Sanda, Hyōgo

Sanda City is located in southeast Hyōgo Prefecture, about 25 kilometres (16 mi) to the north of the city of Kobe beyond the Rokkō Mountains and about 35 kilometres (22 mi) northwest of the city of Osaka. The highest elevation point in the city is 697meters at Mt. Mine, and the lowest elevation point is 116 meters. The northern and eastern parts of the city are mountainous. In the past, it had the appearance of a typical farming village with rural scenery, but due to the development of large-scale housing complexes since the 1980s and the convenience of double-track electrification of the JR Fukuchiyama Line, it has rapidly become a satellite city of Osaka and Kobe.

Sanda has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) with hot summers and cool to cold winters. Precipitation is significantly higher in summer than in winter, though on the whole lower than most parts of Honshū, and there is no significant snowfall. The average annual temperature in Sanda is 14.1 °C (57.4 °F). The average annual rainfall is 1,281.8 mm (50.46 in) with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.4 °C (79.5 °F), and lowest in January, at around 2.5 °C (36.5 °F).[2] The highest temperature ever recorded in Sanda was 38.4 °C (101.1 °F) on 8 August 1994; the coldest temperature ever recorded was −10.6 °C (12.9 °F) on 23 December 2005.[3]

Per Japanese census data, the population of Sanda in 2020 was 109,238 people.[4] Sanda has been conducting censuses since 1920.

The area of Sanda was part of ancient Settsu Province, and has been inhabited since the Japanese Paleolithic period. The name "Sanda" has been in use since long ago. Records found within a Buddhist Maitreya statue in the ancient Konshin-ji Temple read: "These areas are decreed as Matsuyama's land, which includes Onden, Hiden and Keiden, which are three rice fields, and the land is thus renamed Sanda." In Japanese, "san" means three and "ta" (pronounced "da" following "n") means rice field. The earliest document on record which refers to Sanda is from 1477.

Sanda Castle was erected during the Muromachi period. A castle town later developed during the Azuchi-Momoyama period, and under the Edo Period Tokugawa shogunate. Sanda was the center of the 36,000 koku Sanda Domain, ruled through most of its history by the Kuki clan.

Following the Meiji restoration, the town of Sanda was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system. The town prospered thanks to the completion of a railroad system which connected the town and the surrounding areas. In 1956, the towns of Miwa, Hirono, Ono, and Takahira merged into the town of Sanda. Finally, Sanda annexed Aino, itself a merger of towns Ai and Honjō, in 1957. Sanda was upgraded from a town to a city on July 1, 1958.

Sanda has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 22 members. Sanda contributes two members to the Hyōgo Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is within Hyōgo 5th districts of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Sanda has a mixed economy of commerce, light manufacturing and agriculture. It is increasingly a commuter town for Osaka and Kobe.

Sanda has 20 public elementary schools, nine public middle schools and four high schools operated by the city government, and four public high schools operated by the Hyōgo Prefectural Board of Education. In addition, the prefecture also operates two special education schools for the handicapped. The Minatogawa College, a junior college, is located in the city

Sanda is twinned with:[5]

• Blue Mountains, Australia
• Jeju City, South Korea
• Kittitas County, United States

• Museum of Nature and Human Activities

The museum's theme is the "symbiosis of people and nature". It opened in Flowertown on October 10, 1992, and is known as "Hitohaku" in Japanese. It is one of the largest public museums in Japan.

• Renge-ji, a Shingon sect Buddhist temple
• Satonone Hall

Satonone Hall is a large performance venue in Sanda. It was completed in March 2007. The facility features a large hall, small hall, rehearsal rooms, and display rooms. The interior is decorated in soft tones and motifs symbolic of the harvest of Satoyama, persimmons, ears of rice, water, and wind.

• Hanayamano-yu

An outdoor bath which features hinoki and an arrangement of garden rocks. There are separate baths for men and women.

• Kumanonosato

Features both Bali-style and Japanese-style outdoor baths.

• Arima Fuji Park

Located in Fukushima, Sanda and opened in 2001. The park is named for Mt. Arima Fuji, which is located within the park. There are three parks within the park: a waterfront park, a forest park, and a grassland park. [6]

• Shiroyama

A multi-use sports facility featuring a tennis court, ball park, athletic field, and gym.

• Kawamoto Kōmin (Rangaku scholar)[7]
• Aida Shinnichi (singer-songwriter)
• Itokin ET-KING (musician)
• Konoda Reo (pro-baseball player・Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks)
• Hayashi Keisuke (Vissel Kobe)
• Nanjo Yuka (model)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sanda, Hyōgo.

• Sanda City official website (in Japanese)
• Sanda City official website