Tōno, Iwate

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This article is about the city of Tōno in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. For other uses, see Tono.

Tōno (遠野市, Tōno-shi^?) is a city located in Iwate, Japan.

On October 1, 2005 the village of Miyamori from Kamihei District merged with the city to create the new city of Tono. As of this creation, the city has an estimated population of 32,346 and a density of 39.12 persons per km². The total area is 825.62 km². Municipal elections were held following the merger, where Mr. Honda Toshiaki was re-elected mayor of Tono.

1 History
2 Folklore
3 Transportation
4 Education
5 International relations
6 Miscellaneous
7 External links

[edit] History

The municipality as we know it today was officially founded on December 1, 1954, but the area was settled much earlier. Lying in a small valley in the Kitakami mountain range, halfway between the coast and the fertile valley of the Kitakami river, it was a convenient and busy trading post, with a reputation for horse breeding.

Today, one can still visit a few preserved Magariya, L-shaped houses with a thatched roof which were shared by a farming family and their horses. The most famous, the Chiba Family Magariya, was home to a family of 25, along with 20 horses.

[edit] Folklore

Tono is known throughout Japan as the cradle of Tōno Monogatari (Tales of Tōno), written in 1910 by Yanagita Kunio, who gathered folk tales of the area. This book is now considered of the greatest works of Japanese folklore studies, and inspired the 1982 movie of the same name.

Several of these tales involve the Kappa, mischievous water sprites. A legendary location in Tono is the Kappa-buchi, a water stream where kappas are said to live.

The mascot of the city, Karin-chan, is a cute kappa holding a bellflower. She is usually depicted walking in front of a Magariya.

[edit] Transportation

Tono is conveniently located within 1 hour of driving to most major destinations in Iwate. Route 396 leads to Morioka, Route 283 to Hanamaki to the west and Kamaishi to the east, Route 107 to Kitakami, and Route 340 leads to Miyako to the northeast and Ōfunato to the southeast. Route 283, which crosses Tono close to the heart of the city, is known to locals as "the bypass" and has seen sustained commercial growth in the recent years.

Tono will be a major stop on the Kamaishi Expressway, which is currently under construction. As of 2005, this expressway, which should eventually link the coast to the Tohoku Expressway in Hanamaki, only reaches to Tōwa.

There are 12 train stations in the municipality, all on the JR Kamaishi Line: Iwanebashi, Miyamori, Kashiwagidaira, Masuzawa, Arayamae, Iwate-Futsukamachi, Ayaori, Tōno, Aozaki, Iwate-Kamigō, Hirakura and Ashigase. At the heart of the city, Tōno Station is also the principal bus station. Most festival parades proceed on the street ahead of the station.

[edit] Education

There are three senior high schools in Tono, under the purview of Iwate's Prefectural Board of Education. Tōno Senior High School offers an academic curriculum, while Tōno Ryokuhō Senior High School and Tōno Business Information Senior High School are vocational.

As of 2005, the city operates nine junior high schools: Aozasa, Ayaori, Kamigō, Miyamori, Ōide, Otomo, Tōno, Tsuchibuchi and Tsukimoushi.

The city also operates 12 elementary schools: Aozasa, Ayaori, Kamigō, Masuzawa, Miyamori, Ōide, Otomo, Tassobe, Tōno, Tōno North, Tsuchibuchi and Tsukimoushi.

As the number of students is going down steadily, some of these schools will likely be merging or closing in the near future.

[edit] International relations

Since 1984, Tono's sister city is Salerno, in Italy.

Tono is also twinned with three japanese cities:

Mitaka, in the metropolis of Tokyo, since 1989
Musashino, in the metropolis of Tokyo, since 1988
Kikuchi, in the Kumamoto prefecture, since 1998 — the family name "Kikuchi" is extraordinarily common in Tono.

In 1990, the high schools of Tono and the Chattanooga School for the Arts & Sciences (CSAS) in Chattanooga, Tennessee were paired by School Partners Abroad to establish an exchange program. Near the end of every Japanese school year (in April), a delegation of Tōno high-schoolers visits Chattanooga, and reciprocally, a delegation from CSAS visits Tono every summer. The city has embraced this exchange and organizes a delegation of junior high school students which visits CSAS and the Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts a few weeks before the high schoolers.