270px, Konkokyo Headquarters Central Worship Hall 270px, Aerial view of Asakuchi city center 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

Okayama Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,826,059 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 7,114 Square kilometre, km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefecture ...

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 33,322 in 14,409 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 500 persons per km². The total area of the city is . The headquarters of the

Konkokyo , or Konkō, is a Shinto sect with origins in Shinbutsu-shūgō beliefs. It is part of the . It was founded by (also known as ) in 1859. Konkōkyō primarily worships a kami named ''Tenchi Kane No Kami'' , as well as other kami, namely the Mita ...

religion is in Asakuchi.

Geography

Asakuchi is in the southwestern Okayama Prefecture, bordered by the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka Ba ...

to the south. It is mostly hilly, with Mount Yosho and Mount Chikurinji in the north, Mount Abe in the northwest, and Mount Ryuo in the center. The southern part of the city is close to the Mizushima industrial area (approximately 10 km kilometers and the Fukuyama industrial area (approximately 20 kilometers).

Adjoining municipalities

Kasaoka is a Cities of Japan, city located in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 45,404 in 21,987 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . The municipal district also includes 31 outly ...

Kurashiki is a city located in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 478,651 and a population density of 1300 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Kurashiki is located in the south-central part of Okay ...

* Satoshō * Yakage

Climate

Asakuchi 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 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'') with very warm summers and cool winters. The average annual temperature in Asakuchi is 15.6 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1289 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around 27.1 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.9 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Asakuchi population statistics
/ref> the population of Asakuchi has remained stable for the past 60 years.

History

The Asakuchi area is part of ancient

Bitchū Province was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of western Honshū, in what is today western Okayama Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bizen and Bingo Provinces; those three provinces were settled in the late 7th Century, dividing form ...

and numerous

shell midden A midden is an old landfill, dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bone, bones, feces, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, Lithic flake, lithics (especially debitage), and other Artifact (archaeology), ...

s 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 ...

confirm that the area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. 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 villages of Kamogata and Yorishima were established within

Asakuchi District, Okayama is a district located in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the district has an estimated population of 55,658 and a density of 621.67 persons per km2. The total area is 89.53 km2. Towns and villages * Satoshō Merger *On August 1, 200 ...

with the creation of the modern municipalities system on June 1, 1889. Yorishima was elevated to town status on February 6, 1901 and Kamogata on October 25, 1925. On March 21, 2006 Kamogata and Yorishima merged with the town of Konkō (also from Asakuchi District) to form the city of Asakuchi.

Government

Asakuchi 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 16 members. Asakuchi, together with the town of Satoshō contributes two members to the Okayama Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Okayama 3rd 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

Asakuchi is a regional commercial center with a mixed economy of agriculture and light manufacturing. The city is also increasing 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 ...

for

Fukuyama Fukuyama may refer to: People * Francis Fukuyama, Japanese-American philosopher and political economist * Fukuyama (surname), other people with the name Places *Fukuyama, Hiroshima, city in Japan *Fukuyama, Kagoshima was a town located in Aira D ...

and Kurashiki.

Education

Asakuchi has seven public elementary schools and three public junior high schools operated by the city government and one private junior high school. The city has one public high school operated by the Okayama prefectural Board of Education and two private high schools.

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'yō Main Line The is a major railway line owned by JR Group companies in western Japan, connecting Kōbe Station and Moji Station, largely paralleling the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, in other words, the southern coast of western Honshu. The San'yō Shi ...

* -

Highways

San'yō Expressway The (Asian Highway Network ) is an expressway in Japan, running from Kobe through Hiroshima along the Inland Sea and terminating in Yamaguchi Prefecture. The entire length of the expressway was opened in 1997. The main line has a total length of ...

Sister cities

City of Tea Tree Gully The City of Tea Tree Gully is a local council in the Australian state of South Australia, in the outer north-eastern suburbs of Adelaide. The major business district in the city is at Modbury, where Westfield Tea Tree Plaza, Modbury Hospital, ...

, Australia (2007) *

Gao'an Gao'an () is a county-level city in the northwest-central part of Jiangxi province, China. It is under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Yichun, and is located about 35 kilometers west from Nanchang, the provincial capital. It cov ...

, China (2009)

Noted people from Asakuchi

Hideo Nakata is a Japanese filmmaker. Life and career Nakata was born in Okayama, Japan. He is most familiar to Western audiences for his work on Japanese horror films such as ''Ring'' (1998), ''Ring 2'' (1999) and '' Dark Water'' (2002). Several of these ...

, movie director

References

External links

Asakuchi City official website
Cities in Okayama Prefecture Asakuchi, Okayama Populated coastal places in Japan {{Okayama-geo-stub