Description : Yurihama (湯梨浜町, Yurihama-chō) is a town located in Tōhaku District, Tottori Prefecture, Japan. As of October 31, 2019, the town had an estimated population of 16,837 and a density of 216 persons per km2. The total area is 77.95 km2. Yurihama was created on October 1, 2004, after a merger of the towns of Hawai and Tōgō, and the village of Tomari, all from Tōhaku District. Early history Numerous artifacts including haniwa clay figures and everyday items dated to the Kofun period were unearthed in the Nagase-Takahama area in modern-day Yurihama. Within the Nagase-Takahama archaeological site, the ruins of 200 homes, warehouses, and other structures, as well as over 300 kofun burial mounds were found. The haniwa figures uncovered here are recognized as Important Cultural Properties in Japan. Later history The land of modern-day Yurihama became part of the Hōki Province in 645, as a result of the Taika reforms. Sometime after this, Shitori Shrine near Yurihama's Tōgō Lake was given the province's highest shrine rank, called ichinomiya. Artifacts excavated from the shrine's Sutra Mound date to the year 1103, and are collectively designated as a National Treasure. Throughout the Sengoku Period, control of the region changed several times. In 1366, Ueshi Castle (ja) was built by the founder of the Nanjō clan in the south of modern-day Yurihama, and subsequently used as a feudal residence. The castle and surrounding areas were an important part of the eastern Hōki domain during this period, facing invasions by the Amago clan from the neighboring Izumo Province, among others. The castle frequently changed ownership for nearly 300 years before being abandoned in 1600 around the end of the Sengoku Period. Its ruins lay on a hill in Yurihama, and the area is now designated as a Prefectural Historic Site.
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