is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...

located in southern

Okayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 km2 (2,746 sq mi). Okayama Prefecture borders Tottori Prefecture to the nor ...

, Japan. , the city had an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using ...

of 36,499 in 15,934 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical ...

of 290 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Setouchi is located in southeastern Okayama Prefecture(called the Tobi region) to the east of the prefectural capital of Okayama city. It faces the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, 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 Osa ...

to the south, and the coastline is intricate and forms part of the Setonaikai National Park. Inhabited islands such as Nagashima and the Ushimado Islands and within the city limits.The western part forms part of the Okayama Plain across the Yoshii River and is called the Sencho Plain. Most of the area is mountain forest at an elevation of 100 to 300 meters.

Adjoining municipalities

* Higashi-ku, Okayama * Bizen

Climate

Setouchi has a humid subtropical climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Setouchi 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 highest temperature ever recorded in Setouchi was on 30 July 2004; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 27 February 1981.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Setouchi in 2020 is 36,048 people. Setouchi has been conducting censuses since 1950.

History

The area Setouchi was part of ancient

Bizen Province was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of Honshū, in what is today the southeastern part of Okayama Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bitchū and Bingo Provinces. Bizen borders Mimasaka, Harima, and Bitchū Provinces. Bi ...

. Port Ushimado was a famous port till the early modern era. It served messengers from Korea to the Imperial Court and later to the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in ...

. The port is today a good spot for sightseeing and sailing. Osafune was famous for the production of ''

katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

'' in the 12th century under the name of ''Bizen Osafune''. Fukuoka District, which flourished as a trade center and later a political center along the Seto Inland Sea until the beginning of the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

, served by the Yoshii River and the Seto Inland Sea, is also included as a part of the city. The Fukuoka Market (''Fukuoka no Ichi'') was recorded in the scroll ''Ippen Shonin Emaki'', drawn in the 13th century. At the end of the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first '' shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

a castle was built in Fukuoka. In the middle

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by ...

, the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

'' who governed Bizen province took this castle as their site, rebuilt and fortified it more than before. Because the Yoshii River changed its course and most of Fukuoka including the castle sank under the river, the castle was abandoned. During the

Edo Period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

, the area was part of the holdings of

Okayama Domain The was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Bizen Province in modern-day Okayama Prefecture."Ikeda" at ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 14 retrieved 2013-4-25. # Tadatsugu #Ikeda Tadakatsu">Tadakatsu *Ikeda clan, 1632–18 ...

. After 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 practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were r ...

, the area was organized into villages, including the village of Oku within

Oku District, Okayama was a district located in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the district had an estimated population of 39,365 and a density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol m ...

on June 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. Oku was raised to town status on April 1, 1952 after merging with five neighboring villages. The city of Setouchi was founded on November 1, 2004, by the merger of Oku with the towns of Osafune and Ushimado (all from Oku District). Its city hall is the former town hall of Oku.

Government

Setouchi 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, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

city council of 18 members. Setouchi contributes one member to the Okayama Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Okayama 2nd district of the lower house of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paral ...

Economy

Setouchi has a mixed economy, based on agriculture, (rice, pumpkins, cabbage, mushrooms, olives), commercial fishing (

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lotus ...

of oysters) and industry. Historically, the area was noted for its production of sea salt and production of

Japanese sword A is one of several types of traditionally made swords from Japan. Bronze swords were made as early as the Yayoi period (1000 BC – 300 AD), though most people generally refer to the curved blades made from the Heian period (794 – 1185) to th ...

Education

Setouchi has nine public elementary schools and three public junior high schools, and one public high school operated by the Okayama prefectural Board of Education.

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, and ...

(JR West) - Akō Line * - -

Highways

* *

Sister city relations

Mytilene Mytilene (; el, Μυτιλήνη, Mytilíni ; tr, Midilli) is the capital of the Greek island of Lesbos, and its port. It is also the capital and administrative center of the North Aegean Region, and hosts the headquarters of the University o ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

(sister city since July, 1982) *

Horokanai, Hokkaidō is a town in Kamikawa Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of ...

, Japan (1989) *

Tsushima, Nagasaki is an island city grouped in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It is the only city of Tsushima Subprefecture and it encompasses all of Tsushima Island Archipelago, which lies in the Tsushima Strait north of Nagasaki on the western side of Kyushu, the ...

, Japan (1996)

Local attractions

Yumeji Art Museum is an art museum in Okayama Prefecture split between the main museum in Naka-ku, Okayama and the Yumeji Seika and Shonen Sanso annex built in Setouchi, the birthplace of Yumeji Takehisa, a poet and artist who was active in the early 1900s. Bui ...

* Kadota Shell Mound, National Historic Site * Bizen Osafune Japanese sword Museum * Honren-ji, National Historic Site

Noted people from Setouchi

Yōichi Amano is a Japanese manga artist from Setouchi in Okayama Prefecture. Works * ''Akaboshi: Ibun Suikoden'' - part of anthology ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' * ''Cross Beat'' * ''Live Alive'' * ''Over Time'' - part of anthology ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' * ''S ...

, manga artist *

Yumeji Takehisa was a Japanese poet and painter. He is known foremost for his '' Nihonga'' illustrations of '' bijin'', beautiful women and girls, though he also produced a wide variety of works including book covers, serial newspaper illustrations, ''furoshi ...

, artist

References

External links

Setouchi City official website
{{Authority control Cities in Okayama Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Setouchi, Okayama