The lord who ruled this town dug a canal and linked the cedar raised in the mountains straight to the port of the bay. Timber that came down the river from the mountains passed through the canal, gathered at the port, and was sent out beyond the sea. That port, in modern times, also flourished for a time as a tuna shipping port said to be the foremost in the East. This town, where castle town and port were linked by canal, has lost population. Nichinan’s numbers are the record of a town in which a castle town that linked cedar straight to the bay by canal, and the tuna port, are inscribed.
A city in the south of Miyazaki Prefecture, facing the Hyuga Sea, holding a castle town in the mountains and a port on the shore. The population, widening its city area by the 2009 merger, has moved from the former city’s 44,227 of 2005, to the 57,689 of 2010 through the merger, to the 50,848 of 2020. The step in this article’s numbers reflects this merger. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign "a little Kyoto," but the causal thread: how the past of a castle town that linked cedar straight to the bay by canal and the tuna port is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · Seeing the present Nichinan in its numbers
In the latest Population Census the population is about 51,000 (50,848 in 2020). To read this city’s population, the merger must be taken into account. In 2009 the former Nichinan City newly merged with two adjoining towns to become the present Nichinan City. The 2005 population of the former Nichinan City, before the merger, was 44,227; the 2010 figure through the merger was 57,689. From there it has decreased gently after the merger, to 54,090 in 2015 and 50,848 in 2020. The step in population between 2005 and 2010 in this article reflects this widening of the city area by merger.
Looking inside, the figure of a town holding a mountain castle town and a shore port shrinking appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 24.9% in 2000 to 38.5% in 2020, nearing four in ten. The household-with-children share is 17.7% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.40 in fiscal 2023 — a level able to cover only about four-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue, with a large reliance on the allocation tax. The figure shows in the numbers: a castle town that linked cedar straight to the bay by canal, deepening its aging while losing population in the city area after the merger. Why it takes this form cannot be read without going back to the past of the Obi domain and the tuna port.
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 castle town of the Obi domain, the canal that carried cedar, the tuna shipping port, the merger that widened the city area — the history behind the numbers
What supports Nichinan’s past is the castle town that opened in the mountains, the canal that linked the mountains’ cedar straight to the bay’s port, and the merger that widened the city area. The old layer is the castle town. In the Warring-States period, two daimyo fought for about a hundred years over the castle that commanded this land’s natural good harbor. Entering the Edo period, this land flourished as a castle town of about 57,000 koku ruled by a single daimyo family, and its orderly townscape is handed down to this day. What supported this castle town is the cedar the mountains raised. This land’s domain floated the cedar raised in the mountains down from the upper river on rafts, carried the timber to the bay’s port, and sent it out beyond the sea. In the middle of the Edo period the domain dug a canal and linked the timber that came down the river directly to the bay’s port. The mountains’ cedar passing through the canal, gathering at the port, and being sent out to the sea — this mechanism supported the prosperity of castle town and port.
And in modern times, this port held another face. This port, busy from old with trade and the shipping of timber, grew greatly in modern times as a base for tuna fishing, and for a time flourished as a tuna shipping port said to be the foremost in the East. Meanwhile, the path to becoming a city, too, mirrors this town’s character. In 1950 several towns and villages merged to give birth to this city, which is also counted as one of the mergers that came ahead of the nation. Further, in 2009 this city newly merged with two adjoining towns and widened its city area. A castle town that linked cedar straight to the bay by canal, the tuna port, and the merger that widened the city area — this town’s form stands upon the past held by this land of a mountain castle town and a shore port.
Source: Nichinan City / the Obi Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings (the castle town of the Ito family of the Obi domain, 57,000 koku; the Obi cedar — overview) / Nichinan City (attained city status in 1950 by the merger of Obi, Agata, Aburatsu and Togo; new merger with Kitago and Nango Towns in 2009; the Port of Aburatsu — overview)
03 · In the town of castle town and port, losing population in the city area after the merger
What characterizes Nichinan is that, while it holds the past of a castle town that linked cedar straight to the bay by canal and the tuna port, it is losing population in the city area widened by merger. From the 57,689 of 2010, through the merger, to the 50,848 of 2020, some seven thousand were lost over ten years. Forestry carrying the mountains’ cedar and fishing centered on the tuna port have supported the town’s living, but these industries hold a side swayed by the demand for timber and fish and by the state of the fishing grounds. This land holding a mountain castle town and a shore port is far from the large cities and finds it hard to draw in widely new places of work. One can read that the younger generation moved to the urban areas in search of places to work, and the population of the city area held by the merger has fallen over a long time. That the share aged 65 and over neared four in ten at 38.5% in 2020 is also an expression of that population composition.
On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.40 is a level able to cover only about four-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue, with a large reliance on the allocation tax. As a town holding a mountain castle town and a shore port, it reflects that its own tax source has limits. The town of castle town and port is now deepening its aging while losing population in the city area after the merger. Both the cedar the mountains raised and the tuna that gathered in the bay are swayed by the waves of demand and fishing grounds — the town that flourished by linking these two boons with a canal is now, with the thinning of those two industries, losing population and raising its age toward four in ten.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · The town of a castle town that linked cedar straight to the bay by canal and the tuna port — that past
The functions Nichinan holds are not one. As a castle town of about 57,000 koku, where two daimyo fought over the castle commanding the good harbor and which a single family later ruled, its orderly townscape is handed down still. It linked the cedar raised in the mountains straight to the bay’s port by canal, and sent it out beyond the sea. In modern times it became a tuna shipping port said to be the foremost in the East. And by the 2009 merger it widened into a city area holding a mountain castle town and a shore port.
From the struggle over the castle commanding the good harbor and the castle town, to the canal that carried the mountains’ cedar, and the tuna port — the geography of "mountains pressing to the sea, the river carrying the mountains’ timber to the bay’s port" linked castle town and port and called forth the canal that carried the cedar. The castle town and port linked by canal fold together in the same single place — the south of Miyazaki Prefecture — to set the present form of Nichinan.
Source: Nichinan City / the Obi Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings (the castle town of the Ito family of the Obi domain, 57,000 koku; the Obi cedar — overview) / Nichinan City (attained city status in 1950 by the merger of Obi, Agata, Aburatsu and Togo; new merger with Kitago and Nango Towns in 2009; the Port of Aburatsu — overview)
05 · Atlas’s note — the origin that linked castle town and port is a single canal the domain dug into the mountains
Lay out Nichinan’s numbers and the indicators of a town holding a mountain castle town and a shore port shrinking line up: a population falling after the merger, an aging rate of 38.5%, a household-with-children share of 17.7%, and a fiscal capacity of 0.40. First I must note that this city’s step in population is due to the 2009 merger. The 2005 population of the former Nichinan City, before the merger, was 44,227, and the number 57,689 of 2010 is the result of the new merger with two adjoining towns. When reading the numbers of population over time, overlooking this step between 2005 and 2010 leads to misreading the town’s figure. That is why one must read with the former city’s own value noted.
On that basis, what I want to read is the point that this town "linked the mountains’ cedar straight to the bay’s port by canal." In this land where mountains press to the sea and the river carries the mountains’ timber, the domain dug a canal and linked mountain and sea with a single waterway. Timber raised in the mountains comes down the river, passes through the canal, gathers at the port, and is sent out beyond the sea — this mechanism linked the prosperity of castle town and port. It is the thread of joining the two boons of mountain and sea by the device of human hand that is the canal. But both forestry and fishing are swayed by the demand for timber and fish and by the state of the fishing grounds. As it loses population in the city area after the merger, how the town will carry this past of castle town and port to the next generation is a question distinctive to a town holding mountain and sea. Whether to read it off as the sign "a little Kyoto," or to view it as "a town of a castle town that linked cedar straight to the bay by canal and the tuna port," changes with the reader’s way of living. This town’s prosperity began not from a great river or a wide plain, but from a single canal the domain dug into the mountains. What I (Atlas), who read numbers with an accountant’s eye, rest my eyes on even after noting the merger step is this single point: that very waterway human hands drew is the origin that joined castle town and port into one town.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Nichinan City / the Obi Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings (the castle town of the Ito family of the Obi domain, 57,000 koku; the Obi cedar — overview) / Nichinan City (attained city status in 1950 by the merger of Obi, Agata, Aburatsu and Togo; new merger with Kitago and Nango Towns in 2009; the Port of Aburatsu — 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: wave15_e