Yonago-shi

In the most recent Population Census the population is about 147,000 (147,317 in 2020). After peaking at 149,584 in 2005, it has moved almost flat within a band of 147,000–149,000 through 2020 — and unusually for a regional city in San’in, its population has not greatly crumbled.

What is worth seeing here is that, while the population holds steady, the number of children is gently falling. Those under 15 fell from 22,067 (2005) to 19,171 (2020), some three thousand fewer. The share aged 65 and over rose from 19.0% in 2000 to 28.7% in 2020. Households with children make up 21.5% (2020). The number of elementary schools has stayed at exactly 23 for more than twenty years, the childcare waitlist has been zero in recent years, and the Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.65 in fiscal 2023. As the linchpin of San’in transport, the figure of a commercial city holding its population steady shows in the numbers. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without tracing the history of the castle, commerce, and the railways.

Yonago’s skeleton is set by a single castle and the commercial town that grew below it. From the Warring States period into the early Edo period, Yonago Castle was built on Mount Minato. With a stately five-storied keep, it was praised as “the finest castle in San’in.” Below that castle, a castle town took shape. The castle was this town’s starting point.

What raised that castle town into a town of commerce was the water transport of the Kamo River. Once connected to the outer moat, the Kamo River served as a waterway for carrying goods, and storehouses lined its banks. From the early Edo period, Yonago developed as a town where the goods of San’in gathered and dispersed — “the commercial capital of San’in.” Storehouses lining the river, merchants coming and going — this was the character of early-modern Yonago. The river and the castle town raised a town of commerce.

What added a modern layer to the town’s character was the railway. Yonago Station became the junction where the San’in Main Line, the Hakubi Line crossing the Chugoku Mountains toward Okayama on the San’yo side, and the Sakai Line heading for Sakaiminato all forked, making it the linchpin of San’in rail. In addition, several national highways, an expressway, and an airport gathered around the city, and Yonago was positioned as the linchpin of San’in transport, where road, rail, and air converge. A new layer — a transport node — was laid over the town of commerce. Beginning below a castle, prospering in commerce among the riverside storehouses, and becoming the junction where railways fork — this town’s form stands on a history of castle, commerce, and transport.

What characterizes Yonago-shi is that, while a regional city in San’in, its population stays almost flat and stable. Those under 15 fell gently, yet the total population has not greatly crumbled, holding around 147,000. This reads as a sign that, as the linchpin of San’in transport and a central city where commerce and various services gather, it has kept its power to draw people and functions from the surrounding area. As the regional cities around it lose population, its centrality as a node sustains the town.

The numbers for living infrastructure mirror this stability too. The city’s elementary schools have not moved from 23 for more than twenty years; even as children gently thin, the school network has not wavered at all. This is also the obverse of a population structure that has not greatly crumbled. The childcare waitlist has stayed near zero in recent years. A fiscal capacity of 0.65 is, for a central city of San’in, not low among regional cities of the same scale. A town that began below a castle, prospered in commerce among the riverside storehouses, and became the junction where railways fork still holds its population as the linchpin of transport and commerce. A flat population, an unmoving school network, a fiscal strength that is not low — though these are separate indicators, each mirrors, from its own angle, the single strength of centrality as a node.

Yonago joins characters of differing history in one town. One is its character as a castle town centered on Yonago Castle, praised as “the finest castle in San’in,” whose castle ruins and the commercial townscape of storehouses lining the Kamo River remain at the town’s center. The other is its character as a rail junction where the San’in Main Line, the Hakubi Line, and the Sakai Line fork, the linchpin of San’in transport where road, rail, and air gather nearby. It holds two characters at once — a town of commerce, and a transport node.

Below a castle praised as the finest in San’in a town of commerce grew, the Kamo River’s water transport pushed it up into a commercial capital, and in the modern era three railways forked here to make it the linchpin of transport — this chain of history has gathered the centrality of San’in into this town. Onto the natural foundation of flatland near Lake Nakaumi and the Sea of Japan, the human hands of castle, Kamo River, and railway were laid one after another, and Yonago took shape as a node. The flat population is proof that this centrality is still at work.