270px, Yame City Hall 270px, Iwatoyama Kofun 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 37,782 in 16050 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 . Yamecha is produced in Yame and surrounding areas, and is a tea known throughout Japan.

Geography

Yame is located in mountainous southern Fukuoka Prefecture bordering Ōita Prefecture and Kumamoto Prefecture. The Yabe River, which flows from Mount Mikuni on the prefectural border, flows through Yabe into the

Ariake Sea The is a body of salt water surrounded by Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, and Kumamoto Prefectures, all of which lie on the island of Kyūshū in Japan. It is the largest bay in Kyūshū. Its deepest point is only about 50 meters (165 ft) deep, and ext ...

. The land has a basin-like topography.

Neighboring municipalities

Fukuoka Prefecture * Chikugo * Hirokawa *

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 ...

* Miyama * Ukiha

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 ...

* Nagomi * Yamaga

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

Yame 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 Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Yame 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 Yame was on 16 July 1994; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 25 January 2016.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Yame in 2020 is 60,608 people. Yame has been conducting censuses since 1950.

History

The area of Yame was part of ancient Chikugo Province. It has been inhabited since ancient times, and many ruins from the

Jōmon period In Japanese history, the is the time between , during which Japan was inhabited by the Jōmon people, a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united by a common culture, which reached a considerable degree of sedentism an ...

to the

Yayoi period The Yayoi period (弥生時代, ''Yayoi jidai'') (c. 300 BC – 300 AD) is one of the major historical periods of the Japanese archipelago. It is generally defined as the era between the beginning of food production in Japan and the emergence o ...

have been discovered, as well as more than 300

kofun are megalithic tombs or tumulus, tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century AD.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞 ...

burial mounds A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. ...

from the

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

. A powerful ancient state existed in the Yame region, and it was the center of the

Iwai Rebellion The was a rebellion against the Yamato court that took place in Tsukushi Province, Japan (now nearby Ogōri city in Fukuoka Prefecture) in 527 AD. The rebellion was named after its leader, Iwai, who is believed by historians to have been a power ...

of 527 AD against the Yamato court. The Iwatoyama Kofun, located in northern Yame, is said to be the tomb of the leader of that rebellion and is the largest keyhole-shaped tumulus in northern Kyushu. 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 ...

, Fukushima Castle in Yame was one of the largest flatland-style

Japanese castle are fortresses constructed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries and came into their best-known form in the 16th century. Castles in Japan were built to guard important or strategic sites, such a ...

s in the region and had a three-story ''

tenshu is an architectural typology found in Japanese castle, Japanese castle complexes. They are easily identifiable as the highest tower within the castle. Common translations of ''tenshu'' include keep, main keep, or ''donjon''. ''Tenshu'' are cha ...

''. It was destroyed in 1615 after the area became part of Kurume Domain, but 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 ...

'' survived to be one of the largest merchant towns within Kurume Domain. Many traditional buildings from the Edo period to modern times remain along the streets, mainly lacquered houses. 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 Fukushima was established on May 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. In 1943, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Fukushima was proposed as a site for relocating the capital of Japan. On April 1, 1954 was raised to city status.. Initially, it was planned to name the city "Chikugo-Fukushima," but due to possible confusion with neighbouring Chikugo city, it was decided to name the city "Yame" instead. At that time, there was a strong opposition to the name from the residents of the former Fukushima town. On October 1, 2006 the town of Jōyō (from Yame District) was merged into Yame. On February 1, 2010, the towns of Kurogi and Tachibana, and the villages of Hoshino and Yabe (all from Yame District) were merged into Yame.

Government

Yame 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. Yame, collectively with the town of Hirokawa, contributes three members to the Fukuoka Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Fukuoka 7th 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

The economy of Yame is overwhelmingly based on agriculture. Yame is a center of traditional craft industries and its total production of traditional crafts is the largest in Kyushu. These include ''

washi is traditional Japanese paper processed by hand using fibers from the inner bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub (''Edgeworthia chrysantha''), or the paper mulberry (''kōzo'') bush. ''Washi'' is generally tougher than ordinary ...

'' paper, and various ''Chōchin'' lanterns, '' Butsudan'', and Japanese umbrellas, and Tōrō lantern made from

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock co ...

from

Mount Aso or Aso Volcano is the largest active volcano in Japan and among the largest in the world. Common use relates often only to the somma volcano in the centre of Aso Caldera. It stands in Aso Kujū National Park in Kumamoto Prefecture, on the i ...

Education

Yame has 13 public elementary schools, eight public junior high schools and two vocational training schools operated by the city government. The city has two public high schools operated by the Fukuoka Prefectural Board of Education. There are also one private junior high and two private high schools.

Transportation

Railways

Yame no longer has any passenger railway service. The nearest train stations to the city are

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 ...

Hainuzuka Station or

Nishitetsu The , also called or NNR, is one of Japan's "Big 16" private railroad companies. With headquarters in Fukuoka, it operates local and highway buses, supermarkets, real estate and travel agencies, as well as railways in Fukuoka Prefecture. It ...

Kurume Station, the former of which is about 20 minutes away from Fukushima in the city center by bus. The latter is about 30 minutes by bus.

Highways

Kyushu Expressway * *

Local attractions

National Historic Sites

* Yame Kofun Cluster

Notable people from Yame

* Yasuyuki Eda, politician * Takafumi Horie, entrepreneur, founder of

Livedoor was a Japanese company that functioned as an Internet service provider and operator of a web portal and blog platform before being brought down by a scandal in 2006. The company was founded and led in its first 10 years by Takafumi Horie, known ...

* Hitomi Kuroki, actress * Eisuke Nakazono, novelist * Akiko Sugimoto, novelist

References

External links

*
Yame City official website

Brief introduction of Yame tea
{{Authority control Cities in Fukuoka Prefecture 1954 establishments in Japan