270px, Kozagawa Town Hall 270px, Kozagawa Ichimai-iwa is a

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

located in Higashimuro District,

Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 876,030 () and a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture to ...

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 town 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 2,537 in 1415 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 8.6 persons per km². The total area of the town is . The total area of Kozagawa is the second largest in Wakayama Prefecture. However, the population of Kozagawa Town is the second smallest in the prefecture.

Geography

Kozagawa is located in an inland area near the southernmost tip of the

Kii Peninsula The is the largest peninsula on the island of Honshū in Japan and is located within the Kansai region. It is named after the ancient Kii Province. The peninsula has long been a sacred place in Buddhism, Shinto, and Shugendo, and many people wou ...

. The topography is forested and mountainous, with the forest area occupying about 90% of the total town area. The Koza River runs through the town from northwest to southeast and the settled areas are all along the floodplain of this river.

Climate

Kozagawa 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 Kozagawa 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 . The area is subject to

typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...

s in summer.

Demographics

The population of Kozagawa has decreased significantly since 1950, and is now less than a third of what it was a century ago.Kozagawa population statistics
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History

The area of the modern town of Kozagawa was within ancient

Kii Province , or , was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is today Wakayama Prefecture, as well as the southern part of Mie Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Kii''" in . Kii bordered Ise, Izumi, Kawachi, Shima, and Yamato Pro ...

. With the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889, the following villages were formed: * Takaike Village (高池村) - (merger of Takagawara hamlet, Ikenoguchi hamlet, Ikenoyama hamlet, Kusu hamlet, Utsuki hamlet, Tsukinose hamlet, and Kashiyama hamlet). * Myojin Village (明神村) - (merger of Nakazaki hamlet, Aise hamlet, Tachiaigawa hamlet, Tsurugawa hamlet, Ichiburi hamlet, Oh'yanagi hamlet, Uruno hamlet, Tachiai hamlet, Shimonaka hamlet, Kawaguchi hamlet, Takase hamlet, Nukumi hamlet, and Mine hamlet). * Mitogawa Village (三尾川村) - (merger of Mitogawa hamlet, Nabera hamlet, Ohkawa hamlet, Nagaoi hamlet, Utsuo hamlet, Hinatagawa hamlet, and Kurozu hamlet). * Kogawa Village (小川村) - (merger of Choutsuo hamlet, Ohkuwa hamlet, Nishiakagi hamlet, Tagawa hamlet, Komorigawa hamlet, Uzutsui hamlet, Sarugawa hamlet, and Yamate hamlet). * Shichigawa Village (七川村) - (merger of Nishikawa hamlet, Shimotsuyu hamlet, Narukawa hamlet, Matsune hamlet, Hirai hamlet, Inodani hamlet, Sada hamlet, and Soinogawa hamlet). In 1900, Takaike Village was promoted to town status. On March 31, 1956, Takaike Town, Myojin Village, Mitogawa Village, Kogawa Village, and Shichigawa Village merged and became Kozagawa Town.

Government

Kozagawa 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 10 members. Kozagawa collectively with the other municipalities of Higashimuro District contributes two members to the

Wakayama Prefectural Assembly The is the prefectural parliament of Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 876,030 () and a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefe ...

. In terms of national politics, the town is part of

Wakayama 3rd district Wakayama 3rd district is a former constituency of the House of Representatives in the Diet of Japan (national legislature), located in Wakayama Prefecture and consisted of Arida, Gobo, Shingu, and Tanabe cities and the Arida, Hidaka, Higashi ...

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 ...

. The present town mayor is Takeo Takeda (武田丈夫) (2008- ).

Economy

The economy of Kozagawa is centered on forestry and agriculture. Because of warm and wet climate, from ancient times, good-quality woods, called "Kozagawa-Zai (古座川材)", have been produced.

Education

Kozagawa has three public elementary schools and two public middle schools operated by the town government. The town does not have a high school.

Hokkaido University , or , is a public research university in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Founded in 1918, it is the fifth-oldest government-authorised university in Japan and one of the former Imperial Universities. The university finds its roots in Sapporo A ...

's Northern Biosphere Field Science Center Wakayama Research Forest is located in Kozagawa

Transportation

Railway

Kozagawa has no commercial passenger rail service. The nearest station is Koza Station of JR

Kisei Main Line The is a railway line that parallels the coastline of the Kii Peninsula in Japan between Mie Prefecture and Wakayama Prefecture. The name takes the ''kanji'' characters from the names of the old provinces of and . The line is operated by Cen ...

, located in Kushimoto.

Highways

Notable people

* Shingo Tatsumi (巽真吾), professional baseball player

References

External links

* * {{Wakayama Towns in Wakayama Prefecture Kozagawa, Wakayama