Kyotango City (京丹後市)

Kyotango City is a city of Kyoto Prefecture. This city was established due to the municipal merger based on the establishment of a municipal system: Mineyama and Omiya -chos of Naka County, Amino, Tango and Yasaka -chos of Takeno County, and Mihama-cho of Kumano County were merged.

Summary

When Kyotango City was established, its population was approximately 67,000 and the city hall was established in the old Mineyama-cho town hall and the other five former town halls were changed into Kyotango City office buildings.

The city is located in the northmost area of Kyoto Prefecture. Although Kitakinki Tango Railway Miyazu Line of Kitakinki Tango Railway Corporation (KTR) runs through the city, there is no station with the city name 'Kyotango,' but there are stations with the -cho (town) names before the merger.

The whole area of Kyotango City is a part of Kumihama Prefecture, which used to exist.

Summary of each Cho (town)
Although Naka County, Takeno County, and Kumano County disappeared according to the municipal organization, the old town names have remained as 'Oaza' in addresses.

Mineyama-cho

This town is known as the place where the Mineyama Domain existed, which inherited the tradition of the Miyazu Domain, which was established by Takatomo KYOGOKU. This town is located in the center of Tango Peninsula and is famous for "Tennyo no hagoromo densetsu" (Legend of the celestial raiment [robe] of an angel).

Omiya-cho (Kyoto Prefecture)

This town is famous for the legend of ONO no Komachi.

Amino-cho

This town faces Japan Sea, and is famous for swimming beaches including Kotobiki-hama beach, a singing-sand beach, and Tango Chirimen (silk crepe).

Kumihama-cho

This town, located on the border between Kyoto and Hyogo Prefectures, faces Japan Sea and has some hot springs. There used to be a cross-prefecture merger plan between Kumihama and Toyooka City.

Tango-cho

This town has Kyoga-misaki, the northmost point of the Kinki region and a lighthouse standing on the point.
Taiza,' which is famous as a place difficult to read, is famous for 'Taiza Crab.'

Yasaka-cho

This town is located in almost the center of Tango Peninsula and famous as a place where Garasha HOSOKAWA, Mrs. Tadaoki HOSOKAWA, was confined. This town has the lagest hospital in Kyotango City, 'Kyotango City Yasaka Hospital' (former: Yasaka-cho National Health Insurance Hospital).

History
Since the following large remains of the Yayoi period were found in the area facing Japan Sea, the area is considered to have been a cultural center on the Japan Sea side: Ogitani Remains and Tochugaoka Remains in Mineyama-cho, and Nagu Remains of Yasaka-cho. Around the middle of the fourth century, in the Kofun period (tumulus period), the largest keyhole-shaped tomb mound on the Japan Sea side, Aminochoshiyama-kofun Tumulus (198 meter in entire length) was established in Amino-cho and Shinmeiyama-kofun Tumulus (190 meter in entire length) in Tango-cho. There is a theory that this area had an independent kingdom in those days (refer to 'Tango Kingdom').

Tanba, Mineyama-cho was called Tanba-sato, Tanba County, Tanba Province in the beginning of the eighth century, and is thought to have been the center of Tanba Province. In 713, that area was divided into Tanba and Tango, and Mineyama-cho belonged to Tango Province.

Major 'Engishikinaisha' (shrines listed in Engishiki laws) included Taku-jinja Shrine (Tanba, Mineyama-cho), Omiyame-jinja Shrine (Suki, Omiya-cho), Takeno-jinja Shrine (Miya, Tango-cho), Nagu-jinja Shrine (Funaki, Yasaka-cho) and Amino-jinja Shrine (Amino, Amino-cho).

Because of Takatomo KYOGOKU's great achievement in the Battle of Sekigahara, the entire area of Tango was given to Takatomo (the Tango Domain). Afterwards, the domain was divided into three and one-third was given to each of Takatomo's sons (Tango trifurcation) and in Mineyama, the Mineyama Domain was established by Takamichi KYOGOKU (the lord of the Mineyama Domain of Tango Province). While the Kyogoku clan of the Miyazu Domain was punished by being deprived of their fief and the Kyogoku clan of the Tanabe Domain of Tango Province was transferred to Tajima, the Kyogoku clan of the Mineyama Domain kept their territory until the end of the Edo period, and passed down the tradition of the Tango Domain established by Takatomo KYOGOKU. The Kyogoku clan of the Mineyama Domain produced a lot of 'wakadoshiyori' (a managerial position in Edo bakufu) and they worked actively in the inner circle of the government.

Kumihama local magistrate office was placed in the present Kumihama-cho, and controlled 'tenryo' (bakufu-owned land) in the Sanin region. Kumihama Prefecture was established for a short time, from the end of the Edo period to the beginning of the Meiji period, and its prefectural government office was placed in the remains of Kumihama local magistrate office.

In the middle of the Edo period, 'Tango brocade,' which followed the idea of 'Nishijin brocade' of Kyoto, was produced and since then fabrics including 'Tango chirimen' (silk crepe) have been special local products of the area.

In March 1927, the earthquake at the northern Tango Province occurred, causing catastrophic damage.

History
April 1, 2004: Establishment of a municipal system.

The origin of the city's name
By the former Tango Province. In the great merger of municipalities in the Heisei period, many cities crowned 'Kyo' in their names in order to avoid overlap from exsiting cities. When this city was established due to the merger, it included 'Tango-cho' and it seems that the people in charge wanted to be considerate to other towns; that was why the city named itself 'Kyotango City' although there was no overlapping.
(One year later, in 2005, Kyotanba City was established because of the same reason.)
They are rare examples that the former province's name was capped; usually the former province's name is used to avoid overlapping. These two can be called inversion phenomena in considering Kyo (Kyoto) was originally a city name.

Traffic
Railway
Kitakinki Tango Railway Miyazu Line of Kitakinki Tango Railway Corporation (KTR)
Kumihama Station - Koyama Station - Tango-Kanno Station - Kitsu-onsen Station - Amino Station - Mineyama Station - Tango-Omiya Station
The central station: Mineyama Station

Bus
Tango Kairiku Kotsu Co., Ltd. (Tankai Bus, the central ofice: Yosano-cho, Kyoto Prefecture) was in charge of the entire city. City buses run in Yasaka-cho, Omiya-cho and Kumihama-cho.

The '200-yen fare cap bus' in cooperation with Tango Kairiku Kotsu Co., Ltd started to run on a trial basis on October 1, 2006, and it was highly evaluated. Because of that success, the Tankai bus with the 200-yen fare cap has been introduced into the entire city since October 1, 2007 and the city bus also started to run with the 200-yen fare cap.

[Original Japanese]