Yasugi city center area Aerial photograph

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

Shimane Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a ge ...

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 35,965 in 14257 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 85 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Yasugi is located in far eastern Shimane, bordered by the

Nakaumi is a brackish lake located between Tottori and Shimane prefectures in Japan. The lake is enclosed by the Shimane Peninsula to the north and Yumigahama Peninsula to the east. It is the fifth largest lake in surface area in Japan. Nakaumi ...

to the north, the Chugoku Mountains to the south and Tottori Prefecture to the east.

Neighboring municipalities

Shimane Prefecture *

Matsue is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Shimane Prefecture, Japan, located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. , the city had an estimated population of 196,748 in 91287 households and a population density of 340 persons per km². The total area of ...

* Okuizumo * Unnan Tottori Prefecture * Nanbu * Nichinan *

Yonago is a Cities of Japan, city in western Tottori Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 146,139 in 68,534 households and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It is the prefecture's second ...

Climate

The city has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and relatively mild winters (

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''). The average annual temperature in Yasugi is 14.9 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1828 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.2 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.6 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Yasugi has been declining over the past 40 years.

History

The area of Yasugi was the center of ancient Izumo, which was a powerful kingdom during the

Yayoi 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 ...

and

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 ...

. According to legend, the goddess

Izanami , formally referred to with the honorific , is the creator deity of both creation and death in Japanese mythology, as well as the Shinto mother goddess. She and her brother-husband Izanagi are the last of the seven generations of primordial ...

was buried here. The port at Yasugi on the Nakaumi was a center for trade with the

Korean Peninsula Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Dem ...

from ancient times. Due to plentiful supplies of iron sand and timber, ancient ''tatara'' steelmaking flourished and was a source of economic strength. The Yasugi Steel brand name bears the name of the city, and was established by Hitachi Metals, Ltd. During 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 ...

, Gassantoda Castle was the stronghold of the

Amago clan The , descended from the Emperor Uda (868–897) by the Kyogoku clan, descending from the Sasaki clan (Uda Genji). Kyogoku Takahisa in the 14th century, lived in Amako-go (Izumo Province), and took the name 'Amago'. The family crest is also t ...

, and under 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 ...

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 area was ruled by Matsue Domain. 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 Yasugi was established on April 1, 1889, with the creation of the modern municipalities system. The city was founded on April 1, 1954, by the merger of Yasugi with the villages of Iinashi, Arashima, Akae, Shimada, and Otsuka. On October 1, 2004, the towns of Hakuta and Hirose (both from Nogi District) were merged into Yasugi.

Government

Yasugi 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 18 members. Yasugi contributes two members to the Shimane Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Shimane 1st 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 local economy is strongly orientated to agriculture.

Education

Yasugi has 17 public elementary school and five public junior high schools operated by the city government, and two public high schools operated by the Shimane Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

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, ...

(JR West) -

San'in Main Line The is a railway line in western Japan, which connects Kyoto and Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi, operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). It is the major railway line of the San'in region, approximately paralleling the Japan Sea, crossing Kyot ...

* -

Highways

San'in Expressway * *

Sister cities

* Miryang, Gyeongsangnam-do,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Local attractions

* The Adachi Museum of Art has a widely known

Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desig ...

and a collection of contemporary

Japanese painting is one of the oldest and most highly refined of the Japanese visual arts, encompassing a wide variety of genres and styles. As with the history of Japanese arts in general, the long history of Japanese painting exhibits synthesis and competiti ...

s, comprising approximately 1,300 of the country's most highly regarded paintings produced after 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 ...

and centering on the works of Yokoyama Taikan. In 2021, the gardens of the Adachi Museum were ranked as the best in Japan for the 19th year in a row. There is a free shuttle between JR Yasugi Station and the museum (20 minutes). * Gassantoda Castle ruins, National Historic Site

Culture

The city is known for Yasugibushi, a well-known folk song (Minyo) in Japan.

Notable people from Yasugi

* Yoshio Sakurauchi, politician * Yukio Sakurauchi, politician

References

External links

Yasugi City official website

Adachi Museum of Art
{{Authority control Cities in Shimane Prefecture Yasugi, Shimane