is a city located in

Gifu is a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. During the Sengoku p ...

, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 56,972 and a population density of 74.81 persons per km², in 22,508 households. The total area of the city was .

Geography

Minokamo is located in south-central Gifu Prefecture in the

Nōbi Plain The is a large plain in Japan that stretches from the Mino area of southwest Gifu Prefecture to the Owari area of northwest Aichi Prefecture, covering an area of approximately .

, between the

Hida Mountains The , or , is a Japanese mountain range which stretches through Nagano, Toyama and Gifu prefectures. A small portion of the mountains also reach into Niigata Prefecture. William Gowland coined the phrase "Japanese Alps" during his time in Jap ...

and the

Kiso River The is a river in the Chubu region of Japan roughly long, flowing through the prefectures of Nagano, Gifu, Aichi, and Mie before emptying into Ise Bay a short distance away from the city of Nagoya.Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric ''et al.'' (200 ...

Neighbouring municipalities

*Gifu Prefecture ** Seki **

Kani KANI (1500 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Gospel format. Licensed to Wharton, Texas, United States, it serves the Houston, Texas area. The station is currently owned by Martin Broadcasting. History KANI was first proposed, and a constru ...

** Mitake ** Hichisō ** Sakahogi ** Tomika ** Kawabe ** Yaotsu

Climate

The city has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and mild winters ( Köppen climate classification ''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Minokamo 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 .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Minokamo has grown substantially over the past 50 years. Notably, the proportion of foreign nationals residing in the city is very high for Japan, at 9.2% as of October 2020. The foreign residents are predominantly from Brazil or the Philippines, with small but growing

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...

and Vietnamese populations.

History

The area around Minokamo was part of traditional Mino Province. In the Edo period, the area was divided between the holdings of Owari Domain and Naegi Domain, and '' tenryō'' holdings directly under the Tokugawa shogunate.

Ōta-juku was the fifty-first of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It is located in former Mino Province in what is now part of the city of Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture, Japan.post station on the Nakasendō highway connecting

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

with Kyoto. In the post- Meiji restoration cadastral reforms, Kamo District in Gifu prefecture was created. The modern city was formed on April 1, 1954 by the merger of the towns of Ota and Furui with the villages of Yamanoue, Hachiya, Kamono, Ibuka, Shimoyoneda and Miwa.

Government

Minokamo has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 16 members.

Economy

The area around Minokamo was formerly known for sericulture. Agriculture, including horticulture remains an important component of the local economy, producing crops such as rice, Asian pears, and

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-pe ...

s. However, since the 1960s, the area has become increasingly industrialized as part of the Chubu Plateau Industrial Zone. Industries include textiles, semiconductor, electronics, machine tools and automotive components, as well as food products.

Education

Tertiary Education

* Shogen Junior College, a traditional Japanese arts and

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

scripture university run by the Shogenji Temple. * *, a Gifu prefecture-run vocational school that offers associates degrees in industrial technology, and construction, and vocational certificates in residential construction, automobile engineering, and public facilities.

Primary and Secondary Schools

Minokamo has nine public elementary schools, and two public junior high schools operated by the city government, a junior high school operated by an association between Minokamo City and the neighbouring Tomika Town, and a private combined junior/senior high school, . The city has two public high schools operated by the Gifu Prefectural Board of Education, which also operates a special education school. Minokamo has a Brazilian school, the ("Isaac Newton College Japan"; )Escolas Brasileiras Homologadas no Japão

Archive
. Embassy of Brazil in Tokyo. Retrieved on October 13, 2015.

Transportation

Railway

- JR Central - Takayama Main Line ** - * JR logo (central)

- JR Central - Taita Line ** - * Nagaragawa Railway logo

Nagaragawa Railway Etsumi-Nan Line ** - -

Bus

* Yaotsu Line run by to Yaotsu Town * The Odakyu Bus "Papillon" overnight bus connection to

Shibuya Shibuya (渋谷区 ''Shibuya-ku'') is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. As a major commercial and finance center, it houses two of the busiest railway stations in the world, Shinjuku Station (southern half) and Shibuya Station. As of April 1 ...

( Tokyo) * the Ai Ai Community Bus

Highway

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 ...

* * * *

Twin towns – sister cities

Minokamo is twinned with: *

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and G ...

, Australia

Local attractions

* Shōgen-ji, a Buddhist monastery *The Ota-juku area, a post town on the Nakasendo *River Port Park Minokamo, a park with river sports activities *Gifu-Seiryu Satoyama Park, a prefectural park with outdoor activities * Yamazaki Mazak Machine Tools Museum *Koyama Kannon Temple *Kobi no Tengusan, the main shrine of the

Seasonal Festivals

* Summer Onsai Festival (on the first weekend of August) * Autumn Onsai Festival (in October) * Minokamo Citizens' Festival (in November)

Notable people from Minokamo

Tsubouchi Shōyō __NoTOC__ was a Japanese author, critic, playwright, translator, editor, educator, and professor at Waseda University. He has been referred to as a seminal figure in Japanese drama. "Wetmore deals cleanly with Japanese theatre as part of the mod ...

, author

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Cities in Gifu Prefecture