Motoyoshi District, Miyagi


Motoyoshi is a rural district in Miyagi Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan.
At present, the district consists only of the town of Minamisanriku with a combined population of 11,860 people, a population density of 72.6 people per km² and an area of. All of the city of Kesennuma and a small part of the city of Tome and part of the city of Ishinomaki were formerly part of the district.

History

Under the Tokugawa shogunate, the district was within Mutsu Province and was under the control of the Date clan of Sendai Domain. In 1869, following the Meiji restoration, Mutsu Province was divided, with the area of Motoyoshi District becoming part of Rikuzen Province, and from 1872, part of Miyagi Prefecture. In the establishment of the modern municipalities system, the district was organized into one town and sixteen villages, Yokoyama, Jusanhama, Tokura, Iriya, Motoyoshi, Utatsu, Koizumi, Mitake, Oya, Hashigami, Matsuiwa, Niizuki, Shishiori, Karakura, Oshima ).
Motoyoshi District was devastated by the magnitude 9.0 March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami which occurred off the coast of Japan; an estimated 9,500 people are reported missing from the town of Minamisanriku alone. Early estimates indicate that this could represent as much as 90% of the total casualties in Japan.