Kamikita District, Aomori


Kamikita District is a district located in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. It occupies the east-central portion of the prefecture, south of Shimokita Peninsula.
As of 2010, the district has an estimated population of 100,526 and a density of 78.5 persons per km². The total area was 1281.05 km². In terms of national politics, the district is represented in the Diet of Japan's House of Representatives as a part of the Aomori 1st district and the Aomori 2nd district.

Towns and villages

The district currently consists of six towns and one village. The cities of Towada and Misawa were formerly part of the district.
Kamikita District was part of ancient Kita County, established by the Northern Fujiwara. During the Edo period, the area was part of the Morioka han feudal domain of the Nanbu clan, with daikansho located in Noheji and Shichinohe.
The Nanbu clan sided with the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei during the Boshin War of the Meiji Restoration and were punished by the new Meiji government by loss of their northern territories. In November 1869, Kita-gun and neighboring Sannohe District became part of the newly created Tonami Domain, a 30,000 koku holding created to resettle the dispossessed Matsudaira clan from Aizu-Wakamatsu. In July 1871, with the abolition of the han system, Tonami Domain became Tonami Prefecture, and was merged into the newly created Aomori Prefecture in September 1871.
During the early Meiji period administrative reorganization of Japan on July 22, 1878, Kamikita and Shimokita were divided from former Kita County, and Kamikita was divided into 50 villages. In the cadastral reform of April 1, 1889, the number of villages was reduced through consolidations and mergers to sixteen.