# Tochigi 4th district

Tochigi 4th District (Japanese: 栃木県第4区, Hepburn: Tochigi ken dai-yon-ku) is an constituency of the Japanese House of Representatives in the National Diet of Japan.

## Area
### Current district

As of 12 December 2024, the areas covered by this district are as follows:
* Oyama
* Mooka
* Shimotsuke
* Haga District
* Shimotsuga District
As a result of the 2022 reapportionments, the district lost the remaining areas of Tochigi city to Tochigi's 5th district, while gain the rest of Shimotsuke from Tochigi's 1st district

### Areas from 2017 to 2022

Between the second rediscricting in 2017 and the third redistricting in 2022, the areas covered by this district were as follows:
* Tochigi
** Ōhira
** Fujioka
** Tsuga
** Iwafune
* Oyama
* Moka
* Shimotsuke
** Ishibashi
** Kokubunji
* Haga District
* Shimotsuga District

### Areas from 2013 to 2017

Between the first redistricting in 2013 and the second redistricting in 2017, the areas covered by this district were as follows:
* Tochigi
** Ohira
** Fujioka
** Tsuga
* Oyama
* Moka
* Shimotsuke
** Ishibashi
** Kokubunji
* Haga District
* Shimotsuga District

### Areas from before 2013

From the creation of the district in 1994 until the first redistricting in 2013, the areas covered by this district were as follows:
* Oyama
* Moka
* Haga District
* Shimotsuga District

## History

From the creation of the district until 2012, every election was a fierce competition between Tsutomu Sato, who served as the chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's General Affairs Committee and as Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, and Kenji Yamaoka, who served as the chairman of the Democratic Party of Japan's Diet Affairs Committee and as the chairman of the National Public Safety Commission.
For the first four elections, Tsutomu beat Kenji every time by tens of thousands of votes. However, carried by the surge of the Democratic Party of Japan in the 2009 Japanese general election, Kenji was able to win the seat from Tsutomu and become a representative for the first time.
This victory was short-lived however, as in the 2012 Japanese general election, Tsutomu won back his seat with a large margin of over 80,000 votes, putting Kenji into 3rd place.
Tsutomu was able to secure major victories in the next 2 general elections, effectively denying the other candidates a seat on the Northern Kanto proportional representation block. This started to change in 2021 when Takao Fujioka was able to secure a seat on the proportional district, closing the gap to just 4,820 votes. He then went on to win the seat outright in the 2024 Japanese general election, unseating Tsutomu who was relegated to the proportional block seat.

## Elected representatives

| Representative | Party | Years served | Notes |
| Tsutomu Sato | LDP | 1996-2009 | Supported by Komeito |
| Kenji Yamaoka | DPJ | 2009-2012 | Previously ran for the New Frontier Party in the 1996 Japanese general election and the Liberal Party in the 2000 Japanese general election. |
| Tsutomu Sato | LDP | 2012-2024 | Supported by Komeito |
| Takao Fujioka | CDP | 2024- | Previously ran for Kibō no Tō in the 2017 Japanese general election and the Democratic Party of Japan in the 2014 Japanese general election. |

## Election results

(*) - indicates an incumbent primary candidate
(†) - indicates an incumbent proportional district candidate
(‡) - indicates candidate was elected to a proportional representation district
(¶) - Indicates an incumbent candidate that lost the primary seat but won a seat in the proportional district

### 2024

2024 House of Representatives election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | CDP | Takao Fujioka$^†$ | 96,573 | 53.41 |
| | LDP | Tsutomu Sato$^¶$ | 75,260 | 41.62 |
| | JCP | Hitoshi Kawakami | 8,985 | 4.97 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 353,065 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 52.59 |
| | CDP gain from LDP | CDP gain from LDP | CDP gain from LDP | CDP gain from LDP |

### 2021

2021 House of Representatives election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | LDP | Tsutomu Sato* | 111,863 | 51.10 |
| | CDP | Takao Fujioka$^‡$ | 107,043 | 48.90 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 402,456 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 55.37 |
| | LDP hold | LDP hold | LDP hold | LDP hold |

### 2017

2017 House of Representatives election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | LDP | Tsutomu Sato* | 111,167 | 54.44 |
| | Kibō no Tō | Takao Fujioka | 76,294 | 37.36 |
| | JCP | Toshihiko Yamazaki | 16,741 | 8.20 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 406,035 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 51.58 |
| | LDP hold | LDP hold | LDP hold | LDP hold |

### 2014

2014 House of Representatives election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | LDP | Tsutomu Sato* | 114,328 | 59.13 |
| | Democratic | Takao Fujioka | 62,251 | 32.20 |
| | JCP | Toshihiko Yamazaki | 16,773 | 8.67 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 398,881 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 49.94 |
| | LDP hold | LDP hold | LDP hold | LDP hold |

### 2012

2012 House of Representatives election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | LDP | Sato Tsutomu | 109,762 | 51.13 |
| | Your | Takao Fujioka | 49,021 | 22.83 |
| | Tomorrow | Kenji Yamaoka* | 26,310 | 12.25 |
| | Democratic | Kudo Hitomi$^†$ | 22,546 | 10.50 |
| | JCP | Toshitsugu Saotome | 7,053 | 3.29 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 399,474 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 55.13 |
| | LDP gain from Tomorrow | LDP gain from Tomorrow | LDP gain from Tomorrow | LDP gain from Tomorrow |

### 2009

2009 House of Representatives election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Kenji Yamaoka$^†$ | 139,878 | 51.45 |
| | LDP | Sato Tsutomu$^¶$ | 109,287 | 40.20 |
| | Independent | Tetsuya Uetake | 20,176 | 7.42 |
| | Happiness Realization | Chihiro Sekizawa | 2,505 | 0.92 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 399,612 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 69.16 |
| | Democratic gain from LDP | Democratic gain from LDP | Democratic gain from LDP | Democratic gain from LDP |

### 2005

2005 House of Representatives election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | LDP | Sato Tsutomu* | 140,304 | 54.24 |
| | Democratic | Kenji Yamaoka$^†$$^‡$ | 108,473 | 41.93 |
| | JCP | Toshihiko Yamazaki | 9,900 | 3.83 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 394,394 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 66.87 |
| | LDP hold | LDP hold | LDP hold | LDP hold |

### 2003

2003 House of Representatives election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | LDP | Sato Tsutomu* | 125,031 | 52.75 |
| | Democratic | Kenji Yamaoka$^†$$^‡$ | 104,159 | 43.95 |
| | JCP | Toshihiko Yamazaki | 7,822 | 3.30 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 389,745 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 62.04 |
| | LDP hold | LDP hold | LDP hold | LDP hold |

### 2000

2000 House of Representatives election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | LDP | Sato Tsutomu* | 115,284 | 48.81 |
| | Liberal | Kenji Yamaoka$^†$$^‡$ | 65,860 | 27.89 |
| | Democratic | Yutaka Nakai | 42,503 | 18.00 |
| | JCP | Tadashi Iizuka | 12,522 | 5.30 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 381,796 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 63.44 |
| | LDP hold | LDP hold | LDP hold | LDP hold |

### 1996

1996 House of Representatives election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | LDP | Sato Tsutomu* | 117,851 | 53.33 |
| | New Frontier | Kenji Yamaoka$^‡$ | 83,383 | 37.73 |
| | JCP | Hiroshi Aoki | 14,899 | 6.74 |
| | Independent | Irino Masaaki | 4,848 | 2.19 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 368,921 | |
| Rejected ballots | Rejected ballots | Rejected ballots | | 61.53 |
| | LDP win (new seat) | LDP win (new seat) | LDP win (new seat) | LDP win (new seat) |