordered on Higo and Chikugo to the southeast, and Chikuzen to the north and east, Bungo to the east and Hizen to t ...

. 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 under the control of

Kurume Domain 270px, Arima Yorishige, final daimyo of Kurume Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Chikugo Province in modern-day Fukuoka Prefecture on the island of Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Ja ...

. 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 village of Ukiha was established on May 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. Ukima merged with the village of Tsubago on April 1, 1929 to form the village of Miyuki, which was raised to town status on January 1, 1951. Three months later, Miyuki merged with the villages of Oishi, Himeji and Yamaharu to form the town of Ukiha. Ukiha absorbed the town of Yoshii and was raised to city status on March 20, 2005.

Government

Ukiha 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 14 members. Ukiha, collectively with the city of Kurume, contributes five members to the Fukuoka Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the

Fukuoka 6th district Fukuoka 6th district (福岡県第6区, ''Fukuoka-ken dai-rokku'' or simply 福岡6区, ''Fukuoka-rokku'') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives in the national Diet of Japan located in Fukuoka Prefecture. Areas covered ...

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 economic of Ukiha is overwhelmingly based on agriculture (grapes, strawberries, pears,

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, peaches) and food processing.

Education

Ukiha has seven public elementary schools and two public junior high schools and one public high school operated by the Fukuoka 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 ...

Kyūdai Main Line The is a railway line in Kyushu, Japan, operated by the Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). It connects Kurume Station, Kurume in Fukuoka Prefecture and Ōita Station, Ōita in Ōita Prefecture. It is also known as the Yufu Kōgen Line. Th ...

: - -

Highways

Sister cities

* Esashi,

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

, since 31 October 2009, due to its association with

The Crab and the Monkey The Crab and the Monkey, also known as or The Quarrel of the Monkey and the Crab, is a Japanese folktales, Japanese folktale. In the story, a sly monkey kills a crab, and is later killed in revenge by the crab's offspring. Retributive justice is ...

folktale

Local attractions

*Chikugo-Yoshii, designated under the

Groups of Traditional Buildings is a Japanese category of historic preservation introduced by a 1975 amendment of the law which mandates the protection of groups of traditional buildings which, together with their environment, form a beautiful scene. They can be post towns, cast ...

National Historic Sites

* Hinooka Kofun * Kusumyō-Shigesada Kofun * Tsukahanazuka Kofun * Yakata Kofun Cluster

Notable people from Ukiha

*Kenji Darvish - drummer of

Golden Bomber is a Japanese visual kei "air" rock band formed in 2004 and signed to the independent label Euclid Agency (sublabel ''Zany Zap''). Despite not actually performing the instruments themselves during concerts, they have gained popularity through t ...

, Japanese rock band. *

Hideo Murata was a Japanese rōkyoku and enka singer. He took part in the Kōhaku Uta Gassen 27 times. Murata was born as a son of rōkyoku singer and . However, he was immediately adopted by and became his stepfather. His real name was . He studied rōk ...

- ''

rōkyoku ''Rōkyoku'' (; also historically called ''naniwa-bushi'', ) is a genre of traditional Japanese narrative singing. This genre is performed by a singer accompanied by a ''shamisen'', ''rōkyoku'' became very popular in Japan during the first half ...

'' and ''

enka is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than ''ryūkōka'' music, pop ...

'' singer * Shinichi Ikejiri - writer and physician * Shinya Izumi - politician *

Yasunoshin Shinohara was a Japanese samurai from Chikugo Province who lived during the late Tokugawa shogunate. He sided with Satsuma Domain, Satsuma in the Battle of Toba–Fushimi. After the Meiji Restoration, Shinohara became a businessman and later, a devout Chr ...

- inspector general and

jujutsu Jujutsu ( , or ), also known as jiu-jitsu and ju-jitsu (both ), is a Japanese martial art and a system of close combat that can be used in a defensive or offensive manner to kill or subdue one or more weaponless or armed and armored opponent ...

master of

Shinsengumi The was a small secret police organization, elite group of swordsmen that was organized by commoners and low rank samurai, commissioned by the (military government) during Japan's Bakumatsu period (late Tokugawa shogunate) in 1863. It was ac ...

Shuntaro Torigoe (born 13 March 1940) is a Japanese journalist and political activist. Early life Born in 1940 in Yoshi-cho, Ukiha-gun, Fukuoka Prefecture (now Ukiha City). His father's name was Toshio, and he was given the name Shuntaro, taking on Toshio's firs ...

- journalist

Related people

Ellison Onizuka was an American astronaut, engineer, and U.S. Air Force flight test engineer from Kealakekua, Hawaii, who successfully flew into space with the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' on STS-51-C. He died in the destruction of the Space Shuttle ''Cha ...

- His grandfather and mother were born in this city, and he visited there in 1983. There is "Ellison Onizuka Bridge" commemorate him.

References

External links

*
Ukiha City official website

Cities in Fukuoka Prefecture {{Fukuoka-geo-stub