Settsu 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

Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nara ...

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 87,143 in 40,825 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 5700 persons per km². The total area of the city is . It is a suburban city of

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

City and a part of the Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe metropolitan area.

Geography

Settsu is located on the right bank of the Yodo River in the north-central part of Osaka Prefecture. The city limits are shaped like a wedge or square. The Hankyu Kyoto Line and the Tokaido Main Line (JR Kyoto Line) run east–west through the northern end of the city, and the Osaka Monorail runs north–south through the center of the city. The Yodo River flows from the northeast to the west at the southern end of the city, and the Kanzaki River splits from the Yodo River at the boundary with Higashiyodogawa-ku, Osaka at the southwestern end. In addition, the Ai River flows east and west through the center of the city. The whole city is flat with alluvial plains made up of deposits from the Yodo and Ai rivers, and there are no mountains or hills.

Neighboring municipalities

Osaka Prefecture * Higashiyodokawa * Ibaraki * Moriguchi * Neyagawa * Settsu *

Suita is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 381,238 in 182,636 households, and a population density of 11,000 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It is a suburban city of Osaka City and a p ...

* Takatsuki

Climate

Settsu 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 ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Settsu is 15.1 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1475 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 27.1 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.7 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Settsu population statistics
/ref> the population of Settsu has remained relatively steady over the past 50 years.

History

The area of the modern city of Settsu was within ancient Settsu Province. In 785 AD, Wake no Kiyomaro constructed a canal between the Yodo River and the Kanzaki River in what is now Settsu, and the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

Emperor Uda was the 59th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 宇多天皇 (59)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Uda's reign spanned the years from 887 through 897. Traditional narrative Name and legacy Befor ...

built a village in what is now the Torikai neighborhood of Settsu. 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 ...

, the area was part of the holdings of Oda Nagamasu, the younger brother of

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

. 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 ...

, the area was divided between the direct holdings of the

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 ...

and the holdings of Takatsuki Domain and Shibamura Domain. Following 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 village of Mishima was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Mishima merged with Torikai and Mibu villages to form the town of Mishima on September 30, 1956. On November 1, 1966 Mishima was raised to city status and changed its name to Settsu.

Government

Settsu 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 19 members. Settsu contributes one member to the Osaka Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Osaka 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

Settsu was traditionally known for a variety of

eggplant Eggplant (American English, US, Canadian English, CA, Australian English, AU, Philippine English, PH), aubergine (British English, UK, Hiberno English, IE, New Zealand English, NZ), brinjal (Indian English, IN, Singapore English, SG, Malays ...

. Modern Settsu is a regional commercial center and distribution hub for northern Osaka. Due to its proximity to the Osaka metropolitan area, it is also a

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

. The city also has a growing and very diverse industrial base, including a major rolling stock factory for the

Central Japan Railway Company is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and occasionally as JR Tokai (). The term ''Tōkai'' refers to the southern portion of Central Japan, ...

and also for

Hankyu Railway , trading as , is a Japanese private railway company that provides commuter and interurban service to the northern Kansai region. It is one of the flagship properties of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., in turn part of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Gr ...

Education

Settsu has ten public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government and one public high school operated by the Osaka Prefectural Department of Education. There are also one private middle school and two private high schools. The prefecture also operates two special education schools for the handicapped. The Osaka University of Human Sciences and the Osaka Kun-ei Women's College are located in Settsu.

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 Kyōto Line * Hankyu Railway Logo

Hankyu Kyoto Line * - Osaka monorail logo

Osaka Monorail - Main Line * -

Highway

Kinki Expressway

Sister cities

Bengbu Bengbu () is a city in northern Anhui Province, China. Its population was 3,296,408 registered residents at the 2020 census. 1,968,027 lived in the built-up area made of four Bengbu urban districts and Fengyang County in Chuzhou Prefecture, large ...

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, sister city agreement since 1984 *

Bundaberg Bundaberg () is the major regional city in the Wide Bay-Burnett region of the state of Queensland, Australia. It is the List of cities in Australia by population, ninth largest city in the state. The Bundaberg central business district is situa ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, sister city agreement since 1998

Notable people from Settsu

* Keisuke Honda, football player * Yosuke Ishibitsu, football player * Sarina Suzuki, singer and actress * Kazuyoshi Tatsunami, baseball player

References

External links

*
Settsu City official website
Cities in Osaka Prefecture {{Osaka-geo-stub