Imakane, Hokkaidō

Infobox City Japan
Name= Imakane
JapaneseName= 今金町
Map

Region= Hokkaidō
Prefecture= Hokkaidō
District= Setana
Area_km2= 568.14
PopDate= 2008
Population= 6,258
Density_km2= 11.53
Coords= coord|42|25|N|140|01|E|region:JP_type:city
Tree= Japanese Yew
Flower= Tulip
Bird=
Symbol

SymbolDescription=
Mayor= Hideto Sotozaki
CityHallPostalCode=
CityHallAddress=
CityHallPhone=
CityHallLink= [http://www.town.imakane.lg.jp/ Town of Imakane]

nihongo|Imakane|今金町|Imakane-chō is a town located in Setana District, Hiyama, Hokkaidō, Japan.

As of 2008, the town has an estimated population of 6,258 and a density of 11.53 persons per km². The total area is 568.14 km².

Geography

Imakane is located in southern Hokkaidō and is part of Hiyama Subprefecture of Hokkaidō Prefecture and the Setana postal district. The town is on Route 230 at the junction of the Shiribeshi-Toshibetsu River and the Toshibetsu-Mena River. The main landmark and meeting point in the town centre is De Molen, a large windmill.

Nearby districts and towns

* Oshamanbe to the east
* Setana to the west
* Yakumo to the south east

Mountains

* 981 m

Rivers

* Shiribeshi-Toshibetsu River
* Toshibetsu-Mena River

History

Imakane's founding and history rest in the finds of rich mineral resources and the town's name nihongo|Imakane|今金 literally means "now, gold".

Imakane, at the time known as Hanaishi, was founded in the Kanei-era from 1624 to 1643 after gold, silver and magnesium were discovered in the upper Shiribetsu River, near Pirika/Hanaishi. Some of the gold mined from the area was used to build Nikko-Toshogun, a Shinto shrine dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa line of shoguns in Japan) in Tochigi.

Agate was found in Hanaishi in Meji 10 (1877). Mining was started by Oshima Kanzaemon. Meanwhile increasing numbers of people arrived in the area to mine existing seams of magnesium, gold and silver and by the middle of the Meji era many had settled in the Shiribetsu river area.

The town site was established in Meji 29 (1897) by Shikata Norioshi and 15 other families including the Imamura and Kanamori houses. These families had arrived in the area during the preeceding five years and laid out the town into 129 housing sites, a city hall and a police station.

In Meji 30, the town was granted independent status from nearby Setana Town and was called Toshibetsu village. Toshibetsu village formally received the name of Imakane in 1947 (Showa 22) as part of its upgrade to town status.

The Imakane's name is drawn from two names of its two celebrated pioneers, Imamura and Kanamori.

Today Imakane’s main industry is farming. Imakane celebrated its 100th year of autonomous government on July 15, 1997.

Imakane is a rural farming town where the population is decreasing, and as it does a number of Elementary schools have closed in recent years. (Yatsuka, Kinbara, Hanaishi and Kamioka Elementary Schools)

ymbol of the Town

The symbol of Imakane comprises the meandering Toshibetsu River and the 1st letter of 農耕 (farming) which can be written in katakana as ノ and pronounced "no". This symbol was decided upon by a public competition on the town’s 70th anniversary (1967)

Another symbol of Imakane is a large windmill located in the center of town where the old train station stood. It is called "De Moren Imakane". 　The Name "De Moren" is Dutch for "windmill". In Spring the tulips come into flower and is one of the symbols for Imakane.

Exchange program

Imakane Junior High School has an exchange program with Burnside High School, Christchurch, New Zealand. Burnside High School students studying Japanese last visited Imakane in July 2006 and will again in 2008. 21 Imakane students visited Burnside High School in 2007.This year 2008 marked the 20th anniversary of the link and the present Burnside vice-Principal Mrs Hume visited Imakane along with a number of students. Special events were held to mark the occasion.

Imakane's constitution

The constitution was established on October 1, 1967.

To persist in democracy and will rationalize life and will make modern town
To nurture a bright, healthy, hard working town
To endeavor to develop industry, nurture skills to build a wealthy town
To nurture the culture and make a peaceful town where the citizens can enjoy a joyful life.
Our Imakane Town is to grow along with beautiful nature.
We, as citizens, agree to establish this constitution while aiming to build our own utopia in one heart.
And we agree to continue the pioneer spirit and to love the land.

The Imakane Slogan

Imakane’s slogan is "Good town, Imakane, dream town".

Imakane is famous nation wide for potatoes, especially for the Danshyaku variety (Baron potato in English).

Imakane is a very young town having its 100th anniversary only in 1996.

Imakane has a number of festivals, including the Snow festival in mid February (usually the weekend after Sapporo's) and the Autumn Festival on September 19 and 20 every year.

The Immanuel Church and the History of Imakane

One of the attractions in rural Imakane is a very old church. In May 1881 Yoshiyuki Shikata and 10 other devout Christian students of the Doshisha University in Kyoto, settled in Imakane. They built a straw thatched church in March 1896 as their spiritual base and they worked hard on the land while leading a frugal religious life. In 1918 the church was rebuilt with wooden walls and again in November 1968 to its present day state.

The name of the church is; "Immanuel" which means "God with us" in Hebrew. However, during the war years foreign words were strictly controlled by the government so they changed the name to nihongo|"Imanueru"|今縫留 and the surrounding area to 神丘, meaning "God’s land" to preserve their religion. It was in this area around the church that Ginko Ogino, the first woman doctor in Japan, grew up. She was also the heroine in the novel “Hana-uzumi” written by one of the famous Japanese writers, Jun’ichi Watanabe. He came to Hokkaidō and settled in this area and married Yoshiyuki Shikata.

The Pirika Dam

The Pirika dam is on the Shiribetsu River is just inside the Imakane Town boundary. The Dam is longest dam in Japan and the biggest in South Hokkaidō, its length is 80 m. This river is the cleanest river in Japan and this Dam has the longest fish race in Japan (2.4km).

Fish; Land locked salmon (yamame) sweet fish (ayu) eel (unagi) and iwana are to be found in the area.see
* http://damsroom.web.infoseek.co.jp/Dam_pirika_main.htm

External links

* [http://www.town.imakane.lg.jp/ Town website] in Japanese