Kōka, Shiga
Geography. Kōka occupies the entire southern end of Shiga Prefecture, and is thus long east-to-west. At the eastern end of Kōka, the southern ridge of the Suzuka Mountains with one elevation of 1000 meters runs from northeast to southwest, forming the boundary with Mie Prefecture. The highest altitude point in Kōka is Mount Amagoi in this range. Neighboring municipalities. Shiga Prefecture Kyoto Prefecture Mie Prefecture Climate. Kōka has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen "Cfa") characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kōka is 13.6 °C . The average annual rainfall is 1673 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.4 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.1 °C. Demographics. Per Japanese census data, the population of Kōka has increased steadily over the past 50 years. History. Kōka is part of ancient Ōmi Province. During the Sengoku period, the area was a center for the "Kōga-ryū" school of ninjutsu, in rivalry with Iga The area was on the route of the Tōkaidō highway connecting Kyoto with Edo and the eastern provinces of Japan . Minakuchi-juku was both a post station and also a castle town for Minakuchi Domain, which ruled over parts of the area of Kōka during the Edo period. The village of Minakuchi was established on April 1, 1889 within Kōka District, Shiga with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to town status on August 18, 1894. On October 1, 2004, Minakuchi merged with the towns of Kōka, Kōnan, Shigaraki and Tsuchiyama (all from Kōka District) to form the city of Kōka. Government. Kōka has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and  a unicameral city council of 24 members. Kōka contributes three members to the Shiga Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Shiga 4th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan. Economy. Kōka is traditionally known for its production of ceramics, most notably Shigaraki ware, as well as agriculture and forestry. Light manufacturing is concentrated to pharmaceuticals. Education. Kōka has 21 public elementary schools and six public middle schools operated by the city government and one middle school operated by the Shiga Prefectural Department of Education. The prefecture also operates four public high  schools. Transport. Railway. JR West – Kusatsu Line Shigaraki Kōgen Railway - Shigaraki Line