Villages of Japan

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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)

A village ( mura?, sometimes son) is a local administrative unit in Japan.

It is a local public body along with prefecture ( ken?, or other equivalents), city ( shi?), and town ( chō?, sometimes machi). Geographically, a village's extent is contained within a prefecture.

It is larger than an actual settlement, being in actuality a subdivision of a rural district ( gun?), which are subdivided into towns and villages with no overlap and no uncovered area.

As a result of mergers, the number of villages in Japan is decreasing.

[edit] Prefectures without villages

(As of April 1, 2006)

Only Hyōgo and Kagawa prefectures had no villages from before the Heisei mergers.

[edit] Prefectures with exactly one village

(As of January 16, 2005)

[edit] See also