| content |
| Administrative divisions of Japan |
|---|
| Prefectural level |
| Prefectures (都道府県 todōfuken) |
| Subprefectural level |
| Subprefectures (支庁 shichō) Designated cities |
| Municipal level |
| Core cities (中核市 chūkaku-shi) Special cities Special wards (Tokyo) Villages |
A village (村 mura?, sometimes son) is a local administrative unit in Japan.
It is a local public body along with prefecture (県 ken?, or other equivalents), city (市 shi?), and town (町 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 (郡 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.
Prefectures without villages
- Ehime (several recent mergers, the last of which was on January 16, 2005)
- Fukui
- Hyōgo
- Hiroshima
- Ishikawa
- Kagawa
- Mie
- Nagasaki
- Saga
- Shiga (the village of Kutsuki merged with several other towns to form the new city of Takashima on January 1, 2005)
- Shizuoka
- Tochigi
- Yamaguchi
Only Hyōgo and Kagawa prefectures had no villages from before the Heisei mergers.
Prefectures with exactly one village
(As of January 16, 2005)
- Kanagawa (Kiyokawa, Aikō District)
- Kyōto (Minamiyamashiro, Soraku District)
- Ōsaka (Chihayaakasaka, Minamikawachi District)
- Tottori (Hiezu, Saihaku District)
- Nagasaki (Ōshima, Kitamatsuura District)
See also
