In this town, water wells from the depths of the earth. The rain that falls on the fire mountain rising behind soaks deep into the mountain’s strata, and after a long time wells out as clear water here and there in the basin at the foot. The basin itself is a hollow made when an eruption of the distant past caused the ground to subside, and on its floor fields and a village spread. On the fire mountain’s slope spreads a highland where flowers bloom. This land of a town of water welling in a basin at the foot of a fire mountain bound a village and a town to widen its city area, and has now quietly lost population. Kobayashi’s numbers are the record of a town in which the Kirishima undercurrent and the highland are inscribed.
A city that opens, in the southwest of Miyazaki Prefecture, onto the northern foot of a fire mountain. Because this city became newly one with a village in 2006 and incorporated a neighboring town in 2010, the step in the population of the city area appears between 2005 and 2010, as the two mergers are reflected in the Census. The population of the former city alone, before becoming one with the village, was 38,923 in 2005; in the city area through the two mergers it was 48,270 in 2010, and it has since decreased to 43,670 in 2020. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign "a city of the prefecture’s west," but the causal thread: how the past of the Kirishima undercurrent and the highland is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · Seeing the present Kobayashi in its numbers
The population is about 44,000, counted at 43,670 in the 2020 Population Census. Because this city became newly one with a village in 2006 and incorporated a neighboring town in 2010, the step in the population of the city area appears between 2005 and 2010, as the two mergers are reflected in the Census. The population of the former city alone, before becoming one with the village, was 38,923 in 2005; in the city area through the two mergers it was 48,270 in 2010, 46,221 in 2015, and 43,670 in 2020 — decreasing.
Looking inside, the figure of a city that opens onto a basin at the foot of a fire mountain appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 33.5% in 2015 to 37.2% in 2020, nearing four in ten. The household-with-children share is 18.5% in 2020, and the crude birth rate is 6.4 per thousand in 2020; the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.38 in fiscal 2023 — a level not reaching four-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: a town of water welling in a basin at the foot of a fire mountain, losing population after widening its city area through merger. Why it takes this form cannot be read without going back to the past of the fire mountain, the welling water 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 foot of a fire mountain, a subsidence basin and welling water, a highland where flowers bloom, the merger of a village and a town — the history behind the numbers
What supports Kobayashi’s past is the position of the northern foot of a fire mountain, a subsidence basin and welling water, a highland on the slope, and the merger of a village and a town. The oldest layer is the fire mountain and the water. This land opens onto the northern foot of a fire mountain where many peaks stand in a row. The rain that falls on the fire mountain soaks deep into the mountain’s strata, and after a long time wells out as clear water here and there in the basin at the foot. The basin itself is a hollow made when an eruption of the distant past caused the ground to subside, and on its floor fields and a village spread. The fire mountain, and the basin where its undercurrent wells out, were this town’s foundation.
At the foot of this fire mountain there was also a highland where flowers bloom. On the fire mountain’s northern slope spreads a high-elevation highland, and in the flowering season it has gathered people. The path to becoming a city, too, mirrors this town. This town became newly one with a neighboring village in 2006, and incorporated another neighboring town in 2010, to make the present city area. The foot of the fire mountain, the subsidence basin and welling water, the highland where flowers bloom, and the merger of a village and a town — this town’s form stands upon the past of undercurrent and highland that the land opening onto the northern foot of the fire mountain inscribed.
Source: Kobayashi City / the foot of Mount Kirishima and the Kobayashi basin (the city opens onto the Kobayashi basin, a caldera depression at the northern foot of Mount Kirishima, with spring water emerging at the foot in many places; it holds the Ikoma Highland, elevation about 540 m, on its northern slope — overview) / Kobayashi City (established on 2006-3-20 by the new merger of the former Kobayashi City and Suki Village, and incorporated Nojiri Town on 2010-3-23; the southwest of Miyazaki Prefecture — overview)
03 · In a town of water welling in a basin at the foot of a fire mountain, losing population after the merger
What characterizes Kobayashi is that, while it holds the past of a town of water welling in a basin at the foot of a fire mountain, it is losing population after widening its city area through two mergers. The 38,923 of 2005, seen for the former city alone before becoming one with the village, became 48,270 in 2010 as the city area widened by the mergers of 2006 and 2010, but has since decreased to 43,670 in 2020. Even in this land where the fire mountain’s undercurrent wells and fields spread in the basin, in the former villages and former town of the mountains, mainly of farming, 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 neared four in ten at 37.2% 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 18.5% in 2020, and the crude birth rate is 6.4 per thousand in 2020. The Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.38 is a level not reaching four-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue, showing the large degree of reliance on the local allocation tax seen in common across mountain lands mainly of farming. The town of water welling in a basin at the foot of a fire mountain is now losing population and advancing its aging after widening its city area through merger. The population fallen after the merger, the aging nearing four in ten, finances not thick on tax revenue alone — each is a separate number, yet upon the same past of water welling at the foot of the fire mountain and the former mountain villages, they are entangled with one another. Try to tell the town by pulling out any single one of the numbers, and the image, rather, distorts.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · The northern foot of a fire mountain held a basin of welling water and a highland of flowers
The distinctive roles Kobayashi has placed in this land can be counted several over. One is that it holds the past of a land of welling water, where the rain that falls on the fire mountain soaks into the mountain’s strata and, after a long time, wells out as clear water here and there in the basin at the foot. Another is that it holds the character of a subsidence basin, the basin itself being a hollow made by subsidence from an eruption of the distant past, with fields and a village spread on its floor. And it places, on the fire mountain’s northern slope, a high-elevation highland that gathers people in the flowering season. The position of the northern foot of the fire mountain has drawn into this area, all at once, the welling water, the subsidence basin and the highland of flowers.
Kobayashi is a town where the northern foot of a fire mountain held a basin of welling water and a highland of flowers. From the foot of the fire mountain, to the subsidence basin and welling water, the highland where flowers bloom, and the merger of a village and a town — the geography of "a land opening onto the northern foot of a fire mountain" bred a basin where the undercurrent wells, held a highland of flowers on the slope, and set the town’s shape. In the southwest of Miyazaki Prefecture, in this area where the fire mountain’s undercurrent wells out into the subsidence basin, the past of welling water, highland and merger is woven into one.
Source: Kobayashi City / the foot of Mount Kirishima and the Kobayashi basin (the city opens onto the Kobayashi basin, a caldera depression at the northern foot of Mount Kirishima, with spring water emerging at the foot in many places; it holds the Ikoma Highland, elevation about 540 m, on its northern slope — overview) / Kobayashi City (established on 2006-3-20 by the new merger of the former Kobayashi City and Suki Village, and incorporated Nojiri Town on 2010-3-23; the southwest of Miyazaki Prefecture — overview)
05 · Atlas’s note — a town where rain that fell on the fire mountain becomes welling water in the basin at the foot
Lay out Kobayashi’s numbers and the indicators of a city that opens onto a basin at the foot of a fire mountain line up: a population falling after the city area widened by merger, an aging rate of 37.2%, a household-with-children share of 18.5%, and a fiscal capacity of 0.38. It is my (Atlas’s) habit to match the back of the numbers like a ledger, but what I want to follow here is the chain of landform by which this town has "the rain that fell on the fire mountain behind, after a long time, welling out as clear water here and there in the basin at the foot." The rain that fell on the high ground of the fire mountain soaks into the mountain’s strata, becomes an undercurrent, and wells at the foot. The fire mountain, just as it is, brings water to the basin at the foot. Trace this chain, and the town’s shape falls into place.
Another thing I want to consider is that this town’s step in population must be read apart from the year of the merger. The former city, before becoming one with the village, was about 39,000 in 2005, and the city area through the two mergers was about 48,000 in 2010; this difference is not an increase in population but the widening of the range measured by the merger. Mistake the step of the changed range for an increase in population, and you misread the image. To read the merger step and the actual fall of population after it separately is the key to grasping this town’s numbers correctly. Whether to read it off as the sign "a city of the prefecture’s west," or to view it as "a town where the northern foot of a fire mountain held a basin of welling water and a highland of flowers," changes with the reader’s way of living. I (Atlas) only lay out fact and past, and give no marks. Whether to measure it against one’s own commute or budget I would also leave to the very person who lives. At dawn, the welling water makes a clear sound from the stonework at the edge of the fields, and deep in the steaming basin only the sense of people grows little by little thinner.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Kobayashi City / the foot of Mount Kirishima and the Kobayashi basin (the city opens onto the Kobayashi basin, a caldera depression at the northern foot of Mount Kirishima, with spring water emerging at the foot in many places; it holds the Ikoma Highland, elevation about 540 m, on its northern slope — overview) / Kobayashi City (established on 2006-3-20 by the new merger of the former Kobayashi City and Suki Village, and incorporated Nojiri Town on 2010-3-23; the southwest of Miyazaki Prefecture — 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 (wave32-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: wave32w_