In this town stands a great temple tied to a high priest born in this land more than twelve hundred years ago. It is counted one of three great sacred sites of that high priest, alongside a great temple of the capital and a mountaintop training hall in Kii, and is also a pilgrimage temple of the Shikoku circuit. The land that opened as the gate-town of the temple was, in the modern era, also a military town where the largest military base in Shikoku was placed. The prayer of the temple’s gate-town and the memory of a military town overlap on a single land. As the land before the gate of the temple where the Daishi was born, this town did not join the Heisei mergers but walked on its own, and has lost population. Zentsuji’s numbers are the record of a town carved by the history of a sacred gate-town and a military town.
A city that opens upon the Sanuki Plain in the central-western part of Kagawa Prefecture. The population fell from 36,413 in 2000 to 31,631 in 2020. This city did not go through the Heisei mergers but walked on its own, so its recent population course has no merger-derived step. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign "a city in the prefecture’s central-west," but the causal thread: how the history — a sacred gate-town and a military town — is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · Seeing the present Zentsuji in its numbers
In the latest Population Census the population is about 32,000 (31,631 in 2020). This city did not go through the Heisei mergers but walked on its own, so its recent population course has no merger-derived step. From 36,413 in 2000, through 35,495 in 2005, 33,817 in 2010, 32,927 in 2015, to 31,631 in 2020, it fell gently.
Looking inside, the figure of a gate-town-and-military town keeping its age young for a regional city appears. The share aged 65 and over stayed at 30.6% in 2020, just slightly past three in ten. The household-with-children share was 19.7% in 2020, and the crude birth rate was 7.2 per thousand in 2020 — high among cities whose population is falling. The Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.51 in fiscal 2023 — a middling level for a regional city, able to cover a little over half of expenditure with its own tax revenue. The figure of the land before the gate of the temple where the Daishi was born, losing population just so on its own without a merger while keeping its age young, appears in the numbers. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without going back over the history of a sacred gate-town and a military town.
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 great temple of a high priest’s birthplace, three sacred sites and a pilgrimage temple, the military town, the solitary course — the history behind the numbers
This town’s skeleton is set by the history of the great temple of a high priest’s birthplace, three sacred sites and a pilgrimage temple, a modern military town, and its solitary course. The starting layer is the temple. More than twelve hundred years ago, a great temple tied to a high priest born in this land was opened here. It is counted one of three great sacred sites of that high priest, alongside a great temple of the capital and a mountaintop training hall in Kii, and is also a pilgrimage temple of the Shikoku circuit. The great temple of the high priest’s birthplace was this town’s foundation.
Into this land, opened as the gate-town of the temple, the military entered in the modern era. In the Meiji era an army division was placed in this land, and it prospered as a military town holding the largest military base in Shikoku. The former site of the division headquarters is now a garrison of the self-defense organization. The prayer of the temple’s gate-town and the memory of a military town overlap on a single land. The road by which it became a city mirrors this town, too. In the middle of the Showa era it became one with the surrounding towns and villages and took city status, but did not join the Heisei mergers and walked on its own. The great temple of a high priest’s birthplace, three sacred sites and a pilgrimage temple, the military town, and the solitary course — this town’s shape stands upon the history of a gate-town and a military town, carved by the great temple of the high priest’s birthplace.
Source: Zentsuji City / Sohonzan Zentsuji (the temple tied to Kobo Daishi Kukai, born in this land in 774; one of the three great sacred sites of Kobo Daishi, alongside Toji in Kyoto and Mount Koya in Wakayama; the 75th temple of the Shikoku eighty-eight — overview) / Zentsuji City / the military town (the Army’s 11th Division was placed here in 1896 and the town prospered as a military town with the largest base in Shikoku; the division headquarters moved here in 1911; the former site is now the JGSDF Zentsuji Garrison — overview) / Zentsuji City (the Sanuki Plain in central-western Kagawa; took city status in 1954 by merging Zentsuji Town and one town and four villages; in the Heisei mergers it carried out no large-scale merger with other cities and continued on its own — overview)
03 · A temple gate-town and military town, shrinking on its own while holding down its age
What characterizes Zentsuji is that, while holding the history of a gate-town and a military town, it loses population on its own without a merger. From 36,413 in 2000 to 31,631 in 2020, some five thousand fell over twenty years. On the other hand, this town keeps its age young for a regional city. That the share aged 65 and over stays at 30.6% in 2020, just slightly past three in ten, and that the crude birth rate, at 7.2 per thousand in 2020, is high among cities whose population is falling, are expressions of this. This can be read as the garrison of the self-defense organization, and medical and educational facilities, holding a certain number of the young generation.
On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025, and the household-with-children share was 19.7% in 2020. A Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.51 is a middling level for a regional city, able to cover a little over half of expenditure with its own tax revenue. The land before the gate of the temple where the Daishi was born now walks on, just so on its own without a merger, losing population yet keeping its age young. The population fell by some five thousand over twenty years. Even so, aging stays just slightly past three in ten, and the fiscal capacity is 0.51. Right beside the falling number is the youth of age. What sets these two close together can be read as the garrison and the medical and educational facilities.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · A temple bell and a division’s bugle, ringing over the same plain
Zentsuji’s history is made of two things that would not ordinarily meet — prayer and the military. One is the origin of a gate-town, holding a great temple tied to a high priest born in this land more than twelve hundred years ago and counted one of three great sacred sites of that high priest. Another is the character of a land of faith, still receiving pilgrims as a temple of the Shikoku circuit. And it has the face of a military town, where the largest military base in Shikoku was placed in the modern era and whose former site became a garrison of the self-defense organization.
The high priest was born in this land, and on his birthplace a great temple was opened — this origin bore a pilgrimage gate-town, and the flat, open Sanuki Plain was in time chosen as a site for a military base as well. The high priest was born in this land, and on his birthplace a great temple was opened. The flat, open Sanuki Plain bore a pilgrimage gate-town and was in time chosen as a military base as well. The sound of the temple bell and the morning roll call of the garrison have both rung over the same corner of this plain.
Source: Zentsuji City / Sohonzan Zentsuji (the temple tied to Kobo Daishi Kukai, born in this land in 774; one of the three great sacred sites of Kobo Daishi, alongside Toji in Kyoto and Mount Koya in Wakayama; the 75th temple of the Shikoku eighty-eight — overview) / Zentsuji City / the military town (the Army’s 11th Division was placed here in 1896 and the town prospered as a military town with the largest base in Shikoku; the division headquarters moved here in 1911; the former site is now the JGSDF Zentsuji Garrison — overview) / Zentsuji City (the Sanuki Plain in central-western Kagawa; took city status in 1954 by merging Zentsuji Town and one town and four villages; in the Heisei mergers it carried out no large-scale merger with other cities and continued on its own — overview)
05 · Atlas’s note — the numbers of a town where prayer and the military coexist
Lay out Zentsuji’s numbers and, against a population falling just so on its own, indicators that keep its age young for a regional city are mixed in: an aging rate of 30.6%, a household-with-children share of 19.7%, and a crude birth rate of 7.2. But with the eye of one who builds up audit working papers, what I want to read here is the breakdown of how decline and youth coexist — that this town, "while its population falls, holds down aging for a regional city and keeps its birth rate on the high side." This can be read as the garrison that carries on the line of the military, and medical and educational facilities, holding a certain number of the young generation. The chain — that the presence or absence of particular facilities sways the age composition of a town — explains this town’s numbers well.
The other thing I want to consider is that this town "holds together on a single land both the prayerful history of the gate-town of the great temple of a high priest’s birthplace and the memory of a modern military town." A place of prayer and a place of the military have, by nature, wholly different characters. That they overlap on the same gate-town land is likely because the flat, open Sanuki Plain — a siting where people and goods gather easily — was chosen both as the temple’s gate-town and as a military base. The same siting called in roles of differing character one after another — this overlap cannot be grasped by looking only at the figures of population and finance. The gate-town of the great temple tied to Kukai, and the garrison standing on the site of an army division. Why did two of wholly different character line up on a single Sanuki Plain? The answer lies in the flat, open siting. A terrain where people and goods gather easily was convenient both as a place of prayer and as a place to gather soldiers, and called in a different role age by age. The very width of that swing of roles still keeps the young generation on this plain as the garrison and the medical and educational facilities, making Zentsuji look younger than its true age.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Zentsuji City / Sohonzan Zentsuji (the temple tied to Kobo Daishi Kukai, born in this land in 774; one of the three great sacred sites of Kobo Daishi, alongside Toji in Kyoto and Mount Koya in Wakayama; the 75th temple of the Shikoku eighty-eight — overview) / Zentsuji City / the military town (the Army’s 11th Division was placed here in 1896 and the town prospered as a military town with the largest base in Shikoku; the division headquarters moved here in 1911; the former site is now the JGSDF Zentsuji Garrison — overview) / Zentsuji City (the Sanuki Plain in central-western Kagawa; took city status in 1954 by merging Zentsuji Town and one town and four villages; in the Heisei mergers it carried out no large-scale merger with other cities and continued on its own — 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 (wave-cs1 2026-06-05)) handled the shaping of the text. Evaluative or predictive language (such as “a good buy” or “attractive”) is intentionally left out. Revision id: wavecs1_