Iwate Prefecture

Iwate-ken 岩手 県
Basic data
Administrative headquarters :	Morioka
Region :	Tōhoku
Main island :	Honshu
Area :	15,275.01  km²
Water content:	0.1  %
Residents :	1,226,430 (October 1, 2019)
Population density :	80 inhabitants per km²
Counties :	10
Municipalities :	33
ISO 3166-2 :	JP-03
Governor :	Takuya Tasso
Website:	www.pref.iwate.jp
Symbols
Prefecture flag :
Prefecture tree :	Japanese Nambu red pine
Prefecture flower :	Bluebell tree
Vogel prefecture :	Colored pheasant
Fish prefecture :	Nambu ketal salmon

The Iwate Prefecture ( Jap. 岩手県 , Iwate-ken ) is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan and is located in the region Tohoku . The seat of the prefectural administration is Morioka . Iwate is the partner prefecture of the German state Rhineland-Palatinate .

geography

Iwate Prefecture is located north of the main island of Honshu , south of Aomori Prefecture , east of Akita Prefecture and north of Miyagi Prefecture . The prefecture consists mainly of mountains and plateaus ( Ōu mountains and Kitakami mountains ) that stretch to the coast in the east. In the west on the border with Akita, the prefecture is closed off by the Ōu Mountains. The otherwise mountainous Iwate is cut in a north-south direction by a valley ( River Kitakami ) in which Morioka and most of the other cities of the prefecture are located.

Iwate Prefecture is defined by its agricultural use and scenic beauty. The industrialization is low.

There are seven prefectural nature parks ( kenritsu shizen kōen ) in Iwate . In addition, the quasi-national parks Kurikoma and Hayachine and the national parks ( kokuritsu kōen ) Towada-Hachimantai and Sanriku-Fukkō are wholly or partially in the prefecture . Together the nature parks in Iwate cover an area of ​​72,061 hectares.

history

Until the end of the Meiji period , Iwate was the central part of Mutsu Province . The province came under the control of the central government in the Heian period (794–1185), and was ruled by the Ōshū Fujiwara clan during the eleventh and twelfth centuries . Their seat of government was Hiraizumi , which is still a tourist attraction today. In the sixteenth century and in the following Edo period (1603–1868), the region was divided into various separate fiefs . In 1869, among other things, the province of Rikuchū was separated from Mutsu , which corresponded to the extent of approximately Iwate. The prefecture was given the current name Iwate and the boundaries that still exist today in 1876 as part of the territorial reforms at that time.

Hirono (0/0/10) Kuji (4/2/65) Fudai (0/1/0) Tanohata (17/15/225) Iwaizumi (10/0/177) Noda (39/0/311) Ōtsuchi (854/423/3579) Miyako / Tarō (474/94/2767) Yamada (687/148/2762) Kamaishi / Ryōishi (993/152/2957) Ōfunato (419/79/2791) Rikuzentakata (1602/205/3806) Kesennuma (1214/220/8483)

Selection of locations in Iwate (red) and adjacent prefectures (yellow) that were affected by the Tōhoku earthquake and subsequent tsunami in 2011. In brackets the number of dead, missing and completely destroyed residential buildings (as of March 2016).

The prefecture was shaken by the Tōhoku earthquake on March 11, 2011 and the communities on the coast (from north to south: Hirono , Kuji , Noda , Fudai , Tanohata , Hiraizumi , Miyako , Yamada , Ōtsuchi , Kamaishi , Ōfunato , Rikuzentakata ) badly hit by a subsequent tsunami . According to the damage survey as of March 2016, over 5,100 deaths, more than 1,100 still missing and around 20,000 completely destroyed residential buildings were counted for the entire prefecture.

politics

The Iwate Prefectural Government Building in Morioka.

Group strengths in the prefecture parliament
(as of September 13, 2019)

        

A total of 48 seats

• Kibō Iwate ("Hope Iwate"; DVP / Ex-Democrats, non-party): 14
• LDP : 13
• Iwate Shinseikai ("New Politics Association Iwate"; non- party including KDP-supported independents): 8
• Iwate kenmin club ("Prefectural Citizens Club Iwate"; non-party / former Chiiki Seitō Iwate ): 5
• KPY : 3
• SDP : 2
• Kōmeitō (non-attached): 1
• Other non-affiliated lots: 2

Iwate's constituency for the national House of Representatives since 2017

Governor of Iwate has been Takuya Tasso since 2007 , who was elected with the support of the then nationally opposition Democratic Party when the Democrats became the strongest force in a prefectural parliament for the first time in the country's parliamentary election . In 2012 he followed Ichirō Ozawa from the party. Tasso was confirmed for a second term in the gubernatorial election on September 11, 2011, which was postponed because of the Tōhoku earthquake , and was re-elected for a third term in 2015 due to the lack of an opponent without a vote, after the communists also renounced a candidate and the ex-democrat Tatsuo Hirano had previously declared one LDP-Kōmeitō-supported candidacy had withdrawn. In the 2019 gubernatorial election , with the support of the national center-left opposition ( KDP , DVP , Communist Party of Japan , SDP ) , Tasso was confirmed for a fourth term with a two-thirds majority against former prefectural parliamentarian Atsushi Oikawa, who was supported by the LDP and Komeitō . The voter turnout was 53.5%, the lowest ever.

Iwate is the home prefecture of Ichirō Ozawa and since the 1990s, although generally more rural, a relative stronghold of its parties: the New Progress Party , the Liberal Party and finally the Democratic Party. Ozawa left the party in 2012 and the Iwate Democrats split. The governor and about half of the deputies in the prefecture of Parliament and the representatives Iwates in the national parliament followed Ozawa in the People's Life First , the Tomorrow Party of Japan and the People's Life Party / Liberal Party, which finally in 2019 again part of the People's Democratic Party has become is, one of the two main successors to the Democrats. In the 2019 election of the 48 members of the prefectural parliament, which was held at the same time as the gubernatorial election , the LDP was the strongest party with 14 seats (+4), while the DVP received 9 (−1). After party nominations have counted neither the main supporters of the governor (DVP 9, KPJ 3, SDP 2) nor the LDP-led block (LDP 14, Kōmeitō 1, Iwate Kenmin Club ["Prefectural Citizens' Club Iwate", successor to the Chiiki Seito Iwate ] 5) without the 14 independents a majority. In half of the 16 constituencies there were only as many candidates as there were seats and therefore no voting. After the election, an LDP MP did not become a member of the LDP faction, and the DVP-led faction remained the strongest force.

Since 2017, Iwate has only been represented in the national parliament by three directly elected members in the Chamber of Deputies and two in the Council House . After the elections in 2016 , 2017 , 2019 and the formation and transfer of new parties since then, the Iwates delegation to the national parliament consists of (as of August 2019):

• in the House of Representatives
  • Constituency 1: Takeshi Shina (non-party and non-attached, 5th term),
  • Constituency 2: Shun'ichi Suzuki ( LDP , 9th term),
  • Constituency 3: Ichirō Ozawa ( DVP , 17th term),
• in the council house
  • until 2022: Eiji Kidoguchi (DVP, 1st term of office),
  • until 2025: Takanori Yokosawa (DVP, 1st term).

The prefecture is on friendly terms with Rhineland-Palatinate .

Communities

2010 Iwate parish division

Municipal division 2004 during the Heisei territorial reform (Ichinoseki-shi in red)

In 2015 there are still 33 communities (shichōson) in Iwate (from over 200 in 1889 and just under 60 in 2000): 14 [district] cities (- shi ) - of which only the capital in a special form for large cities -, 15 [district members] Cities ( -machi / -chō) and four village communities ( -mura / -son) . Of the ten remaining former counties (- gun ) in Iwate ( still in use as geographical units ) , six now consist of just one municipality.

Remarks:

• For the sake of readability, the prefixes for cardinal points, “upper” and “lower” as well as province names preceding the place name as well as the community suffixes have been separated by hyphens in this table, the other Romanization practice is inconsistent.
• There are several areas whose church affiliation is unclear.

List of -shi / -chō / -son in Iwate-ken

local community	Type	circle	Area (October 1, 2019)	Population (October 1, 2019)
Morioka (seat of the prefecture administration)	-shi ( "core city" )	-	886.47 km²	292,554
Hachimantai	-shi	-	862.3 km²	24,412
Hanamaki	-shi	-	908.39 km²	94.007
Ichinoseki	-shi	-	1,256.42 km²	114,477
Kamaishi	-shi	-	440.34 km²	34,118
Kitakami	-shi	-	437.55 km²	92,447
Kuji	-shi	-	623.5 km²	33,556
Miyako	-shi	-	1,259.15 km²	52,471
Ninohe	-shi	-	420.42 km²	25,696
Ōfunato	-shi	-	322.51 km²	35,535
Ōshū	-shi	-	993.3 km²	114.246
Rikuzen-Takata	-shi	-	231.94 km²	18,500
Takizawa	-shi	-	182.46 km²	55,746
Tono	-shi	-	825.97 km²	25,974
Shizukuishi	-chō	Iwate	608.82 km²	15,998
Kuzumaki	-chō	Iwate	434.96 km²	5671
Iwate	-machi	Iwate	360.46 km²	12,547
Shiwa	-chō	Shiwa	238.98 km²	31,969
Yahaba	-chō	Shiwa	67.32 km²	27,998
Nishi-Waga	-machi	Waga	590.74 km²	5278
Kanegasaki	-chō	Isawa	179.76 km²	15,410
Hiraizumi	-chō	Nishi-Iwai	63.39 km²	7389
Sumita	-chō	Kesen	334.84 km²	5194
Ōtsuchi	-chō	Kami-Hei	200.42 km²	11,046
Yamada	-machi	Shimo-Hei	262.81 km²	14,691
Iwaizumi	-chō	Shimo-Hei	992.36 km²	8949
Tanohata	-mura	Shimo-Hei	156.19 km²	3140
Fudai	-mura	Shimo-Hei	69.66 km²	2569
Karumai	-machi	Kunohe	245.82 km²	8536
Noda	-mura	Kunohe	80.8 km²	3918
Kunohe	-mura	Kunohe	134.02 km²	5403
Hirono	-chō	Kunohe	302.92 km²	15,277
Ichinohe	-machi	Ninohe	300.03 km²	11,708
Iwate	-ken (33 municipalities)	(10 circles)	15,275.01 km²	1,226,430

• 

  outline

• 

  flower-filled house

• 

  No stage in Chūson-ji

• 

  Iwate Prefectural University in Morioka

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  Park in Morioka

• 

  Mount Iwate

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  Kitakami River

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  Road signs in Iwate Prefecture

Web links

Commons : Iwate Prefecture  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Iwate Prefecture Administration , kankyō-seikatsu-bu ("Department of Environment and [Daily] Life"): い わ て の 自然 公園 (Japanese; nature parks in Iwate)
2. ↑ ^{a b} 平 成 23 年 (2011 年) 東北 地方 太平洋 沖 地震 （東 日本 大 震災） に つ い て （第 153 報） ( Memento from March 10, 2016 on WebCite ) , 総 務 省 消防 庁 (Fire and Disaster Management Agency), 8. March 2016.
3. ^ Iwate Prefectural Parliament: Overview , accessed October 15, 2019.
4. ↑ ^{a b} 県 議会 「改革 岩手」 最大 会 派 無 所属 ８ 人 「新政 会」 設立 . In: Mainichi Shimbun . September 16, 2019. Retrieved October 15, 2019 (Japanese). 
5. ^ Iwate governor to part with DPJ and join Ozawa's planned party. In: The Japan Times . July 10, 2012, archived from the original on July 13, 2012 ; accessed on August 12, 2016 . 
6. ^ Iwate governor secures third term after no rivals file election candidacy. In: The Japan Times . August 21, 2015, accessed on August 21, 2015 . 
7. ↑ 岩手 知事 選 、 達 増 氏 が 無 投票 で ３ 選 与 党 「不 戦 敗」 . In: Nihon Keizai Shimbun . August 20, 2015. Retrieved August 21, 2015 (Japanese). 
8. ↑ 岩手 県 知事 選 、 達 増 氏 が ４ 選 . In: Iwate Nippō . September 8, 2019. Retrieved September 9, 2019 (Japanese). 
9. ↑ 2019 岩手 県 知事 選 . In: NHK Senkyo Web. September 9, 2019. Retrieved September 9, 2019 (Japanese). 
10. ↑ ^{a b} 知事 選 投票 率 は 過去 最低 県 議 選 無 風 多 く 影響 か . In: Iwate Nippō . September 9, 2019. Retrieved September 9, 2019 (Japanese). 
11. ^ Tasso wins 4th term in Iwate gubernatorial election . In: The Mainichi . September 8, 2019, accessed September 9, 2019 . 
12. ↑ 2019 岩手 県 議 選 . In: NHK Senkyo Web. September 9, 2019. Retrieved September 9, 2019 (Japanese). 
13. ↑ 県 議 選 、 自 民 14 で 第 １ 党 . In: Iwate Nippō . September 9, 2019. Retrieved September 9, 2019 (Japanese). 
14. ^ Partnerships of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate. Rhineland-Palatinate, archived from the original on June 15, 2009 ; accessed on August 12, 2016 . 
15. ↑ ^{a b} Kokudo Chiriin : 令 和 元年 全国 都 道 府 県 市区 町 村 別 面積 調 （１０ 月 １ 日 時点） , p. 16: 03 岩手 県 (Japanese), accessed on June 23, 2020.

Coordinates: 39 ° 29 '  N , 141 ° 19'  E