This town’s castle town is made of two uplands and the valley between them. On the two uplands, the residences where warriors lived line up one and the other, and through the valley runs the merchant town. The castle town of an unusual form — the warrior towns of the uplands sandwiching the merchant town of the valley from both sides — remains to this day, together with its slopes and stone pavements. This castle town lies at the southern root of a peninsula, and was long the center of that peninsula’s government and commerce. The former city, one adjoining town and one village — those three — were bound into one, and the present city was established. This land of a castle town of slopes has lost population while widening its city area through the merger. Kitsuki’s numbers are the record of a town in which a town the warrior quarters sandwich and the merger are inscribed.
A city that opens, in the northeast of Oita Prefecture, at the southern root of a peninsula. This city was established in 2005 by binding the former city, one town and one village into one. The former city alone counted 22,746 in 2000; the 2005 figure reflecting the merger was 33,567; and from there it has moved to 27,999 in 2020. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign "a city of the peninsula," but the causal thread: how the past of a town the warrior quarters sandwich and the merger is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · Seeing the present Kitsuki in its numbers
In the latest Population Census the population is about 28,000 (27,999 in 2020). This city’s population must be read with care, because the range it measures changed with the merger. The former city alone counted 22,746 in 2000; after one town and one village were added in 2005 to make a single city, the population rises once to 33,567. This is not a real increase in population, but a step caused by the widening of the range measured. After that it has decreased, to 32,083 in 2010, 30,185 in 2015, and 27,999 in 2020.
Looking inside, the figure of a city of a castle town of slopes raising its age appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 34.4% in 2015 to 37.1% in 2020, passing well beyond three in ten. The household-with-children share is 16.6% in 2020, and the crude birth rate is 5.5 per thousand in 2020. The Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.33 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 shows in the numbers: the land of a castle town of slopes, losing population while widening its city area through the merger. Why it takes this form cannot be read without going back to the past of the peninsula’s castle town, the town the warrior quarters sandwich, 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 · The peninsula’s castle town, the town the warrior quarters sandwich, slopes and stone pavements, the merger of one city, one town and one village — the history behind the numbers
What supports Kitsuki’s past is the position of a castle town at the root of a peninsula, the town the warrior quarters sandwich, the slopes and stone pavements, and the merger of the former city, one town and one village. The oldest layer is the peninsula’s castle town. This land lies at the southern root of a peninsula, and in the Edo period, as a castle town of 32,000 koku, it was long the center of that peninsula’s government and commerce. The position of the southern root of a peninsula was this town’s foundation.
This castle town had an unusual form. On the two uplands, the residences where warriors lived lined up one and the other, and through the valley between ran the merchant town. The castle town of this form — the warrior towns of the uplands sandwiching the merchant town of the valley from both sides — remains to this day, together with its slopes and stone pavements. The path to becoming a city, too, mirrors this town. In 2005 the former city and the adjoining one town and one village — those three — were bound into one, and became the present city. By this the range the city measures widened, and a step arose in the population statistics. The peninsula’s castle town, the town the warrior quarters sandwich, the slopes and stone pavements, and the merger of one city, one town and one village — this town’s form stands upon the past of castle town and merger that the castle town, once the center of the peninsula’s government and commerce, inscribed.
Source: Kitsuki City / Kitsuki Castle and the "sandwich-type" castle town (in the Edo period the castle town of the Matsudaira family of the Kitsuki domain, 32,000 koku; the warrior towns on two uplands sandwich the merchant town in the valley between — overview) / Kitsuki City / the south of the Kunisaki Peninsula (in the south of the Kunisaki Peninsula in the northeast of Oita Prefecture; until the abolition of the domains it was the political and economic center of the Kunisaki Peninsula — overview) / Kitsuki City (established on 2005-10-1 by the new merger of the former Kitsuki City, Yamaga Town of Hayami County and Ota Village of Nishikunisaki County; the former Kitsuki City alone in 2000 = 22,746; the city area widened — overview)
03 · In the land of a castle town of slopes, losing population while widening the city area through the merger
What characterizes Kitsuki is that, while it holds the past of a town the warrior quarters sandwich, it is losing population after widening its city area through the merger. In the 2005 merger the city’s population rose once to 33,567, but this is a step caused by the widening of the range measured when one town and one village were added to the former city — not a real increase in population. After that it has decreased, to 32,083 in 2010, 30,185 in 2015, and 27,999 in 2020. Even in this land of a castle town of slopes, one can read that some of the younger generation moved toward the larger cities, and the town’s age as a whole rose. That the share aged 65 and over passed well beyond three in ten at 37.1% in 2020 is an expression of that.
On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025, the household-with-children share is 16.6% in 2020, and the crude birth rate is 5.5 per thousand in 2020. The Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.33 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 seen in common across the castle towns at the root of a peninsula. The land of a castle town of slopes is now losing population while widening its city area through the merger. On the two uplands the warriors’ residences line up, and through the valley between runs the merchant town — climb up and down the slopes, walk the stone pavements, and the difference in height that divides the warrior town from the merchant town is known through the soles of one’s feet. That landform has guarded the form of the old castle town, and the same landform is now also the hardness of living for the younger generation.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · A castle town, once the center of the peninsula’s government and commerce, kept a town the warrior quarters sandwich — that past
The functions Kitsuki holds are not one. Lying at the southern root of a peninsula, in the Edo period it was, as a castle town of 32,000 koku, the center of that peninsula’s government and commerce. It keeps, together with its slopes and stone pavements, a castle town of an unusual form — the warrior towns of the two uplands sandwiching the merchant town of the valley from both sides.
From the position of the peninsula’s castle town, to the town the warrior quarters sandwich, the slopes and stone pavements, and the merger of one city, one town and one village — the geography of "the southern root of a peninsula" bred a castle town that became the center of the peninsula’s government and commerce, and kept the town the warrior quarters sandwich. The peninsula’s castle town and the town of the warrior quarters fold together in the same single place — the northeast of Oita Prefecture — to set the present form of Kitsuki.
Source: Kitsuki City / Kitsuki Castle and the "sandwich-type" castle town (in the Edo period the castle town of the Matsudaira family of the Kitsuki domain, 32,000 koku; the warrior towns on two uplands sandwich the merchant town in the valley between — overview) / Kitsuki City / the south of the Kunisaki Peninsula (in the south of the Kunisaki Peninsula in the northeast of Oita Prefecture; until the abolition of the domains it was the political and economic center of the Kunisaki Peninsula — overview) / Kitsuki City (established on 2005-10-1 by the new merger of the former Kitsuki City, Yamaga Town of Hayami County and Ota Village of Nishikunisaki County; the former Kitsuki City alone in 2000 = 22,746; the city area widened — overview)
05 · Atlas’s note — in a castle town of slopes, reading the past of a landform that guarded the old castle town’s form
Lay out Kitsuki’s numbers and the indicators of a city of a castle town at the root of a peninsula raising its age line up: a population with a merger step, an aging rate of 37.1%, a household-with-children share of 16.6%, and a fiscal capacity of 0.33. The first thing I want to confirm is this: that the population appearing to increase in 2005 is a step caused by the range measured widening when one town and one village were added to the former city — not a real increase of people. The former city alone counted 22,746 in 2000. The population of a town that has undergone a merger will be misread unless the change in the range measured is taken into account. The first caution in reading the numbers is this: do not mistake the step of the year the range changed for an increase in population.
Another thing I want to consider is that this town keeps, together with its slopes and stone pavements, a castle town of the unusual form in which "the warrior towns of the two uplands sandwich the merchant town of the valley from both sides." While many castle towns lost their old form amid the urbanization of modern times, this castle town, guarded by the landform of uplands and valley, kept the arrangement of warrior town and merchant town. The landform has guarded the old form of the castle town.
From me (Atlas), who handle numbers with an accountant’s eye, I will say only this: climb the upland, descend to the valley, and climb the upland again — walk that stone-paved slope once, and you will know the bodily sense of this town that lies before the numbers.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Kitsuki City / Kitsuki Castle and the "sandwich-type" castle town (in the Edo period the castle town of the Matsudaira family of the Kitsuki domain, 32,000 koku; the warrior towns on two uplands sandwich the merchant town in the valley between — overview) / Kitsuki City / the south of the Kunisaki Peninsula (in the south of the Kunisaki Peninsula in the northeast of Oita Prefecture; until the abolition of the domains it was the political and economic center of the Kunisaki Peninsula — overview) / Kitsuki City (established on 2005-10-1 by the new merger of the former Kitsuki City, Yamaga Town of Hayami County and Ota Village of Nishikunisaki County; the former Kitsuki City alone in 2000 = 22,746; the city area widened — 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 (wave34-west 2026-06-04)) handled the shaping of the text. Evaluative or predictive language (such as “a good buy” or “attractive”) is intentionally left out. Revision id: wave34w_