Hanamaki ( 花巻市 , Hanamaki-shi ) is a city in Iwate Prefecture , Japan . As of 31 March 2020, the city had an estimated population of 94,691, and a population density of 100 persons per km, in 37,773 households. The total area of the city is 908.39 square kilometres (350.73 sq mi). Hanamaki is famous as the birthplace of the novelist and poet Kenji Miyazawa and Iwate Prefecture's local specialty, Wanko soba , as well as its hot spring resorts .
23-628: Hanamaki is located in central Iwate Prefecture, in the Kitakami River valley at the conflux of three rivers with the Kitakami River; the Sarugaishi-gawa from the east and the Se-gawa and Toyosawa-gawa from the west. In the west the city rises to the foothills of the Ōu Mountains with the highest peak being Mt. Matsukura at 968 metres (3,176 ft). To the east the city rises to the highest peak in
46-430: A dance of over one thousand synchronized traditional dancers; the carrying of over one hundred small shrines ; and the parading of a dozen or so large, hand-constructed floats depicting historical, fictional, or mythical scenes and accompanied by drummers, flautists, and lantern-carriers. Of these dances, the most famous is Shishi Odori (dance of the deer). This dance involves men dressing as deer and banging drums. With
69-575: A directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 25 members. Hanamaki contributes four seats to the Iwate Prefectural legislature. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Iwate 3rd district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan . Agriculture, notably dairy farming dominates the local economy. Hanamaki is also noted for electrical appliances. The area is also noted for its many onsen (hot spring) resorts. Fuji University ,
92-554: A friendship with those from Berndorf, Lower Austria. Ishidoriya was paired with Rutland, Vermont . Kitakami River The Kitakami River ( 北上川 , Kitakami-gawa ) is the fourth largest river in Japan and the largest in the Tōhoku region . It is 249 kilometres (155 mi) long and drains an area of 10,150 square kilometres (3,920 sq mi). It flows through mostly rural areas of Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures . The source of
115-512: A history of brewing sake connected with the Nambu Toji tradition. Each of the former towns merged with Hanamaki also conducted exchanges on their own, most of which have been taken up by the new Hanamaki city. Ōhasama was paired Berndorf. Mt. Hayachine is home to a particular species of edelweiss , called Hayachine Usuyukiso , which grows exclusively on Mt. Hayachine. It was because of this flower that mountain climbers from Ōhasama forged
138-699: A private university, is located in Hanamaki. The city government operates 19 public elementary schools and 11 public junior high schools. There are seven public high schools operated by the Iwate Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school. [REDACTED] East Japan Railway Company (JR East) - Tōhoku Shinkansen [REDACTED] East Japan Railway Company (JR East) - Tōhoku Main Line [REDACTED] East Japan Railway Company (JR East) - Kamaishi Line Hanamaki
161-742: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to a river in Japan is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . East Japan Railway Company The East Japan Railway Company is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as JR Higashi-Nihon ( JR東日本 , Jeiāru Higashi-Nihon ) in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in Yoyogi , Shibuya , Tokyo , next to Shinjuku Station . It
184-537: Is a front for a revolutionary political organization called the Japan Revolutionary Communist League (Revolutionary Marxist Faction) . An investigation of this is ongoing. The East Japan Railway Culture Foundation is a non-profit organization established by JR East for the purpose of developing a "richer railway culture". The Railway Museum in Saitama is operated by the foundation. JR East held
207-616: Is known historically for its many onsen (hot springs). Kenji Miyazawa's various legacies are the old Hanamaki city's other perennial tourist attraction; notably the Miyazawa Kenji Memorial Museum features several exhibitions related to his life and works. The city also has a ski slope. One of Hanamaki's most notable events is the Hanamaki Matsuri, an annual festival which takes place the second weekend of September and dates back to 1593. The three-day festivities include
230-644: Is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange (it formerly had secondary listings in the Nagoya and Osaka stock exchanges), is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, and is one of three Japan Railways Group constituents of the Nikkei 225 index, the others being JR Central and JR West . JR East was incorporated on 1 April 1987 after being spun off from the government-run Japanese National Railways (JNR). The spin-off
253-627: Is owned and operated by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central), although it stops at several JR East stations. These lines have sections inside the Tokyo suburban area (Japanese: 東京近郊区間 ) designated by JR East. This does not necessarily mean that the lines are fully inside the Greater Tokyo Area . Below is the full list of limited express and express train services operated on JR East lines as of 2022. During fiscal 2017,
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#1732884672266276-636: Is the second highest mountain in Iwate Prefecture, lies in the northeast section of Ōhasama. The area is home to the regionally well-known Edel Wine. In September, the Ōhasama Wine House hosts the annual Wine Festival. Around the time of Japan's Girls' Festival , Ōhasama puts on displays of its collection of dolls , many of which are several hundred years old. Local history suggests that the dolls may have been given to residents of Ōhasama by travelers from Kyoto on their way to trade in Hokkaidō . Ishidoriya has
299-722: The Kitakami Range , Mount Hayachine at 1,917 metres (6,289 ft). The largest reservoir is Lake Tase on the Sarugaishi River. Lake Hayachine on the Hienuki River is quite spectacular with steep mountains rising above it. Lake Toyosawa is in the western part of the city on the Toyosawa River. Parts of the city are within the borders of the Hayachine Quasi-National Park . A chain of 12 hot springs that lie along
322-601: The Tokugawa shogunate . The town developed as a post station on the Ōshū Kaidō highway during the Edo period. In the Meiji period , with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889, the modern towns of Hanamaki and Hanamaki-Kawaguchi were created within Hienuki District, Iwate . The two towns were merged on April 10, 1929, with the merged municipality retaining
345-574: The building of railways in the early Meiji period . Numerous dams have been constructed on the river and its tributaries from the Taishō and Shōwa periods for hydroelectric power generation, flood control and irrigation. However, another unusual feature is that there are no dams from its mouth to the Shijūshida Dam north of Morioka. This allows for a spectacular salmon run every fall. In Iwate Prefecture from north to south showing from which direction
368-684: The busiest stations in the JR East network by average daily passenger count were: JR East co-sponsors the JEF United Chiba J-League football club , which was formed by a merger between the JR East and Furukawa Electric company teams. JR East aims to reduce its carbon emissions by half, as measured over the period 1990–2030. This would be achieved by increasing the efficiency of trains and company-owned thermal power stations and by developing hybrid trains . The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has stated that JR East's official union
391-403: The city's recent mergers, Hanamaki now lays claim to its absorbed towns' attractions. Ōhasama is famous for local varieties of traditional Kagura dance. Kagura dancers often appear at area festivals or functions. On a hill above the town of Ōhasama proper stands a statue resembling the wolf-like costumes donned by Hayachine Kagura dancers. Mt. Hayachine , which at 1917 m (6289 ft)
414-727: The edge of the Ōu Mountains form the Hanamaki Onsenkyo Village. Iwate Prefecture Hanamaki has a humid climate ( Köppen climate classification Cfa ) characterized by mild summers and cold winters. The average annual temperature in Hanamaki is 10.4 °C (50.7 °F). The average annual rainfall is 1,324 millimetres (52.1 in) with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.0 °C (75.2 °F), and lowest in January, at around −2.3 °C (27.9 °F). Per Japanese census data,
437-401: The name of Hanamaki. On April 1, 1954, the villages of Yuguchi, Yumoto, Miyanome, Yasawa and Ohta were annexed by Hanamaki. An additional village, Sasama, joined the following year. In January 2006, Hanamaki merged with the towns of Ishidoriya , Ōhasama , thus dissolving Hienuki District, and with the town of Tōwa from Waga District . Hanamaki has a mayor-council form of government with
460-587: The population of Hanamaki peaked at around the year 2000 and has declined since. The area of present-day Hanamaki was part of ancient Mutsu Province , and has been settled since at least the Jōmon period . During the Sengoku period , the area was dominated by various samurai clans before coming under the control of the Nambu clan during the Edo period , who ruled Morioka Domain under
483-636: The river is the Mount Nanashigure in northern Iwate, from which it flows to the south between the Kitakami Mountains and the Ōu Mountains . The river is unusual in that it has two mouths, one flowing south into Ishinomaki Bay and the other flowing east into the Pacific Ocean, both in Ishinomaki City. The Kitakami river was an important transportation route during the Edo period and before
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#1732884672266506-478: The water flows and the city where it empties into the Kitakami River. 38°34′36″N 141°27′36″E / 38.576719°N 141.460111°E / 38.576719; 141.460111 (mouth) 38°24′27″N 141°18′49″E / 38.407483°N 141.313667°E / 38.407483; 141.313667 (former mouth) This Iwate Prefecture location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Miyagi Prefecture location article
529-686: Was nominally "privatization", as the company was actually a wholly owned subsidiary of the government-owned JNR Settlement Corporation for several years, and was not completely sold to the public until 2002. Following the breakup, JR East ran the operations on former JNR lines in the Greater Tokyo Area , the Tōhoku region , and surrounding areas. Railway lines of JR East primarily serve the Kanto and Tohoku regions , along with adjacent areas in Kōshin'etsu region ( Niigata , Nagano , Yamanashi ) and Shizuoka prefectures . The Tokyo–Osaka Tōkaidō Shinkansen
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