Yamatotakada, Nara

Infobox City Japan
Name= Yamatotakada
JapaneseName= 大和高田市
Map

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Region= Kansai
Prefecture= Nara
District=
Area_km2= 16.48
PopDate= January 1, 2007
Population= 72,510
Density_km2= 4399.87
Coords= coord|34|31|N|135|44|E|region:JP_type:city
Tree= Camellia sasanqua
Flower= Cosmos
Bird=
Symbol

SymbolDescription=
Mayor= Masakatsu Yoshida
CityHallPostalCode= 635-8511
CityHallAddress= 101-1 Ōaza Ōnaka, Yamatotakada-shi, Nara-ken
CityHallPhone= 0745-22-1101
CityHallLink= [http://www.city.yamatotakada.nara.jp/ City of Yamatotakada]

Nihongo|Yamatotakada|大和高田市|Yamatotakada-shi is a city located in Nara Prefecture, Japan.

Places named "Takada" are found all over Japan. To specify its location, this city's name includes "Yamato," the province that preceded the modern Nara Prefecture.

The city continues to develop as a local business and government center in the center of Nara Prefecture.

History

Inhabited since the Paleolithic age, the city area nurtured paddy field agriculture in the fertile Nara Basin since ancient times. Large keyhole type burial mounds ("kofun") were constructed in the northwestern part of the city around the 5th century.

A local samurai family ruled the area in the medieval age, but the lord of Takada perished in 1580 at the hand of a local vassal of the powerful Oda Nobunaga. In the early modern age, the city area developed as a local market town with a big Buddhist temple at its core.

With the introduction of Western civilisation into Japan, a modern spinning factory was set up here at the end of the nineteenth century. Since then, the city became a center of the modern textile industry.

After the Second World War, Takada was designated as a city in 1948. In 1963, the city of Yamatotakada established, through the arrangement of an Australian Catholic father, a sister-city relationship with Lismore, New South Wales, Australia. It is known as the first such relationship between the two countries.

Toshiharu Matsuda, who served as mayor of the city since 1992, resigned in 2003. During his terms of office he executed ambitious construction plans resulting in burdensome borrowings. He was also criticized for his connection with a gangster boss in the city of Nara. Masakatsu Yoshida, elected as new major in April, 2003, has had to cope with the deteriorating financial problems combined with a curtailed national subsidy and mounting unpaid city tax.

A citizens' group advocates new friendship relation with Jiujiang City, Jiangxi Province in central China, though city administrators are still reluctant.

Neighboring municipalities

* Nara Prefecture
** Kashihara
** Gose
** Kashiba
** Katsuragi
** Kōryō

ister cities

Outside Japan

*flagicon|Australia Lismore, Australia

Education

* Primary Schools
** Takada Elementary School
** Iwasono Elementary School
** Katashio Elementary School
** Ukiana Elementary School
** Ukiananishi Elementary School
* Junior High Schools
** Takada Junior High School
** Takadanishi Junior High School
** Katashio Junior High School
* High Schools
** Takada High School
** Takadahigashi High School
** Nara Culture High School
** Japan Aviation High School
** Takada Commerce High School
* Universities
** Nara Culture Women's Junior College
* Other
** Bigei Gakuen Vocational School
** Apollo Gakuin Fashion Business School

Transportation

Rail

* West Japan Railways
** Wakayama Line;Sakurai Line：Takada Station
* Kintetsu Railways
** Osaka Line：Tsukiyama Station-Yamato-Takada Station-Matsuzuka Station
** Minami-Osaka Line：Takadashi Station-Ukiana Station

External links

*en icon [http://www.city.yamatotakada.nara.jp/012_english/side_012_english.htm | Official website]