is a

subprefecture A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province. Albania There are twelve Counties of Albania, Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several Districts of Albania, district ...

Hokkaido Prefecture is the second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by railway via the Seikan Tunnel. The ...

, Japan. The west side of the Hidaka mountains occupies most of the area. Hidaka is sparsely populated and has many of Hokkaido's natural resources. The governmental office is located in Urakawa.

History

*1897: Urakawa Subprefecture established. *1932: Urakawa Subprefecture renamed Hidaka Subprefecture. The name Hidaka ("sun high") is derived from the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of the same name established in 1869, which in turn was named after an unknown place in the '' Nihonshoki'', a history book written in 720. There is no direct connection between the Hidaka of the ''Nihonshoki'' and the modern Hidaka.

Geography

Located on the south-east coast of Hokkaido, Hidaka Subprefecture has an area of making it the 7th largest subprefecture in the prefecture and 5.8% of Hokkaido's total area. More than 80% of the area is covered with forest. The prefecture borders

Tokachi Subprefecture is a subprefecture of Hokkaido 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 t ...

to the north across the Hidaka Mountains. To the west is Iburi Subprefecture. The south side of the subprefecture is its coast on the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. The Hidaka Mountains are known as a "Mecca of Mountaineering", with more than 20 mountains including Mount Poroshiri at . These mountains are part of the Hidaka Sanmyaku-Erimo Quasi-National Park, which include Mount Apoi alpine vegetation community and Cape Erimo coast landscape. These areas boast wildlife such as

brown bear The brown bear (''Ursus arctos'') is a large bear native to Eurasia and North America. Of the land carnivorans, it is rivaled in size only by its closest relative, the polar bear, which is much less variable in size and slightly bigger on av ...

sika deer The sika deer (''Cervus nippon''), also known as the northern spotted deer or the Japanese deer, is a species of deer native to much of East Asia and introduced to other parts of the world. Previously found from northern Vietnam in the south t ...

, and

common seal The harbor (or harbour) seal (''Phoca vitulina''), also known as the common seal, is a true seal found along temperate and Arctic marine coastlines of the Northern Hemisphere. The most widely distributed species of pinniped (walruses, eared sea ...

Municipalities

Mergers

Demographics

The population of Hidaka Subprefecture is 81,407 in 33,996 households. In the 2005 census, this represents 1.4% of the total population of Hokkaido. The population of Hidaka peaked in 1960. The current population is down 4,613 from the last census in 2005.

References

External links

Official website
{{Hokkaido