is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

located in Yōrō District,

Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, F ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. , the town had an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 29,309 in 10,356 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of 405 persons per km². The total area of the town was .

Geography

Yōrō is located in south-west Gifu Prefecture, with the

Yōrō Mountains The are a mountain range straddling the border between Gifu and Mie prefectures in Japan. They form part of the western border of the Nōbi Plain. Geography The Yōrō Mountains are approximately wide and long, running primarily from south-s ...

to the west and the plains of the

Ibi River The is a tributary of the Kiso River located in Gifu and Mie Prefectures in Japan. Along with the Nagara and Kiso rivers, the Ibi is the third of the Kiso Three Rivers of the Nōbi Plain. It is one of Japan's first-class rivers. The former Tō ...

to the east, The

Makita River The is a river in Japan which empties into the Ibi River in Gifu Prefecture. It which ultimately flows into the Kiso River. River communities The river passes through or forms the boundary of Ōgaki, Yōrō was a after ''Reiki'' and befor ...

also flows through the town. The town has a climate characterized by characterized by hot and humid summers, and mild winters (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Yōrō is 15.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1840 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 27.6 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.1 °C.

Neighbouring municipalities

*Gifu Prefecture **

Ōgaki Ōgaki Castle is a city located in Gifu, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 161,539, and a population density of 782 persons per km2 in 65,931 households. The total area of the city was . Ōgaki was the final destination for the h ...

Kaizu Kiso Sansen Park Center is a city located in Gifu, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 34,960, and a population density of 310 persons per km2, in 12,167 households. The total area of the city was . Most of the city is located at sea ...

** Tarui ** Wanouchi *

Mie Prefecture is a 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 and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

Inabe 260px, Mount Ryu and Mount Fujiwara with Sunflower field is a city located in Mie Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 43,114 in 17314 households and a population density of 200 persons per km². The total area of the cit ...

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Yōrō peaked around the year 2000 and has declined since.

History

The area around Yōrō was part of traditional

Mino Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today southern Gifu Prefecture. Mino was bordered by Ōmi to the west, Echizen and Hida to the north, and Shinano to the east, and Ise, Mikawa, and Owari to the south. Its abbreviat ...

. With the post-

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 practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

cadastral reforms, the town of Yōrō was established on April 1, 1897. Yōrō merged with the town of Takeda and villages of Hirohata, Kamitado, Ikebe, Kasago, Kobata, Tado, Hiyoshi and Aihara in 1954 to form the town of Yōrō. A referendum to merge into the city of Ōgaki was defeated in 2004.

Education

Yōrō has four public elementary schools and two public junior high schools operated by the town government, and one public high school operated by the Gifu Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

Yōrō Railway Yōrō Line The is a railway line of a Japanese private railway operator . The line traverses the northeastern side of the Yōrō Mountains and connects Kuwana Station in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture and Ibi Station in Ibigawa, Gifu Prefecture. The northern ...

** - -

Highway

Meishin Expressway * C3 Expressway (Japan)

Tōkai-Kanjō Expressway The (lit. Tōkai Ring Expressway) is a toll road in the Tōkai region of Japan. It is owned and managed by Central Nippon Expressway Company. Naming Officially, the route is designated as National Route 475. On some signs, the expressway is re ...

Sister city relations

* -

Bad Soden Bad Soden (; also: ''Bad Soden am Taunus'') is a town and spa in the Main-Taunus-Kreis, Hessen, Germany. It had a population of 22,563 , up from 21,412 in 2005. Information Bad Soden is a residential town for commuters working in Frankfurt am ...

Hessen Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Darm ...

, Germany, since February 2004

Local attractions

* Mount Yōrō * Yōrō Falls * Kikusui-Sen spring * Yōrō Temple * Reversible Destiny-Yoro Park is a theme park in Yōrō described as "an 'experience park' conceived on the theme of encountering the unexpected. By guiding visitors through various unexpected experiences as they walk through its component areas, the Site offers them opportunities to rethink their physical and spiritual orientation to the world." The park was opened in October 1995. Designed by

Shusaku Arakawa was a Japanese conceptual artist and architect. He had a personal and artistic partnership with the writer and artist Madeline Gins that spanned more than four decades in which they collaborated on a diverse range of visual mediums, including: ...

and Madeline Gins. * Tōkai Nature Trail

Local legends

*A local woodcutter discovered a stream that ran with fine

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...

. He filled a gourd and brought the liquid to his father. Drinking the liquid made his father feel youthful and turned his hair from gray to black.

Empress Gensho An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...

of Nara visited Yōrō to try the liquid and it made her youthful, too. *There is a

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 Oriental persimmon, ''Diospyros kaki'' ''Diospyros'' is in the family Ebenaceae, and a number of non-pers ...

tree that grows hair on the grounds of Fukugen-ji temple, because a murder victim is buried beneath the tree.

References

Gallery

File:De gehoorzame zoon van Yôrô, een verhaal uit de Tien morale lessen-Rijksmuseum RP-P-1958-442.jpeg, Yoro artwork File:De Yôrô waterval-Rijksmuseum RP-P-1976-231.jpeg, Yōrō Falls

External links

*
Yoro official website

"Color Yoro World"
by Steven Kenworthy {{DEFAULTSORT:Yoro, Gifu Towns in Gifu Prefecture Yōrō District, Gifu