Ōtsuki, Yamanashi Prefecture, Chūbu Region, Japan

🇯🇵 Ōtsuki (大月市) is a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. Ōtsuki was noted traditionally for its production of fine silk. In the modern period, it became the location of numerous factories producing synthetic fibers.

Geography Ōtsuki is located in eastern Yamanashi Prefecture, approximately 80 km from Tokyo. the city is located in the Chichibu and the Tanzawa Mountains and the Sagami River (known locally as the Katsura River) flows through the city.

Surrounding municipalities Yamanashi Prefecture • Uenohara • Tsuru • Kōshū • Fuefuki • Fujikawaguchiko • Kosuge.

History Located in the headwaters of the Sagami River, the area around present-day Ōtsuki was heavily settled in the Jōmon period, and over 80 Jōmon sites have been found within city limits. However, there are fewer Yayoi period sites. During the Nara period ritsuryo organization of Kai Province, the area came under Tsuru County. From the middle of the Kamakura period, much of the province came under the control of the Takeda clan.

During the Edo period, all of Kai Province was tenryō territory under direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate, although the portion around modern day Ōtsuki was part of the short-lived Tamimura Domain, which was suppressed in 1704. Also during the Edo period, the Kōshū Kaidō, one of the Edo Five Routes, passed through Ōtsuki, which with 12 of the 45 post stations has more post stations than any other municipality in Japan. The eleven post stations spread from Shimotorisawa-shuku to Kuronoda-shuku.

During the cadastral reform of the early Meiji period on July 1, 1889, the village of Hirosato was created within Kitatsuru District, Yamanashi Prefecture. On April 1, 1933, the village was raised to town status, and renamed Ōtsuki. The town was bombed by the United States on August 13, 1945, only two days before the end of World War II. The town was elevated to city status on August 8, 1954, by merging with the neighboring towns of Saruhashi and Nanaho and the villages of Sasago, Nigioka, Hatsukari and Yanagawa.

Government Ōtsuki has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 12 members.

Economy Ōtsuki was noted traditionally for its production of fine silk. In the modern period, it became the location of numerous factories producing synthetic fibers.

Education • Ohtsuki City College • Ōtsuki has five public elementary schools and two public middle schools operated by the city government and two public high schools operated by the Yamanashi Prefectural Board of Education.

Transport: Rail • East Japan Railway Company - Chūō Main Line ◦ Yanagawa – Torisawa – Saruhashi – Ōtsuki – Hatsukari – Sasago • Fuji Kyuko - Fujikyuko Line ◦ Ōtsuki - Kamiōtsuki.

Transport: Road • Chūō Expressway • National Route 20 • National Route 139.

Local attractions • Saruhashi - A famous historical bridge and designated National Place of Scenic Beauty • Yatsuzawa Power Station.