Kanegasaki, Iwate

Kanegasaki 金ケ崎町
Town
JR Kanegasaki Station
Flag Seal
Location of Kanegasaki in Iwate Prefecture
Kanegasaki
Coordinates:
Country	Japan
Region	Tōhoku
Prefecture	Iwate
District	Isawa
Area
• Total	179.76 km2 (69.41 sq mi)
Population (September 2015)
• Total	15,965
• Density	88.8/km2 (230/sq mi)
Time zone	Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
City symbols
• Tree	Cryptomeria
• Flower	Satsuki azalea
• Bird	Copper pheasant
Phone number	0197-42-2111
Address	22-1 Nishine-Minami-chō, Kanegasaki-chō, Isawa-gun, Iwate-ken 029-4592
Website	Official website

Dairy farm in western part of Kanegasaki

Kanegasaki (金ケ崎町, Kanegasaki-chō) is a town located in Isawa District, Iwate Prefecture, in the Tohoku region of northern Japan. As of September 2015, the town had an estimated population of 16,122 and a population density of 88.8 persons per km². The total area was 179.76 square kilometres (69.41 sq mi).

Geography

Kanegasaki is located at the confluence of the Kitakami and Isawa rivers and is bordered to the north by Kitakami-shi, to the east and south by Ōshū-shi. In the mountains to the west, there is a large reservoir known as Sengaishi that is dammed and used for irrigating the rice paddies in the plain below. Kanegasaki is characterized by a variety of geographical features, including mountains and wide expanses of rice paddies to the west and a small merchant district and neighboring residential areas to the east. On the border of Kanegasaki and Esashi two neighborhoods (Jōnai and Suwa-kōji) were once the location of a castle that sat at the border of the Nambu and Date domains, and several examples of gardens and houses from the Edo period that were residences of samurai prior to the Meiji Restoration of 1868 remain.

Neighboring municipalities

• Iwate Prefecture
  • Kitakami, Iwate
  • Ōshū, Iwate

History

The area of present-day Kanegasaki was part of ancient Mutsu Province, and has been settled since at least the Jomon period by the Emishi people. During the later portion of the Heian period, the area was ruled by the Northern Fujiwara. During the Sengoku period, the area was contested by various samurai clans before coming under the control of the Date clan of Sendai Domain during the Edo period, under the Tokugawa shogunate.

The modern village of Kanegasaki was founded on April 1, 1889, with the establishment of the municipalities system. It was raised to town status on September 1, 1925. On March 1, 1955 Kanegasaki absorbed the neighboring village of Nagaoka, also from Isawa District.

Economy

Kanegasaki has a relatively diverse economy that includes rice paddies typical of the region, but also extensive dairy farms in the western portion of the town and a large industrial park. The industrial park has several different manufacturing facilities, such as a Toyota plant that produces Lexus automobiles (Kantō Jidōsha) and a Fujitsu semiconductor facility.

Education

Kanegasaki has five elementary schools, one middle school and one high school. In addition,the town is known for having developed a system of Life-Long Learning Centers situated throughout the town that provide educational and other opportunities for the local residents.

Transportation

Railway

• East Japan Railway Company (JR East) – Tōhoku Main Line
  • Kanegasaki - Rokuhara

Highway

• Japan National Route 4

International relations

• Amherst, Massachusetts, United States (since August 1993)
• Changchun, People's Republic of China (since February 1989)
• Leinefelde-Worbis, Germany (since September 2002)

Noted people from Kanegasaki

• Houko Kuwashima – voice actress

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website (Japanese)