Ōiso

Ōiso

大磯町
Ōiso 大磯町
Town
	Ōiso Town Hall
	Flag Seal
	Location of Ōiso in Kanagawa Prefecture
	Ōiso
	Coordinates: 35°18′31″N 139°18′46″E / 35.30861°N 139.31278°E
Country	Japan
Region	Kantō
Prefecture	Kanagawa Prefecture
District	Naka
Area
• Total	17.18 km2 (6.63 sq mi)
Population (June 1, 2012)
• Total	32,786
• Density	1,910/km2 (4,900/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+9 (Japan Standard Time)
City symbols
- Tree	Japanese black pine & Camellia sasanqua
- Flower	Calystegia soldanella
- Bird	Common gull
Phone number	0463-61-4100
Address	183 Ōiso, Ōiso-machi, Naka-gun, Kanagawa-ken; 255-8555
Website	[1]

Ōiso (大磯町, Ōiso-machi) is a town located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of June 2012, the town had an estimated population of 32,786, and a density of 1,910 people per km². The total area is 17.18 km².

Geography

Ōiso is located on the coastline of central Kanagawa Prefecture, facing Sagami Bay of the Pacific Ocean. The area is generally hilly, rising to Mount Koma (168 metres) in the northwest of the centre of town. The area has a temperate maritime climate with short, cool winters and hot, humid summers. The coastline of Ōiso is sandy and is regarded as the western end of the Shōnan area. Ōiso remains a popular beach resort and holiday spot for residents of Tokyo.

Surrounding municipalities

History

Ōiso is the ancient centre of Sagami Province. The exact location of the Nara period provincial government of Sagami Province is unknown, but tradition and the place name "Kōzu" place its probable location within the boundaries of present-day Ōiso.

As a minor coastal settlement, Ōiso was under the control of the later Hōjō clan of Odawara during the Sengoku period. In the Edo period, it was nominally part of Odawara Domain, and developed as Ōiso-juku, a post town on the Tōkaidō connecting Edo with Kyoto. After the Meiji Restoration and with the establishment of the district system in 1878, it came under the control of Yurugi District (淘綾郡, Yurugi-gun). Ōiso became a town on 1 April 1889. Blessed with a temperate climate, and with convenient access to Tokyo due to the Tōkaidō Main Line railway, it was favoured as a seaside health resort by politicians and literary figures during the Meiji period after a glowing report on its location was written by noted physician Matsumoto Jun. Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi, Yamagata Aritomo, Saionji Kinmochi and Ōkuma Shigenobu, Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu, writer Shimazaki Toson and zaibatsu founder Yasuda Zenjirō had summer residences in Ōiso. This popularity continued into the postwar era, and Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida also had a residence in Ōiso to which he retired after leaving politics. The former Itō, Yoshida and Shimazaki residences have been preserved as memorial museums.