To the south of this town rises a high mountain where, from of old, a deity has been said to dwell and where people have climbed to worship. The head shrine — the source of the several thousand shrines across the country that enshrine that mountain — is calmly seated at this town’s foot. The great river that flows out from the mountain spreads fan-wise as it reaches the plain, and near the pivot of that fan a castle town once opened and gave birth to a haiku poet known for a verse on the morning glory. The sacred mountain, the alluvial fan and the castle town became one town when one city and seven towns and villages joined together. Hakusan-shi’s numbers are the record of a town inscribed with the history of a sacred mountain.
A city in the central part of Ishikawa Prefecture, spreading long from north to south, from the summit of Mt. Hakusan to the shore of the Sea of Japan. This town was born in 2005 when one city and seven towns and villages made a new merger. The population in this article begins from the 109,450 of 2005, the year the merger gave birth to the city, and has moved almost level to 110,408 in 2020. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign “a city made by merger,” but the causal thread: how the history — the head shrine of the mountain faith and the alluvial fan of the Tedori River — is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · See the present Hakusan-shi in its numbers
In the latest Population Census the population is about one hundred and ten thousand (110,408 in 2020). Because this town was born in 2005 when one city and seven towns and villages made a new merger, the population in this article begins from the 109,450 of 2005, the year the merger gave birth to the city. From there, through 110,459 in 2010 and 109,287 in 2015 to 110,408 in 2020, it has moved almost level since the merger.
Looking inside the figures, the figure of a city with its center in an alluvial fan appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 17.9% in 2005 to 28.0% in 2020, but, where many regional cities draw near four in ten, it does not reach three in ten and keeps a comparative youth. The household-with-children share, at 25.9% in 2020, is high, and the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.63 in fiscal 2023 — a level whose own tax revenue covers a little over six-tenths of expenditure, in the middle range. The numbers show the town that holds the head shrine of the mountain faith keeping its population almost held within the post-merger municipal area while keeping a comparative youth. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without going back over the history of the sacred mountain and the alluvial fan.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency) / Real Estate Information Library (MLIT)
02 · The sacred mountain, the head shrine, the alluvial fan of the Tedori River, the castle town at the pivot of the fan — the history behind the numbers
This town’s skeleton is set by a high mountain that has gathered faith from of old, by the head shrine that enshrines that mountain, and by the alluvial fan that the river flowing out from the mountain made. The central layer is the sacred mountain. The high mountain that rises to the south of this town was, from of old, a mountain where a deity was said to dwell, and where people climbed to worship. The faith in this mountain grew separately at three places at its foot, and a place of worship was built at each; of these, the shrine calmly seated at this town’s foot is the head shrine — the source of the several thousand shrines across the country that enshrine this mountain — and has been held to be the first shrine governing this region.
Upon this sacred mountain, the alluvial fan and the castle town were laid. The great river that flows out from this high mountain, on reaching the plain, spreads like a fan, forming an alluvial fan and pouring into the Sea of Japan. Near the pivot of that fan a castle town once opened, and trade and people gathered. This castle town is also the land that gave birth to a haiku poet known for a verse on the morning glory. The path by which it became a city mirrors this town. In 2005 it was born when the city at the center of the alluvial fan and seven towns and villages in the mountains and along the river made a new merger, taking into a single municipal area the stretch from the summit of the mountain to the shore of the Sea of Japan. That its municipal area is the largest in the prefecture tells of the scale of that merger. The sacred mountain, the head shrine, the alluvial fan of the Tedori River, and the castle town at the pivot of the fan — this town’s shape stands upon the history of a sacred mountain that the land running from Hakusan to the Sea of Japan took in.
Source: Shirayama-hime Shrine, official site (the head shrine of some 3,000 Hakusan shrines nationwide; the first shrine of Kaga Province; an Engishiki-listed shrine; the heart of the Hakusan faith spanning Kaga, Echizen and Mino — overview) / Kaga no Chiyojo (1703–1775; a haiku poet born in Mattō, present-day Hakusan City; known for her verse on the morning glory — overview) / Hakusan City, “Municipal merger” (the 2005 new merger of Mattō City with Mikawa, Tsurugi, Kawachi, Yoshinodani, Torigoe, Oguchi towns and Shiramine village of Ishikawa County; Mt. Hakusan, one of the three sacred mountains of Japan, and the Tedori River alluvial fan; the largest area in the prefecture; the Hakusan Tedorigawa Geopark — overview)
03 · In the town of the alluvial fan, the post-merger population is held and youth remains
What characterizes Hakusan-shi is that, while holding the history of the sacred mountain and the head shrine, it has kept the population of the post-merger municipal area almost held, retaining a comparative youth. From the 109,450 of 2005, when the merger gave birth to the city, to the 110,408 of 2020, it has held almost level over fifteen years. The urban area, dating from the castle town at the center of the alluvial fan, lies near the metropolitan area of the prefectural capital and holds households commuting to the neighborhood; meanwhile, in the mountain lands added to the municipal area through the merger, the decline of population and aging advance. Across the whole municipal area these two balance out, and the population can be read as having been held almost level. That the share aged 65 and over, at 28.0% in 2020, does not reach three in ten, and that the household-with-children share, at 25.9%, is on the high side, are an expression of a certain younger generation staying in the urban area of the alluvial fan.
On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. A Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.63 is a level whose own tax revenue covers a little over six-tenths of expenditure, in the middle range. The income of households living in the urban area of the alluvial fan can be read as supporting the tax source at the middle range. Within the municipal area, the urban area of the alluvial fan, holding commuting households, and the mountain lands, where decline and aging advance, move at separate speeds. Those two movements balance out, and so the population looks level, aging does not reach three in ten, and the stamina of finances stays in the middle range. The wide municipal area, holding the head shrine at its foot, now stands upon the equilibrium of these two flows.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · It holds the head shrine, the alluvial fan and the castle town within one municipal area
Hakusan-shi holds a sacred mountain to its south and the head shrine that enshrines that mountain at its foot. The river that flows out from that mountain spreads like a fan on the plain, and near the pivot of the fan a castle town opened and gave birth to a haiku poet known for a verse on the morning glory. And in 2005 the city at the center of the alluvial fan and seven towns and villages in the mountains and along the river newly became one, taking into a single municipal area the stretch from the summit to the shore of the Sea of Japan. That its municipal area is the largest in the prefecture tells of the scale of that merger.
The sacred mountain, its head shrine, the alluvial fan of the Tedori River, and the castle town at the pivot of the fan — these, of differing origins, sit side by side within a single municipal area stretched long from north to south. The source of the several thousand shrines across the country is still seated calmly at the foot, and follow its water-vein and one arrives at a castle town of four hundred years ago. The head shrine of the sacred mountain, the castle town of the alluvial fan, and the wide municipal area widened by merger — what this town bearing the name of Hakusan holds beneath its feet is such a layering of histories.
Source: Shirayama-hime Shrine, official site (the head shrine of some 3,000 Hakusan shrines nationwide; the first shrine of Kaga Province; an Engishiki-listed shrine; the heart of the Hakusan faith spanning Kaga, Echizen and Mino — overview) / Hakusan City, “Municipal merger” (the 2005 new merger of Mattō City with Mikawa, Tsurugi, Kawachi, Yoshinodani, Torigoe, Oguchi towns and Shiramine village of Ishikawa County; Mt. Hakusan, one of the three sacred mountains of Japan, and the Tedori River alluvial fan; the largest area in the prefecture; the Hakusan Tedorigawa Geopark — overview)
05 · Atlas note — the town that holds the head shrine of the mountain faith moves at two speeds
A population almost level after the merger, an aging rate of 28.0%, a household-with-children share of 25.9%, fiscal capacity of 0.63. Lay out Hakusan-shi’s indicators and the numbers of a city with its center in an alluvial fan, retaining a comparative youth, come together. But before reading these as a time series, one thing must be set down. This city was born in 2005 when one city and seven towns and villages made a new merger, and the population in this article begins from the 109,450 of 2005, when the merger gave birth to the city. The numbers before that belong to the histories of separate municipalities, and so they cannot be laid out as a time series of this town’s movement. They must be read with the starting point made plain.
On that basis, what I (Atlas) find of interest is this town’s singularity — that it holds at its foot the head shrine, the source of the several thousand shrines across the country that enshrine Hakusan. That faith in a single mountain spread across the country, and that the shrine at its source lies on this land, tells that this town has from of old been one of the cores of that faith. And on the alluvial fan that the river flowing from that sacred mountain made, a castle town once opened and gave birth to a haiku poet known for a verse on the morning glory. Even when the population of the whole municipal area looks almost level, within it two speeds advance at once. The urban area of the alluvial fan, near the metropolitan area of the prefectural capital and holding commuting households, and the mountain lands, where decline and aging advance. The single figure “level” is no more than the result of the increasing side and the decreasing side balancing out. Speak of a wide municipal area, holding the stretch from the summit to the shore of the Sea of Japan, in a single average, and these two flows that move separately within it are lost from view.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Shirayama-hime Shrine, official site (the head shrine of some 3,000 Hakusan shrines nationwide; the first shrine of Kaga Province; an Engishiki-listed shrine; the heart of the Hakusan faith spanning Kaga, Echizen and Mino — overview) / Kaga no Chiyojo (1703–1775; a haiku poet born in Mattō, present-day Hakusan City; known for her verse on the morning glory — overview) / Hakusan City, “Municipal merger” (the 2005 new merger of Mattō City with Mikawa, Tsurugi, Kawachi, Yoshinodani, Torigoe, Oguchi towns and Shiramine village of Ishikawa County; Mt. Hakusan, one of the three sacred mountains of Japan, and the Tedori River alluvial fan; the largest area in the prefecture; the Hakusan Tedorigawa Geopark — overview)
Editor’s note: all figures and sources are drawn from official statistics. The prose follows Atlas’s voice, and AI (atlas-handcrafted-reverse-v1 (Daiki 2026-06-02)) handled the shaping of the text. Evaluative or predictive language (such as “a good buy” or “attractive”) is intentionally left out. Revision id: wave18_c