Nakatsugawa
Geography. Nakatsugawa is in the Tōnō region of far eastern Gifu Prefecture, bordering on Nagano Prefecture. Mount Ena, the southernmost of the Kiso Mountains on the border between Nakatsugawa, Aichi and Nagano Prefecture is the highest point in the city, with an elevation of . The Kiso River and the Agi River flow through the city. Climate. The city has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and mild winters (Köppen climate classification "Cfa"). The average annual temperature in Nakatsugawa is 13.6 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1940 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures  are highest on average in August, at around 26.0 °C, and lowest in January, at around 1.7 °C. Demographics. Per Japanese census data, the population of Nakatsugawa has remained relatively steady over the past 40 years. History. The area around Nakatsugawa was part of traditional Mino Province. During the Edo period, much of the area was under the control of Owari Domain, Naegi Domain and Iwamura Domain, or was "tenryō" under direction control of the Tokugawa shogunate. Nakatsugawa-juku prospered as one of the 69 Stations of the Nakasendō along the Nakasendō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto. In  the post-Meiji restoration cadastral reforms, Ena District in Gifu prefecture was created, and Nakatsugawa was proclaimed a town per the April 1, 1897 establishment of the modern municipalities system. Nakatsugawa merged with the town of Naegi in 1951 and was elevated to city status on April 1, 1952. Nakatsugawa annexed the village of Nakamoto in 1954, Ochiai in 1956, and Agi in 1957. On February 13, 2005, the towns of Tsukechi, Fukuoka and Sakashita and the villages of Hirukawa, Kashimo and Kawaue (all from the former Ena District), and the village of Yamaguchi (from Kiso District, Nagano Prefecture) were  merged into Nakatsugawa. Government. Nakatsugawa has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 24 members. Education. Primary and secondary education. Nakatsugawa has 19 public elementary schools and 12 public middle schools operated by the city government. The city has four public high schools operated by the Gifu Prefectural Board of Education, and one public high school operated by the city government.