Districts of Japan

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Districts of Japan

Administrative divisions of Japan
Prefectural level
Prefectures (都道府県 todōfuken)
Subprefectural level
Subprefectures (支庁 shichō) Designated cities (政令指定都市 seirei-shitei-toshi) Districts (郡 gun)
Municipal level
Core cities (中核市 chūkaku-shi) Special cities (特例市 tokurei-shi) Cities (市 shi) Special wards (Tokyo) (特別区 tokubetsu-ku) Wards (区 ku) Towns (町 chō, machi) Villages (村 son, mura)

The district (郡, gun^?) was most recently used as an administrative unit in Japan between 1878 and 1921 and is roughly equivalent to the county of the United States, ranking at the level below prefecture and above city, town or village^[1]. As of 2008, cities belong directly to prefectures and are independent from districts, unlike cities in the United States, which usually belong to a county (excluding Virginia, which also has independent cities). In Japan towns and villages belong to districts and the districts possess little to no administrative authority, much like the counties of Connecticut. The districts are used primarily in the Japanese addressing system and to identify the relevant geographical areas and collections of nearby towns and villages.

The district was initially called kōri and has ancient roots in Japan. Although the Nihon Shoki says they were established during the Taika Reforms, kōri was originally written 評.^{[citation needed]} It was not until the Taihō Penal and Civil Code that kōri came to be written 郡. Under the Taihō Penal and Civil Code, the administrative unit of province (国; kuni) was above district, and the village (里; sato or 郷; sato) was below.

[edit] Confusing cases in Hokkaidō

Because district names had been unique within a single province and as of 2008 prefecture boundaries are roughly aligned to province boundaries, most district names are unique within their prefectures. The Hokkaidō Prefecture, consisting of eleven provinces, involves several districts with the same names.

There are three Kamikawa Districts and two Nakagawa Districts in the Hokkaidō Prefecture.

Kamikawa District (Ishikari), managed by the Kamikawa Subprefecture
Kamikawa District (Teshio), managed by the Kamikawa Subprefecture
Kamikawa District (Tokachi), managed by the Tokachi Subprefecture
Nakagawa District (Teshio), managed by the Kamikawa Subprefecture
Nakagawa District (Tokachi), managed by the Tokachi Subprefecture

Abuta District, Rumoi District, Sorachi District, and Yufutsu District are similar, but each of them is a single district allotted to two subprefectures.