Asago

Asago is a city in northern Hyogo Prefecture, Japan, in the east of the Chugoku Mountains, where mountains and forests cover about 93 percent of the town. On 31 March 2022 it had an estimated 28,971 residents in 12,245 households over 403.06 square kilometres. The area belonged to ancient Tajima Province and holds many Kofun period burial mounds, and the Ikuno silver mine, opened in 807, was worked through the Edo period so that the shogunate held much of the land directly. Takeda Castle was the stronghold of the Otagaki clan in the Sengoku period. The present city was created on 1 April 2005 when Asago absorbed the towns of Ikuno, Santo and Wadayama, and it has a mayor and council form of government.