Chizu, Tottori

Chizu is a town in Yazu District of Tottori Prefecture in western Japan, in the southeast of the prefecture close to the border with Okayama Prefecture. Mountains and forests cover about 93 percent of its 224.70 square kilometres, and it counts as a heavy snowfall area. It has a humid subtropical climate with warm, wet summers and cold winters. The area was part of ancient Inaba Province, the temple of Gokuraku-ji was founded in 646, and during the Edo period it belonged to the Tottori Domain. The village of Chizu was created under the modern municipal system on 1 October 1889 and became a town on 1 June 1914. Logging, woodworking, tourism and brewing are its main industries, centred on a 300-year-old cedar grove, and the estimated population in January 2024 was 5,906.