In this town’s basin, three rivers join into one. That confluence of rivers gives rise to fog from late autumn to early spring, becoming a "sea of fog" that fills the basin white. In the Edo era, set in this land, a tale of a boy and the uncanny was handed down, and it is still known as a land associated with the uncanny. This land, a key point of traffic linking the San-in and San-yo regions, was founded in the Heisei era when seven municipalities were newly bound into one, and now quietly loses population. Miyoshi’s numbers are the record of a town etched by the history of a sea-of-fog basin and the uncanny.
A city that opens onto a basin where three rivers join into one, in the northern part of Hiroshima Prefecture. Because this city was founded in 2004 when the central city of the basin and seven surrounding municipalities were newly bound into one, the step in population on the city area appears between 2000 and 2005, when the merger is mirrored in the census. The population seen for the central city alone was 39,503 in 2000; on the post-merger city area it was 59,314 in 2005, and thereafter it has fallen to 50,681 in 2020. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign "a city of the prefecture’s north," but the causal thread: how the history — a sea-of-fog basin and the uncanny — is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · Seeing the present Miyoshi in its numbers
In the 2020 Population Census it is 50,681, still holding fifty thousand. Because this city was founded in 2004 when the central city of the basin and seven surrounding municipalities were newly bound into one, the step in population on the city area appears between 2000 and 2005, when the merger is mirrored in the census. The population seen for the central city alone was 39,503 in 2000; on the post-merger city area it has fallen — 59,314 in 2005, 56,605 in 2010, 53,615 in 2015, 50,681 in 2020.
Looking inside, the figure of a basin city where a sea of fog is born appears. The share aged 65 and over rose by about twelve points over twenty years, from 24.1% in 2000 seen for the central city alone to 36.4% in 2020 on the post-merger city area, well above three in ten. The household-with-children share was 18.6% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.34 in fiscal 2023 — a level able to cover only a little over three-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue, with a large degree of reliance on the local allocation tax. The figure of a basin city where a sea of fog is born, losing population and advancing in aging after the merger, appears in the numbers. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without going back over the history of the confluence of rivers, the basin and the merger.
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 basin where three rivers join, the sea of fog, a tale of the uncanny, a key point of traffic, and the merger of seven municipalities — the history behind the numbers
What set this town is the landform of a basin where three rivers join into one, the sea of fog that confluence gives rise to, the tale of the uncanny that was handed down, the key point of traffic linking the San-in and San-yo regions, and the merger of seven municipalities. The first layer is the confluence of rivers. In this land’s basin, three tributaries of a great river join into one. That confluence of rivers gives rise to fog from late autumn to early spring, becoming a sea of fog that fills the basin white. A basin where three rivers join lies at this land’s feet.
Into this basin, a tale of the uncanny set down its roots. In the Edo era, set in this land, a tale of a boy and the uncanny was handed down, and it is still known as a land associated with the uncanny. In the basin are doll kilns continuing since the Edo era, and on the river cormorant fishing has been carried on. The road by which it became a city mirrors this town, too. This land, long a key point of traffic linking the San-in and San-yo regions, saw the present city founded in 2004 when the central city of the basin and seven surrounding municipalities were newly bound into one. A basin where three rivers join, the sea of fog, the tale of the uncanny, a key point of traffic, and the merger of seven municipalities. The sea of fog that the confluence of rivers gives rise to, and the position of a key point linking the San-in and San-yo regions, have been held by one basin. That is Miyoshi’s core.
Source: Miyoshi City / the Miyoshi Basin (where the tributaries of the Go River — the Eno, Saijo and Basen — meet in the Miyoshi Basin; fog forms readily from late autumn to early spring, called "the sea of fog"; long a key point of traffic linking the San-in and San-yo regions — overview) / Miyoshi City / mononoke (the land associated with the Edo-era ghost tale "Inou Mononoke Roku" [the Mononoke Museum]; the Miyoshi-doll kilns continuing since the Edo era; the Miyoshi cormorant fishing on the Basen River — overview) / Miyoshi City / the Miyoshi-Higashi Junction (a traffic node of the Chugoku region where the Chugoku, Onomichi and Matsue Expressways meet; the central city of Bihoku in northern Hiroshima — overview) / Miyoshi City (on 2004-04-01 the former Miyoshi City newly merged with Kimita Village, Funo Village, Sakugi Village, Kisa Town, Mirasaka Town and Miwa Town of Futami District and Konu Town of Konu District; northern Hiroshima — overview)
03 · In a basin where a sea of fog is born, losing population and advancing in aging after the merger
What characterizes Miyoshi is that, while bearing the history of a sea-of-fog basin and the uncanny, it loses population and advances in aging after the merger. The 39,503 of 2000 seen for the central city alone became 59,314 on the post-merger city area in 2005, and thereafter about nine thousand fell over fifteen years to 50,681 in 2020. Even in this basin that prospered as a key point of traffic linking the San-in and San-yo regions, one can read that a part of the young generation moved to larger cities and toward Hiroshima, and combined with the aging of the surrounding municipalities added by the merger, the age of the whole town rose. That the share aged 65 and over passed well above three in ten at 36.4% in 2020 is one expression of this.
Meanwhile the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025, and the household-with-children share was 18.6% in 2020. The Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.34 is a level able to cover only a little over three-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue, showing the large degree of reliance on the local allocation tax common to the mid-mountain lands scattered widely across the basin. The population fell after the merger, the aging passed the mid-thirty-percent range, and the fiscal strength is not thick on tax revenue alone — a city that bound into one the basin where a sea of fog is born and the mid-mountain lands scattered around it now raises its age all together. In an average that lumps the basin’s center and the peripheral settlements into one, that layering does not come into view.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · The confluence of three rivers gave rise to a sea of fog and a key point
Miyoshi’s core lies at that point where three rivers join into one. Three tributaries of a great river join in the basin, and that confluence gives rise to fog from late autumn to early spring, becoming a sea of fog that fills the basin white.
The same confluence was also a key point of traffic linking the San-in and San-yo regions. Where rivers gather, people and goods gather too. In the Edo era a tale of a boy and the uncanny was handed down, set in this land, and doll kilns and river cormorant fishing set down their roots. Now a node where three expressways cross overlaps that position. The sea of fog that the confluence of rivers gives rise to, and the key point linking the San-in and San-yo regions, both rise from the same single landform. That is the core of the town of Miyoshi.
Source: Miyoshi City / the Miyoshi Basin (where the tributaries of the Go River — the Eno, Saijo and Basen — meet in the Miyoshi Basin; fog forms readily from late autumn to early spring, called "the sea of fog"; long a key point of traffic linking the San-in and San-yo regions — overview) / Miyoshi City / mononoke (the land associated with the Edo-era ghost tale "Inou Mononoke Roku" [the Mononoke Museum]; the Miyoshi-doll kilns continuing since the Edo era; the Miyoshi cormorant fishing on the Basen River — overview) / Miyoshi City / the Miyoshi-Higashi Junction (a traffic node of the Chugoku region where the Chugoku, Onomichi and Matsue Expressways meet; the central city of Bihoku in northern Hiroshima — overview) / Miyoshi City (on 2004-04-01 the former Miyoshi City newly merged with Kimita Village, Funo Village, Sakugi Village, Kisa Town, Mirasaka Town and Miwa Town of Futami District and Konu Town of Konu District; northern Hiroshima — overview)
05 · Atlas’s note — reading Miyoshi’s numbers together with its history
Lay out Miyoshi’s numbers and the indicators of a basin city where a sea of fog is born line up: a population falling after the merger, an aging rate of 36.4%, a household-with-children share of 18.6%, and a fiscal capacity of 0.34. What catches me, in the habit of reading ledgers, is the landform — that this town is "a basin where three rivers join into one, where a sea of fog is born." The landform of a confluence of rivers gives rise to the scenery of a sea of fog, and at the same time sets the position of a key point of traffic linking the San-in and San-yo regions. Behind the figure of a fiscal capacity of 0.34, not thick on tax revenue alone, can be read the thinness of the tax source common to the mid-mountain lands scattered widely across the basin.
The other thing that catches me is that this town, by "binding seven municipalities," held within one city area the sea-of-fog basin and the mid-mountain lands scattered around it. A population of under forty thousand if only the central basin city was bound by seven municipalities to near sixty thousand, and thereafter slowly fell toward fifty thousand. In an average that lumps the basin’s center and the peripheral settlements into one, that layering does not come into view. The key point where the confluence of rivers once gathered people and goods, and where the tale of the sea of fog was handed down, now raises its age together with the city area it bound. Whether the landform that has joined three tributaries into one can join the seven municipalities it bound into one life — Miyoshi’s question is already written into the old landform-shape of a confluence of rivers.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Miyoshi City / the Miyoshi Basin (where the tributaries of the Go River — the Eno, Saijo and Basen — meet in the Miyoshi Basin; fog forms readily from late autumn to early spring, called "the sea of fog"; long a key point of traffic linking the San-in and San-yo regions — overview) / Miyoshi City / mononoke (the land associated with the Edo-era ghost tale "Inou Mononoke Roku" [the Mononoke Museum]; the Miyoshi-doll kilns continuing since the Edo era; the Miyoshi cormorant fishing on the Basen River — overview) / Miyoshi City / the Miyoshi-Higashi Junction (a traffic node of the Chugoku region where the Chugoku, Onomichi and Matsue Expressways meet; the central city of Bihoku in northern Hiroshima — overview) / Miyoshi City (on 2004-04-01 the former Miyoshi City newly merged with Kimita Village, Funo Village, Sakugi Village, Kisa Town, Mirasaka Town and Miwa Town of Futami District and Konu Town of Konu District; northern Hiroshima — 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: wave24_7