Katsuura, Tokushima

Katsuura is a town in Katsuura District, in the eastern part of Tokushima Prefecture on the island of Shikoku, Japan. As of 30 June 2022 it had an estimated population of 4,884 in 2,159 households over a total area of 69.85 square kilometres. Most of the town lies in the basin of the Katsuura River and is ringed by mountains, among them Mount Nakatsumine on the border with Tokushima City; its highest point is the 972.1 metre summit of Mount Rokuro and its lowest is 20 metres above sea level, and parts lie within Higashi Sankei Prefectural Natural Park. The climate is humid subtropical (Köppen Cfa). Part of ancient Awa Province and of the Tokushima Domain of the Hachisuka clan, the area had a village called Tanano from 1889, which became the town of Yokose in 1926 and merged with the village of Ikuhina on 1 March 1955 to form Katsuura. The economy is agricultural and the town is one of the prefecture's leading mandarin orange areas. It has no passenger rail service, and Kakurin-ji, the 20th temple on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, stands here. The population has been declining for 70 years.