| Mine | |||
| Native Name Lang: | ja | ||
| Settlement Type: | City | ||
| Seal Type: | Emblem | ||
| Image Map1: | Mine in Yamaguchi Prefecture Ja.svg | ||
| Pushpin Map: | Japan | ||
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Japan | ||
| Coordinates: | 34.1631°N 131.2083°W | ||
| Subdivision Type: | Country | ||
| Subdivision Name: | Japan | ||
| Subdivision Type1: | Region | ||
| Subdivision Name1: | Chūgoku (San'yō) | ||
| Subdivision Type2: | Prefecture | ||
| Subdivision Name2: | Yamaguchi | ||
| Subdivision Type3: | District | ||
| Extinct Title: | Now part of | ||
| Leader Title: | Mayor | ||
| Leader Name: | Yōji Shinoda (since April 2020) | ||
| Leader Title1: | Vice Mayor | ||
| Unit Pref: | Metric | ||
| Area Total Km2: | 472.64 | ||
| Population Total: | 21,919 | ||
| Population As Of: | April 1, 2023 | ||
| Population Density Km2: | auto | ||
| Timezone1: | JST | ||
| Utc Offset1: | +09:00 | ||
| Blank Name Sec1: | City hall address | ||
| Blank Info Sec1: | 326-1 Higashi-bun, Ōmine-chō, Mine-shi, Yamaguchi-ken 759-2292 | ||
| Blank Name Sec2: | Climate | ||
| Blank Info Sec2: | Cfa | ||
| Module: |
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right|thumb|270px|Mine city hall
is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan., the city had an estimated population of 21,919 in 10661 households and a population density of 46 persons per km2.[1] The total area of the city is 1472.64sqkm.
San'yō-Onoda is located in the southwestern part of Yamaguchi Prefecture. It is long in the north-south direction and has a fan shape that opens to the Seto Inland Sea. The Asa River flows from the north to the central area, and the Ariho River flows from the northeast to the east, flowing south into the Seto Inland Sea. The city hall is located on the west bank of the Ariho River mouth.
Yamaguchi Prefecture
Mine has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) with hot summers and cool winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year, but is much higher in summer than in winter. The average annual temperature in Mine is . The average annual rainfall is with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around, and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Mine was on 26 July 2018; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 3 February 2012.
Per Japanese census data, the population of Mine in 2020 is 23,247 people. Mine has been conducting censuses since 1920.
The plateau consists of uplifted reef limestones of Paleozoic age, which were thickened by overfolding during the Akiyoshidai orogenic movement. Subsequent erosion has created an undulating karst landscape dimpled with many dolines and countless limestone pinnacles up to two meters in height. Beneath the surface lie hundreds of caves, a few of them quite significant geologically.
Numerous fossils of Pleistocene age have been found in these caves, including those of the Japanese rhinoceros, Stegodont elephant, Naumann elephant, Young tiger, and numerous other animals from the last interglacial period.
The area around Akiyoshidai was once heavily forested about 500,000 years ago. In the Jōmon period, the area served as a hunting ground and the bottoms of sinkholes as vegetable fields. Numerous Japanese Paleolithic artifacts have been recovered. As farming began in Japan, the local people eventually replaced the forested landscape with Japanese pampas grass for feeding their animals and thatching houses. Repeated cycles of burning the grass have kept trees from growing back since.
The area of Mine was part of ancient Nagato Province and was part of Chōshū Domain under the Edo Period Tokugawa shogunate. After the Meiji restoration, the area was divided into 13 villages within Mine District, Yamaguchi with the creation of the modern municipalities system. The village of Ota was raised to village status on August 1, 1923, followed by Isa on January 1, 1924 and Omine on May 1, 1939. The city of Mine was created by the merger of Isa and Omine with the villages of Ofuku, Nishiatsu and Higashiatsu on March 31, 1954. On October 1 of the same year, the town of Ota merged with the villages of Ayagi, Managata Agago to form the town of Mitō. The remainder of the district was consolidated into the town of Shūhō on April 1, 1955. On March 21, 2008, Mine absorbed Mitō and Shūhō, and the newly merged city retained the name, Mine.
Mine has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 16 members. Mine contributes one member to the Yamaguchi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Yamaguchi 3rd district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.
Mine was noted from ancient times for its copper mines with the Naganobori Copper Mine supplying the copper used in the construction of the Nara Daibutsu and Nara period Wadōkaichin coins. Mine developed as an industrial city due to the production of anthracite and limestone from the Ōmine Coal Field after the Meiji Restoration. After the mines were closed, the population decreased sharply and the city has been active in attracting industrial parks.
Tourism centered on Akiyoshidai Quasi-National Park is also a major component of the local economy.
Mine has 12 public elementary school and six public junior high schools operated by the city government, and one public high school operated by the Yamaguchi Prefectural Board of Education. There are also one private high school.