Kesennuma-shi

In the latest Population Census the population is about sixty-one thousand (61,147 in 2020). This city’s population carries a step from merger. Kesennuma City merged with Karakuwa Town in 2006 and annexed Motoyoshi Town in 2009 to reach its present city area. Before the merger it was 61,452 for the old Kesennuma City in 2000 and 58,320 in 2005; with Karakuwa and Motoyoshi added it became 73,489 in 2010, and from there, through 64,988 in 2015 to 61,147 in 2020, it has fallen on a steep slope after the merger. Over that steep fall from 2010 to 2015 the 2011 earthquake casts its shadow.

Look inside and the shape of a port town of the Sanriku coast deepening its aging appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 21.4% in 2000 to 38.3% in 2020, nearing four-tenths. The share of households with children was 16.6% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.44 in fiscal 2023 — its own tax revenue does not reach half of expenditure, with large reliance on the local allocation tax. A deep-sea fishing port, through merger and earthquake, loses population and deepens its aging. Why this steep slope arose — that question gives no answer unless one enters the history of the deep-sea fishing that put its ships out as far as the oceans of the world.

Kesennuma’s frame is set by the geography of a deep bay of the ria coast, and by the history of the deep-sea fishing that took it as its home port. The old layer is fishing. This port, holding a bay of calm waves, grew not only as a place of coastal fishing and aquaculture but as a base for offshore fishing in the seas off Sanriku, and further for deep-sea fishing directed at the oceans of the world. The fresh landings of bonito, above all, have long held first place in the country. In the longline fishing that takes tuna and swordfish, many sharks too were landed, and as their processing grew, Kesennuma came to be known also as a great producing center of shark fin. A port that puts its ships out as far as the oceans of the world — this set the core of the town.

And this town widened its city area. It merged with Karakuwa Town in 2006 and annexed Motoyoshi Town in 2009 to reach its present city area. But two years later, the town was visited by a great ordeal. By the ground subsidence and tsunami accompanying the earthquake of 2011, Kesennuma was grievously damaged. Even so, the town made the resumption of fishing the first step of recovery. Only three months after the earthquake, the city’s fish market reopened, bonito boats from other prefectures put in, and the first landing after the earthquake was achieved. A base that puts to sea on the world’s oceans, widening its city area through merger, crossing the tsunami and continuing to fish — this town’s form stands atop the history of deep-sea fishing held by the geography of a bay of the ria coast.

What sets Kesennuma apart is that, while it holds the history of deep-sea fishing, it loses population and deepens its aging through merger and earthquake. From 73,489 in 2010, with Karakuwa and Motoyoshi added, to 61,147 in 2020, more than twelve thousand were lost in ten years. This steep fall can be read as the damage of the 2011 tsunami, and the outflow of people that accompanied it, layered together. In addition, at the northern tip of Sanriku, a ground far from Sendai, the flow of younger generations moving to the cities continues. That the share aged 65 and over neared four-tenths at 38.3% in 2020 is one expression of that population structure.

On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist has moved at zero. This can be read as an expression of recovery from the earthquake, and of the fishing industry centered on deep-sea fishing, holding young households to a certain degree. The Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.44 is a level whose own tax revenue does not reach half of expenditure, with large reliance on the local allocation tax. The tax base of a town founded on the fishing industry has its limit, and the expenditure to support a broad, intricate city area of the ria coast is heavy. A deep-sea fishing port now loses population and deepens its aging through merger and earthquake, while holding its waitlist at zero, its finances supported by the local allocation tax. The population falls, aging nears four-tenths, and fiscal strength is weak. These are differing cross-sections of one flow — a port town at the northern tip of Sanriku, with deep-sea fishing at its core, shrinking while layering merger upon earthquake. Following the single line of a rapid population fall alone, you cannot see through to the two circumstances — merger and earthquake — overlapping beneath it.

In Kesennuma several layers tied to the sea overlap. One is its history as a base for deep-sea fishing directed at the oceans of the world, holding an old layer in which the fresh landings of bonito have long held first place in the country. Another is its character as a great producing center of shark fin, grown from the processing of sharks — leaving an industry that spread from fishing to processing. And the memory of recovery from the 2011 tsunami inscribes on this ground a structure of its own as a town that lives together with the sea.

This town’s core is still in fishing. Taking a deep ria bay of calm waves as its home port, it grew from coastal fishing to offshore fishing in the seas off Sanriku, and further into a base for deep-sea fishing that puts its ships out as far as the oceans of the world, and the fresh landings of bonito have long held first place in the country. Grievously damaged by the 2011 tsunami, it nonetheless reopened its fish market only three months later, welcomed boats from other prefectures, and achieved the first landing after the earthquake. This one fact — making the resumption of fishing the first step of recovery — declares outright where the center of gravity of this port lies.