Introduction of Hanamaki

Introduction of Hanamaki

 A town with various attractive seasonal sceneries

Surrounded by the Ou Mountain Range to the west and the Kitakami Highlands to the east, Hanamaki is spread over 908.32 square kilometers on the Kitakami Plain at the center of Iwate Prefecture which is full of beautiful seasonal sceneries.

The Hanamaki Hot Springs area is located along some wooded gorges in the Ou Mountain Range. This area is filled with Japanese atmosphere with a mixture of steam and magnificent nature in the Iwate Prefectural Nature Park.

At the north east edge of Hanamaki is Mt. Hayachine （1917m）, the highest peak in the Kitakami Highlands, it attracts a lot of hikers from all over Japan with its various kinds of pretty alpine flora, starting with an endemic speciesnative to this mountain, Hayachine Usuyuki So (Leontopodium hayachinense).

The clean and gentle flow of the rivers in Hanamaki such as the Kitamaki River, brings marvelous benefits to us. One of the mountain streams in the Ou Mountain Range, Kuzumaru River is perfect for forest bathing, fishing, viewing autumn leaves, oddly-shaped rocks and waterfalls. Especially luring is the mountain runoff, Taroshi Waterfall, that pours into the Kuzumaru River, freezes and becomes a huge ice pillar in winter. The local people have a custom of predicting the crop growth for the year judging from the size of the pillar.

Also, in summer, a 45 square-kilometer lake called Lake Tase invites a lot of tourists with its yacht harbor, campgrounds and Iris garden at the waterfront of the lake.

We, Hanamaki citizens are proud of the fantastic sceneries in all the four seasons. Please enjoy the wonderful environment whenever you visit Hanamaki.

 
Hanamaki is well-known as the hometown of not only the great men such as Kenji Miyazawa （poet, writer of fairy tales） and Tetsugoro Yorozu （modern fine art）, but also of some folk in performing arts （Hayachine Kagura Dance and Shishi Odori which is deer dancing）, traditional techniques （homespun and Saki Ori which is a weaving style that reuses old cloths） and Nanbu Sake Master Brewers. In addition to that, Hanamaki is a hub city of a high-speed transportation network in Northern Tohoku District consisting of Iwate-Hanamaki Airport （only airport in Iwate）, a Shinkansen station and two motorways （The Tohoku and Tohoku Interstate Expressways）. The well-balanced environment of the traditional culture and modern convenience makes this city avery attractive place to visit.

The climate is roughly separated into two zones in the city. The lowland, east of the Kitakami River, is strongly influenced by the typical inland basin weather, which causes large temperature variations in summer and a comparatively warm, briefly snowing winter. On the other hand, the base of the Ou Mountain Range, west of the Kitakami River, has a very cold, snowy winter between December and March, however, since the mountain range shelters us from the cold Siberian westerly wind, we don’t get as much snow as the west coast area of Japan.

Population, size of Hanamaki （as of July 31st, 2008）

population: 104,752 citizens （male 50,019 / female 54,733）
households: 35,798 units
size: 908.32 square kilometers