was a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

located in Yatsuhiro District,

Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture t ...

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 ...

. As of 2003, the village 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 2,787 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 43.17 persons per km². The total area was 64.56 km². On August 1, 2005, Tōyō, along with the towns of Kagami and Senchō, and the villages of Izumi and Sakamoto (all from Yatsushiro District), was merged into the expanded city of

Yatsushiro 270px, Yatsushiro City Hall 270px, ruins of Yatsushiro Castle is a city located in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 120,389 in 57,953 households, and a population density of 300 persons per km2. The total are ...

and no longer exists as an independent

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

. Tōyō is now officially referred to as ''Tōyō-machi'' (東陽町), or ''Tōyō town''. Tōyō is famous for its ginger, and every October the town holds its annual ''shōgamatsuri'', or ginger festival. The town is also known for its old stone bridges, or ''ishibashi'', of which many were built during the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

. In addition, the town has one

onsen In Japan, are hot springs and the bathing facilities and Ryokan (inn), traditional inns around them. There are approximately 25,000 hot spring sources throughout Japan, and approximately 3,000 ''onsen'' establishments use naturally hot water ...

named ''Seseragi''.

References

External links

Official website of Yatsushiro
Dissolved municipalities of Kumamoto Prefecture Yatsushiro, Kumamoto {{Kumamoto-geo-stub