To this land was handed down the art of the ninja who work hidden in shadow, and those who carried on that art served as ninja under a great domain of Edo. In one village among the mountains, kilns that knead clay and fire it have continued from of old, and the tanuki ceramics standing before the shops are now known throughout the nation. The Tokaido passed through this land, and two post towns opened on the highway. In the Heisei era, these five villages, conveying the art of the ninja and the tanuki ceramics, were bundled into one city, and have since quietly shed population. Koka’s numbers are the record of a town inscribed with the history of stations and a village of kilns that convey the art of the ninja and the tanuki ceramics.
A city opening among the mountains in the southeastern part of Shiga Prefecture. This city was founded in 2004 when five towns — a village conveying the art of the ninja, Tokaido stations, a village of kilns, and others — newly became one, so the statistics treat 2005 onward, after the city’s founding. The population has fallen from 93,853 in 2005 to 88,358 in 2020. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign "a village of ninja and ceramics," but the causal thread: how the history — stations and a village of kilns conveying the art of the ninja and the tanuki ceramics — is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · Seeing the present Koka in its numbers
In the 2020 Population Census, Koka’s population is 88,358. This city was founded in 2004 when five towns — a village conveying the art of the ninja, Tokaido stations, a village of kilns, and others — newly became one, so the statistics of the population as a city treat 2005 onward, after the founding. From 93,853 in that year of 2005, through 92,704 in 2010, 90,901 in 2015, to 88,358 in 2020, it has fallen.
Looking inside, the figure of a city of villages opening among the mountains appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 19.9% in 2005 to 29.7% in 2020, nearing three in ten. The household-with-children share is 20.7% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist is zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.63 in fiscal 2023, a middle level able to cover a little over six-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue. The figure of a city of stations and a village of kilns conveying the art of the ninja and the tanuki ceramics, advancing in aging while shedding population after the merger, appears in the numbers. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without going back over the history of the ninja, the ceramics and the stations.
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 · A village conveying the art of the ninja, kilns firing tanuki ceramics, two Tokaido stations, the merger of five towns — the history behind the numbers
This town’s skeleton is set by the history of a village conveying the art of the ninja, a village of kilns that fire tanuki ceramics, two Tokaido stations, and the merger of five towns. The beginning layer is the ninja. To this land is handed down the art of the ninja who work hidden in shadow. Old documents survive showing that a man of this land served as a ninja under a great domain of Edo, so it is understood that the ninja of this land certainly existed at least by the time of Edo. The mountainous landform raised the art of hiding in shadow.
Upon this village of ninja, a village of kilns and a highway were layered. In one village among the mountains, kilns that knead clay and fire it have continued from of old, and the tanuki ceramics standing before the shops are now known throughout the nation. The art of the ninja and the tanuki ceramics are both listed, together, as the nation’s heritage, as things that tell of this land. Together, the Tokaido passed through this land, and two post towns opened along the highway. One was also a castle town, counted as one of the fifty-three stations. The road to becoming a city mirrors this town too. In 2004, five towns — a village conveying the art of the ninja, Tokaido stations, a village of kilns, and others — newly became one, and the present city was founded. A village conveying the art of the ninja, kilns firing tanuki ceramics, two Tokaido stations, and the merger of five towns — this town’s shape stands upon the history of the ninja, the ceramics and the stations that the mountainous land held.
Source: Koka City / the Koka-school ninja (old documents survive showing that men of Koka served as ninja under the Owari domain in the Edo era, so it is understood that Koka ninja certainly existed at least by the Edo era; doubly designated a Japan Heritage for the ninja and Shigaraki ware — overview) / Koka City / Shigaraki ware (the ceramics of the former Shigaraki Town [the Koka region of the prefecture’s southeast], known for the tanuki figures, one of the Six Old Kilns — overview) / Koka City / Minakuchi-juku and Tsuchiyama-juku (the former Minakuchi Town was a castle town that flourished as Minakuchi-juku, the 50th of the fifty-three stations of the Tokaido; Tsuchiyama-juku was the 49th — overview) / Koka City (formed by the new merger of Minakuchi, Tsuchiyama, Koka, Konan and Shigaraki Towns on 2004-10-1; the Koka region of southeastern Shiga — overview)
03 · In a city of mountain villages, shedding population and advancing in aging after the merger
What characterizes Koka is that, while holding the history of stations and a village of kilns that convey the art of the ninja and the tanuki ceramics, it sheds population and advances in aging after the merger. From 93,853 in 2005, the year the city was founded, to 88,358 in 2020, about five thousand were lost over fifteen years. Even in this land that conveys the art of the ninja and the tanuki ceramics and flourished as a Tokaido station too, one can read that part of the younger generation moved to the larger nearby cities, and that, combined with the aging of the mountain villages added by the merger, the whole town’s age has risen. That the share aged 65 and over neared three in ten, at 29.7% in 2020, is its expression.
On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist is zero in both 2024 and 2025, and the household-with-children share is 20.7% in 2020. The Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.63 is a level able to cover a little over six-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue, in the middle. One can read that the kiln and manufacturing livelihoods sited among the mountains, and the income of households living along the Tokaido, support the tax source in the middle. The population fell after the merger and the aging nears three in ten, while the childcare places have a surplus and the fiscal strength keeps to the middle — shrinking yet not collapsing is the present figure of this city that bundled mountain villages.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · A city among the mountains that held the ninja, ceramics and stations
Koka holds several functions of its own. One holds the history of conveying the art of the ninja who work hidden in shadow, and of having produced a ninja who served a great domain of Edo. Another holds the character of being known for the kilns continuing from of old in the mountain villages and the tanuki ceramics standing before the shops, listed, together with the ninja, as the nation’s heritage. And the Tokaido passed through this land, and two post towns opened along the highway. The mountainous landform raised the art of the ninja, set the village of kilns, and called the stations of the highway.
Koka is a city where the mountainous land held the ninja, ceramics and stations. From a village conveying the art of the ninja, to kilns firing tanuki ceramics, two Tokaido stations, and the merger of five towns — the geography of "the mountainous land of southeastern Shiga Prefecture" raised the art of the ninja and held within one city area the village of kilns and the two stations of the highway. The art of the ninja hiding in shadow, the kilns firing tanuki, the stations of travelers passing along the highway — three histories of utterly different stripe coexist within one closed mountain fold. Examples of bundling within one city area faces of such differing origin are not many.
Source: Koka City / the Koka-school ninja (old documents survive showing that men of Koka served as ninja under the Owari domain in the Edo era, so it is understood that Koka ninja certainly existed at least by the Edo era; doubly designated a Japan Heritage for the ninja and Shigaraki ware — overview) / Koka City / Shigaraki ware (the ceramics of the former Shigaraki Town [the Koka region of the prefecture’s southeast], known for the tanuki figures, one of the Six Old Kilns — overview) / Koka City (formed by the new merger of Minakuchi, Tsuchiyama, Koka, Konan and Shigaraki Towns on 2004-10-1; the Koka region of southeastern Shiga — overview)
05 · Atlas’s note — reading a mountain city that bundled the ninja, ceramics and stations
Lay out Koka’s numbers and the indicators of a city of villages opening among the mountains line up: a population shedding after the merger, an aging rate of 29.7%, a household-with-children share of 20.7%, and a fiscal capacity of 0.63. When I (Atlas) read this town with an accountant’s eye, what first catches me is the meaning of the history that this land has conveyed "the art of the ninja who work hidden in shadow." Old documents survive showing that a man who served as a ninja under a great domain of Edo was of this land, so it is understood that the ninja of this land certainly existed at least by the time of Edo. The chain — the mountainous landform raising the art of hiding in shadow, and that art remaining even now as a property that tells of this land — explains this town’s making well.
The other thing I want to consider is this city’s making, that it "bundled five villages into one." In 2004, five towns of differing character — a village conveying the art of the ninja, Tokaido stations, a village of kilns, and others — newly became one, and the present city was founded. A village conveying the art of the ninja, a village of kilns firing tanuki ceramics, a station of the highway that was also a castle town — the breadth of bundling villages of differing history into one city area took on the aging of the mountain villages added by the merger too, shed population, and raised its age. Five villages of utterly different character gathering under one city hall and slowly mounting their age — this way of layering is peculiar to Koka. The village of ninja, the kilns of tanuki, the stations of the highway — five villages of differing character gathering under one city hall and, taking on together the aging of the mountains added by the merger, slowly mounting their years — this way of layering is Koka’s alone.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Koka City / the Koka-school ninja (old documents survive showing that men of Koka served as ninja under the Owari domain in the Edo era, so it is understood that Koka ninja certainly existed at least by the Edo era; doubly designated a Japan Heritage for the ninja and Shigaraki ware — overview) / Koka City / Shigaraki ware (the ceramics of the former Shigaraki Town [the Koka region of the prefecture’s southeast], known for the tanuki figures, one of the Six Old Kilns — overview) / Koka City / Minakuchi-juku and Tsuchiyama-juku (the former Minakuchi Town was a castle town that flourished as Minakuchi-juku, the 50th of the fifty-three stations of the Tokaido; Tsuchiyama-juku was the 49th — overview) / Koka City (formed by the new merger of Minakuchi, Tsuchiyama, Koka, Konan and Shigaraki Towns on 2004-10-1; the Koka region of southeastern Shiga — 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: wave23_c