To the south of this town is a port town where, in myth, the first emperor is said to have set out by boat toward the east. This port town, in which the tradition of that setting-out remains in old records and festivals, flourished by the coasting trade in early-modern times, and still keeps its old townscape. And in the middle of this same town is a deeply indented natural good harbor, which in modern times has served as the prefecture’s gateway of the sea, bearing the coming and going of people and goods. This town, holding in a single city area both the port of the mythic setting-out and the gateway port of the prefecture, has kept its population nearly steady. Hyuga’s numbers are the record of a town in which two ports are inscribed.
A city that opens, in the north of Miyazaki Prefecture, onto a shore facing the Hyuga Sea. To read its population, the merger must be taken into account. In 2006 Hyuga City incorporated an adjoining town and widened its city area. The 2005 population, before the incorporation, was 58,666; the 2010 figure through the incorporation was 63,223. From there it has moved to 59,629 in 2020. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign "a town of myth," but the causal thread: how the past of two ports — the port of the mythic setting-out and the gateway port of the prefecture — is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · Seeing the present Hyuga in its numbers
In the 2020 Population Census, this city’s population was 59,629 — at a scale of nearly sixty thousand. To read this city’s population, the merger must be taken into account. In 2006 Hyuga City incorporated an adjoining town and widened its city area. The 2005 population, before the incorporation, was 58,666; the 2010 figure through the incorporation was 63,223. From there it has decreased gently after the incorporation, to 61,761 in 2015 and 59,629 in 2020. The step in population between 2005 and 2010 in this article reflects this widening of the city area by incorporation.
Looking inside, the figure of a shore town holding ports appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 18.1% in 2000 to 32.3% in 2020, but amid many regional towns nearing four in ten, it stays at about three in ten. The household-with-children share is 21.1% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.55 in fiscal 2023 — a middling level for a regional town, able to cover a little over half of expenditure with its own tax revenue. The figure shows in the numbers: a town holding both ports, keeping its population nearly steady in the city area after the incorporation while leaving comparative youth. Why it takes this form cannot be read without going back to the past of the two ports.
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 port town of the mythic setting-out, the natural good harbor as the prefecture’s gateway, the incorporation that widened the city area — the history behind the numbers
What supports Hyuga’s skeleton is two ports — the port town that conveys the mythic setting-out, and the natural good harbor that became the prefecture’s gateway of the sea. The old layer is the mythic port town. To the south of this town is a port town where, in myth, the first emperor is said to have set out by boat toward the east. That tradition of setting-out remains in old records and in festivals continuing to this day. In early-modern times this port town flourished by the trade of the coasting ships, and a townscape lined with merchant houses was built. That old townscape is still preserved, and has become an object of national preservation as well. From the age of myth to the trade of early-modern times, the past of a port town tied to the sea made this town’s southern face.
This town’s other foundation is the gateway port of the prefecture. In the middle of this town is a deeply indented natural good harbor, and this harbor of calm waves has been known from old as an anchorage where ships put in. In modern times this harbor was prepared as the prefecture’s gateway of the sea, bearing the coming and going of people and goods, and behind it industries such as timber-handling grew. The port of the mythic setting-out and the gateway port of the prefecture — two ports became the two axes of this town’s past. The path to becoming a city, too, mirrors this town. In the middle of the Showa era this land became a city cored on the town with the gateway port, and in 2006 it incorporated an adjoining town and widened its city area. The mythic port town of the setting-out and the natural good harbor as the prefecture’s gateway — this town’s form stands upon the past of two ports held by this shore facing the Hyuga Sea.
Source: Hyuga City "Mimitsu, the Land of the Setting-Out of the Boat" (the tradition of the port from which Emperor Jimmu set out by boat on the eastward expedition; a port town that flourished by the coasting trade; an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings — overview) / Hyuga City "Outline of Hyuga City" (attained city status in 1951 by Tomishima Town and Iwawaki Village; incorporated Togo Town in 2006; the Port of Hososhima = a natural good harbor, the gateway of the prefecture — overview)
03 · In a town holding both ports, keeping the population nearly steady after the incorporation and leaving comparative youth
What characterizes Hyuga is that, while it holds the past of two ports — the port of the mythic setting-out and the gateway port of the prefecture — it keeps the population of the city area nearly steady after the incorporation, and leaves comparative youth. From the 63,223 of 2010, through the incorporation, to the 59,629 of 2020, some four thousand were lost over ten years, yet it still keeps about sixty thousand. One can read that the natural good harbor that became the prefecture’s gateway of the sea, and the industries such as timber that grew behind it, support the town’s living, and that young households have stayed to a certain degree — this is the support that kept the population from collapsing greatly. That the share aged 65 and over stays at about three in ten at 32.3% in 2020 is also an expression of that.
On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.55 is a level able to cover a little over half of expenditure with its own tax revenue — middling for a regional town. One can read that the gateway port of the prefecture, the industries behind it, and the income of the people living there support the tax source at a middling level. The town holding both ports is now keeping its population nearly steady in the city area after the incorporation, while leaving comparative youth. A slight fall of population after the incorporation, an aging of about three in ten, and middling finances — these look like separate numbers, but upon the same foundation of the prefecture’s gateway port and the industries behind it, they are connected with one another through the staying of young households. Pull out a single number alone, and the image of the town will not form.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · A land holding, in a single city area, the port of the mythic setting-out and the gateway port of the prefecture
The distinctive roles Hyuga has held on this shore divide into two ports. One is the past of a port town where, in myth, the first emperor is said to have set out by boat toward the east, whose tradition remains in old records and festivals, holding an old layer that preserves the townscape that flourished by the early-modern coasting ships. The other is the character in which a deeply indented natural good harbor, prepared as the prefecture’s gateway of the sea, bears the coming and going of people and goods and the industries such as timber behind it. And this shore facing the Hyuga Sea has given to this shore two ports — a port town that conveys the tradition of the mythic setting-out, and a natural good harbor of calm waves.
Hyuga is a town holding both the port of the mythic setting-out and the gateway port of the prefecture. From the old port town that conveys the mythic setting-out, to the natural good harbor that became the prefecture’s gateway of the sea — the geography of "facing the Hyuga Sea, holding a deeply indented natural good harbor" drew the two ports and set the town’s shape. In the north of Miyazaki Prefecture, on this shore holding a deeply indented natural good harbor, the port of the mythic setting-out and the gateway port of the prefecture overlap into one as faces of different ages.
Source: Hyuga City "Mimitsu, the Land of the Setting-Out of the Boat" (the tradition of the port from which Emperor Jimmu set out by boat on the eastward expedition; a port town that flourished by the coasting trade; an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings — overview) / Hyuga City "Outline of Hyuga City" (attained city status in 1951 by Tomishima Town and Iwawaki Village; incorporated Togo Town in 2006; the Port of Hososhima = a natural good harbor, the gateway of the prefecture — overview)
05 · Atlas’s note — holding the port of the mythic setting-out and the gateway port of the prefecture as faces of different ages
Lay out Hyuga’s numbers and the indicators that leave comparative youth for a shore town holding ports line up: a slightly fallen population after the incorporation, an aging rate of 32.3%, a household-with-children share of 21.1%, and a fiscal capacity of 0.55. To doubt the step in the ledger first — that is the starting point of me (Atlas), a certified public accountant, and what I must note here is that this city’s step in population is due to the 2006 incorporation. The 2005 population, before the incorporation, was 58,666, and the number 63,223 of 2010 is the result of incorporating an adjoining town. 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 pre-incorporation value noted.
On that basis, what I want to read is the point that this town holds "two ports," each in the role of a different age. The southern port town bears the old age’s tie to the sea — the tradition of the mythic setting-out and the trade of the early-modern coasting ships. The middle harbor was prepared in modern times as the prefecture’s gateway of the sea, and bears the present coming and going of people and goods and the industries behind it. A port that has finished its role and leaves an old townscape, and a port that still works as the prefecture’s gateway, dwell together within a single city area as expressions of different ages. The overlap by which, from the age of myth to the present, the past of ports tied to the sea is inscribed in the town divided into two ports is distinctive to this town. As it keeps its population nearly steady in the city area after the incorporation, how the town will carry this past of two ports to the living of the next generation and to those who visit is a question distinctive to a town on the shore of the Hyuga Sea. Whether to read it off as the sign "a town of myth," or to view it as "a town holding both the port of the mythic setting-out and the gateway port of the prefecture," changes with the reader’s way of living. An old port town that conveys the mythic setting-out, and a gateway port that still handles cargo. I (Atlas) lay out fact and past here, and do not give marks beyond that. How to overlay these two ports upon one’s own commute, budget and family shape I would hand, from here on, to the hands of the very person who lives.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Hyuga City "Mimitsu, the Land of the Setting-Out of the Boat" (the tradition of the port from which Emperor Jimmu set out by boat on the eastward expedition; a port town that flourished by the coasting trade; an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings — overview) / Hyuga City "Outline of Hyuga City" (attained city status in 1951 by Tomishima Town and Iwawaki Village; incorporated Togo Town in 2006; the Port of Hososhima = a natural good harbor, the gateway of the 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 (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: wave16_1