page_title: Ōita Prefecture
section_title: Current municipalities
hierarchical_section_title: Ōita Prefecture / Geography / Current municipalities
caption_attribution_description: English: Ōita seen from Takasago. Ōita harbor in front right, behind that the Beppu Bay. Motorway 10 in front left, behind Takasaki Yama.
context_page_description: Ōita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,136,245 and has a geographic area of 6,340 km². Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, Kumamoto Prefecture to the southwest, and Miyazaki Prefecture to the south.
  Ōita is capital and largest city of Ōita Prefecture, with other major cities including Beppu, Nakatsu, and Saiki. Ōita Prefecture is located in the northeast of Kyūshū on the Bungo Channel, connecting the Pacific Ocean and Seto Inland Sea, across from Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. Ōita Prefecture is famous for its hot springs and is a popular tourist destination in Japan for its onsens and ryokans, particularly in and around the city of Beppu.
context_section_description: Currently, the prefecture has 14 cities, 3 districts, 3 towns, and one village. From 2005 to 2006, all municipalities but Beppu, Tsukumi, Himeshima, Hiji, and all towns in Kusu District, were merged, and the total municipalities went down from 58 on December 31, 2004, to 18 after the creation of the city of Kunisaki by merging with 4 towns from Higashikunisaki District on March 31, 2006. As a result, the prefecture became the one with the fewest municipalities within Kyūshū, and the fourth fewest in Japan. However, Ōita Prefecture now has the fewest towns (3) and fewest towns and villages combined (4) in all of Japan.
caption: Oita City
exif: {}