Hakusan, Ishikawa Prefecture, Chūbu Region, Japan

🇯🇵 Hakusan (白山市) is a city located in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. It is the second-most populous city in Ishikawa Prefecture after Kanazawa.

Geography Hakusan is located in south-western Ishikawa Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan and is bordered by the Sea of Japan to the west and Fukui Prefecture to the south, and Gifu Prefecture and Toyama Prefectures to the east. The south-eastern portion of the city is dominated by high mountains. Parts of the city are within the borders of Hakusan National Park.

Neighbouring municipalities • Ishikawa Prefecture ◦ Kanazawa; ◦ Komatsu; ◦ Nomi; ◦ Nonoichi; ◦ Kawakita; • Fukui Prefecture ◦ Ōno; ◦ Katsuyama; • Gifu Prefecture ◦ Takayama; ◦ Shirakawa (village); Toyama Prefecture ◦ Nanto.

History The area around Hakusan was part of ancient Kaga Province. The area became part Kaga Domain under the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate. Following the Meiji restoration, the area was organised into Ishikawa District, Ishikawa. The town of Mattō was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. It became a city on October 10, 1970. On February 1, 2005, Mattō merged with the towns of Mikawa and Tsurugi, and the villages of Kawachi, Oguchi, Shiramine, Torigoe and Yoshinodani (all from Ishikawa District) to form the city of Hakusan.

Government Hakusan has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 21 members.

Economy Eizo and its subsidiary, Irem, have their headquarters in Hakusan.

Education Hakusan has 19 public elementary schools and ten middle schools operated by the city government, and three public high schools operated by the Ishikawa Prefectural Board of Education and one by the city government. There is also one private high school. Kinjo College, a private junior college is also located in Hakusan.

Local attractions • Ishikawa Forest Experiment Station • Hakusan, the "White Mountain" from which the merged city took its name. • Hakusan National Park • Tedori River • Torigoe Castle ruins, a National Historic Site • Matto Stadium is home to the city's major football club, FC Hokuriku (formerly Fervorosa Ishikawa, Fervorosa Hakusan and FC Goals) which competes in the Hokushinetsu Regional League. • Tedorigawa Yoshida Sake Brewery.

Transport: Rail West Japan Railway Company - Hokuriku Main Line • Komaiko - Mikawa - Kaga-Kasama - Mattō

Hokuriku Railroad - Ishikawa Line • Hibari - Sodani - Dōhōji - Inokuchi - Oyanagi - Hinomiko - Tsurugi

Transport: Road • Hokuriku Expressway; National Route 8; National Route 157; National Route 305; National Route 360.