At the back of this town is a fire mountain of two peaks. At its foot a hard stone that becomes a sharp blade when split is produced, and from the old Stone Age, tens of thousands of years ago, tools were made with that stone. The ruins of the source area where stone was split into tools still line the foot of the mountain. This village at the foot of the fire mountain, by its position adjoining a great city, increased its population rapidly, and in one year its rate of increase was among the fastest in the nation. The numbers of this town that produces the stone of stone tools are the record of a town inscribed with the history of the foot of a fire mountain and the outskirts of a great city.
A city opening on an alluvial fan adjoining Osaka Prefecture, at the western edge of the Nara Basin, in the northwestern part of Nara Prefecture. The population increased by some fifteen thousand over twenty years, from 63,487 in 2000 to 78,113 in 2020, keeping a consistent increase. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign "a suburban residential area of Osaka," but the causal thread: how the history — the foot of a fire mountain and the outskirts of a great city — is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · Seeing the present Kashiba in its numbers
In the latest Population Census the population is about 78,000 (78,113 in 2020). Its course is a strong increase. From 63,487 in 2000, through 70,998 in 2005, 75,227 in 2010, and 77,561 in 2015, to 78,113 in 2020, some fifteen thousand were gained over twenty years.
Looking inside, the figure of a city of the outskirts of a great city, into which young households move, appears vividly. The share aged 65 and over is 24.8% in 2020, staying at the middle of the twenty-percents. While many regional cities approach four in ten, this is conspicuously young. The household-with-children share is on the high side at 22.7% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist is three in 2024 and zero in 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.65 in fiscal 2023, a middling level able to cover a little over six-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue. The figure of a village at the foot of a fire mountain producing the stone of stone tools, gathering young households by its position on the outskirts of a great city and increasing its population consistently, appears in the numbers. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without going back over the history of the foot of a fire mountain and the outskirts of a great city.
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 fire mountain of two peaks, the stone that becomes a blade when split, the source of old stone tools, the alluvial fan adjoining a great city — the history behind the numbers
Kashiba’s history is made of the landform of the foot of a fire mountain of two peaks, the stone produced at that foot, and the position of an alluvial fan adjoining a great city. The beginning layer is the fire mountain and the stone. At the back of this town is a fire mountain with two peaks, and at its northern foot a hard stone that becomes a sharp blade when split is produced. From the old Stone Age tens of thousands of years ago, until about two thousand years ago, tools were made by splitting this stone. The ruins of the source area where stone was split into tools still line the foot of the mountain, and early in this country a stone museum that introduces the culture of old stone tools was opened in this land. The stone of the foot of the fire mountain is the oldest history of this town.
Upon this village at the foot of the fire mountain, the position of adjoining a great city took effect. This town spreads on the alluvial fan at the eastern foot of the fire mountain, at the western edge of the Nara Basin, and adjoins the prefecture of a great city. By this position adjoining a great city, the village increased its population rapidly as a residential land of the outskirts of a great city. The road to becoming a city too mirrors this town. That the population increased and the town became a city was at the beginning of the Heisei era, and the increase continued afterward, so that in the survey of one year the rate of population increase was among the fastest in the nation. The fire mountain of two peaks, the stone that becomes a blade when split, the source of old stone tools, and the alluvial fan adjoining a great city — upon this history of the stone of stone tools and the outskirts of a great city, which the alluvial fan at the foot of the fire mountain held, the present Kashiba stands.
Source: Kashiba City / the Nijozan Northern-Foot Ruin Group (along the Osaka prefectural border at the northern foot of Mount Nijo, a group of source-area sites for sanukite stone tools, from the Late Paleolithic tens of thousands of years ago to the Yayoi period, is distributed; the Nijozan Museum is the first stone museum in the nation to introduce Paleolithic culture — overview) / Kashiba City (Kashiba Town of Kitakatsuragi County enforced city status in 1991; spread over the alluvial fan at the eastern foot of Mount Nijo at the western edge of the Nara Basin, adjoining Osaka Prefecture; remarkable population growth as a suburban residential area of Osaka, ranking third in the nation for growth rate in the 2005 Population Census preliminary report — overview)
03 · At the foot of a fire mountain adjoining a great city, increasing its population consistently and keeping its youth
What characterizes Kashiba is that, holding the history of the foot of a fire mountain producing the stone of stone tools, it increases its population consistently and keeps a conspicuous youth. From 63,487 in 2000 to 78,113 in 2020, some fifteen thousand were gained over twenty years. While many regional cities decrease their population, behind this city’s continuing to increase can be read that, by the position of adjoining the prefecture of a great city at the western edge of the Nara Basin, it is easy to commute to the great city, and housing spread on the alluvial fan at the foot of the fire mountain, so that young child-rearing households moved in one after another. That the share aged 65 and over stays at the middle of the twenty-percents at 24.8% in 2020, and the household-with-children share is on the high side at 22.7%, is its expression.
On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist is three in 2024 and zero in 2025. It can be read that, as young households move in one after another, a slight shortage of receivers for childcare arose for a time, but the next year it returned to zero. A Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.65 is a level able to cover a little over six-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue, in the middle. It can be read that the income of the young households and of the people who commute to the great city to work supports the tax base at the middle. The population increasing consistently, aging at the middle of the twenty-percents, and fiscal strength at the middle — these are different facets of one flow, in which an alluvial fan adjoining a great city keeps drawing in young households. Take out only one indicator, and the image of the town cannot be grasped.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · An alluvial fan at the foot of a fire mountain that produced the stone of stone tools and became the outskirts of a great city
Kashiba holds several functions of its own. One is the history of being the source area of the stone of stone tools, where, at the foot of a fire mountain of two peaks, a stone that becomes a sharp blade when split is produced, and tools were made with that stone from the old Stone Age tens of thousands of years ago. Another is the character of having, at the western edge of the Nara Basin, adjoined the prefecture of a great city and increased its population rapidly as a residential land of the outskirts of a great city. And the landform of the alluvial fan at the eastern foot of the fire mountain, and the position of adjoining a great city, produced the stone of stone tools and spread the residential land.
Kashiba is a town where an alluvial fan at the foot of a fire mountain produced the stone of stone tools and became the outskirts of a great city. From the stone that becomes a blade when split and the source of old stone tools, to the alluvial fan adjoining a great city, and to the residential land of the outskirts of a great city — at the same foot of the fire mountain where the stone of tools was cut out tens of thousands of years ago, the new housing of young households now spreads. The depth of time of tens of thousands of years, and the recent momentum in which the population increased at a rate among the fastest in the nation, fold upon one another on the same alluvial fan. The oldest history and the newest flow of people are continuous in Kashiba.
Source: Kashiba City / the Nijozan Northern-Foot Ruin Group (along the Osaka prefectural border at the northern foot of Mount Nijo, a group of source-area sites for sanukite stone tools, from the Late Paleolithic tens of thousands of years ago to the Yayoi period, is distributed; the Nijozan Museum is the first stone museum in the nation to introduce Paleolithic culture — overview) / Kashiba City (Kashiba Town of Kitakatsuragi County enforced city status in 1991; spread over the alluvial fan at the eastern foot of Mount Nijo at the western edge of the Nara Basin, adjoining Osaka Prefecture; remarkable population growth as a suburban residential area of Osaka, ranking third in the nation for growth rate in the 2005 Population Census preliminary report — overview)
05 · Atlas’s note — at the foot of a fire mountain where stone tools were cut tens of thousands of years ago, young housing spreads
Lay out Kashiba’s numbers and indicators of a city of the outskirts of a great city, into which young households move, line up: a population that gained some fifteen thousand over twenty years, an aging rate of 24.8%, a household-with-children share of 22.7%, and a fiscal capacity of 0.65. But to put it in my (Atlas) habit, as an accountant, of placing the oldest history and the newest number side by side, what I want to read here is the depth of time in which this town’s oldest history is "the source of the stone of stone tools." At the foot of the fire mountain of two peaks a hard stone that becomes a sharp blade when split is produced, and from the old Stone Age tens of thousands of years ago, tools were made with that stone. The ruins of the source area where stone was split into tools still line the foot of the mountain. The overlapping, in which the present suburban residential area of a great city spreads upon a layer of time of tens of thousands of years, makes the map of this town read within a long span of time.
One more thing I want to consider is that this town has increased its population rapidly by the position of adjoining the prefecture of a great city at the western edge of the Nara Basin. On this position from which one can commute easily to the great city, the alluvial fan at the foot of the fire mountain was opened as a residential land, and young child-rearing households moved in one after another. On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist arose slightly at three in 2024, but the next year returned to zero. The fact that, inside a city into which young households move one after another, the receivers of childcare pull finely against demand, mirrors the site of the adjustment a city of rapidly increasing population holds. The source area of the stone of stone tools of tens of thousands of years now gathers young households as a suburban residential area of a great city. Whether one reads it off by the sign "a suburban residential area of Osaka," or sees it as "a town where an alluvial fan at the foot of a fire mountain produced the stone of stone tools and became the outskirts of a great city." At the same foot of the fire mountain where the stone of tools was cut out tens of thousands of years ago, young households’ housing now spreads at a rate among the fastest in the nation — whether one measures this town, whose oldest history and newest momentum are continuous, by commuting time, by the ceiling of a budget, or by the number of a family. The work beyond that I hand to the reader. The guide’s duty I lay down with this line.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Kashiba City / the Nijozan Northern-Foot Ruin Group (along the Osaka prefectural border at the northern foot of Mount Nijo, a group of source-area sites for sanukite stone tools, from the Late Paleolithic tens of thousands of years ago to the Yayoi period, is distributed; the Nijozan Museum is the first stone museum in the nation to introduce Paleolithic culture — overview) / Kashiba City (Kashiba Town of Kitakatsuragi County enforced city status in 1991; spread over the alluvial fan at the eastern foot of Mount Nijo at the western edge of the Nara Basin, adjoining Osaka Prefecture; remarkable population growth as a suburban residential area of Osaka, ranking third in the nation for growth rate in the 2005 Population Census preliminary report — 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_8