is a rural

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

located in

Mie Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture an ...

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 ...

. As of September 1, 2012, the district has an estimated population of 47,309 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 72.5 persons/km². The total area is 652.43 km².

Towns and villages

* * * *

History

Watarai District was one of the traditional counties of former

Ise Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today includes most of modern Mie Prefecture. Ise bordered on Iga, Kii, Mino, Ōmi, Owari, Shima, and Yamato Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History The name of Ise appears ...

, with the exception of portions of Minamiise, which were part of

Shima Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan which consisted of a peninsula in the southeastern part of modern Mie Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Shima''" in . Its abbreviated name was . Shima bordered on Ise ...

until the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

. Modern Watarai District was established within Mie Prefecture on April 1, 1889 during the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

establishment of municipalities, and was initially organized into four towns and 31 villages. Most of modern Ise and part of Shima cities were formerly part of Watarai District. Through consolidations and mergers, this was reduced to eight towns and two villages by the start of 2005. On February 14, 2005, the towns of Kisei and Ōmiya and the village of Ōuchiyama merged to form the new town of Taiki. On October 1, 2005. the towns of Nansei and Nantō merged to form the new town of Minamiise. This was followed on November 1 of the same year, when the towns of Futami and Obata, and village of

Misono , publicly known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Misono (stylized in lower case), is a Japanese singer-songwriter and TV personality. She was born in Kyoto, Japan, and is the younger sister of singer Koda Kumi. Career In 2000, Misono participa ...

merged with city of Ise, leaving the district with its present four towns.

References

{{Authority control Districts in Mie Prefecture