Moriyama-shi

In the 2020 Population Census, Moriyama’s population is 83,236. Tracing its course, it is a single road of increase. From 65,542 in 2000, through 70,823 in 2005, 76,560 in 2010, 79,859 in 2015, and 83,236 in 2020, it has increased steadily, several thousand every five years. Among the many regional cities that shed population, Moriyama is a rare town that increased by about eighteen thousand over twenty years.

Looking inside, the figure of a town that keeps increasing appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 12.8% in 2000 to 21.7% in 2020, but still stays in the twenty-percent range, markedly young while many regional cities of the nation pass thirty percent. The household-with-children share is very high, at 29.6% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist stood at 27 in 2025, remaining slightly to mirror the strength of demand. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.80 in fiscal 2023, a high level able to cover eight-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue. The figure of the Nakasendo station, with an ever-increasing population, a restrained aging, a high household-with-children share, and high fiscal strength too, appears in the numbers. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without going back over the history of the Nakasendo station and the Keihanshin commuter sphere.

Moriyama’s skeleton is set by the geography of the eastern shore of Lake Biwa and by the history of the Nakasendo passing through it. The old layer is the post town. Moriyama was the 67th station of the Nakasendo. For travelers leaving Kyoto and heading east, this was the first place of lodging, and it was known by the phrase "leave Kyoto, lodge at Moriyama." Throughout the Edo period Moriyama flourished as a major post town of the Nakasendo, and a traditional townscape still remains along the old highway. The starting point of a journey heading east from Kyoto — this set the town’s old skeleton.

This town stands on the delta the Yasu River, pouring into Lake Biwa, formed. The flat land of the lake’s eastern shore was suited for people to live and cultivate fields. And in the modern era, this siting took on a new meaning. This land, within rail distance of Kyoto and Osaka, was incorporated into the Keihanshin commuter sphere and began gathering people as a residential town. When it became a city in 1970, its population was about thirty-five thousand; over the following decades it more than doubled. Upon the old history of being the first station east of Kyoto, the modern role of the Keihanshin commuter sphere was layered — this town’s shape stands upon the history that the geography of "along the Nakasendo on the eastern shore of Lake Biwa" held.

What characterizes Moriyama is that, while holding the history of a Nakasendo post town, it keeps increasing its population, rare in recent years. From 65,542 in 2000 to 83,236 in 2020, about eighteen thousand increased over twenty years. One can read that the siting within rail distance of Kyoto and Osaka has kept drawing in young households. Among the many regional cities that shed population, that Moriyama keeps increasing is the expression of being incorporated into the commuter sphere of the great metropolitan area of Keihanshin.

This increase appears in the inside of the population too. The share aged 65 and over is 21.7% in 2020, still staying in the twenty-percent range. One can read that the continued inflow of young households keeps youthfulness in the town’s age structure. The household-with-children share is very high, at 29.6%, and that the Childcare Waitlist remains slightly, at 27 in 2025, is the expression of the inflow of child-rearing households pushing up demand for childcare. The high level of the Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.80 mirrors that the income of the inflowing households and the tax source of local establishments support the town’s finances. The increase in population, the restrained aging, the high household-with-children share — these are not lined up as separate merits, but are appearances branching from a single fact: that young households keep flowing into the Keihanshin commuter sphere.

Moriyama holds several functions of its own. One is the history of being the post town, the 67th of the Nakasendo, called "leave Kyoto, lodge at Moriyama," holding the old layer of being the first lodging of a journey heading east from Kyoto. Another is the geography of the Yasu River delta, pouring into Lake Biwa, keeping the character of flat land on the lake’s eastern side. And the siting within commuting distance of Kyoto and Osaka gives this town the peculiar structure of a residential town that keeps increasing its population.

Moriyama is a town where the history of being the first station east of Kyoto and an ever-increasing population coexist. From a Nakasendo post town to a residential town of the Keihanshin commuter sphere — the geography "near Keihanshin, along the Nakasendo on the eastern shore of Lake Biwa" set the first station east of Kyoto, and in the modern era drew in a residential town of the commuter sphere, shaping the town’s outline. The station where travelers who had set out from Kyoto first laid down their pillows on the Nakasendo. On that same street, young households commuting to Keihanshin now move in one after another, pushing up the population of the eastern-Biwa delta by about eighteen thousand over twenty years.