Mizusawa, Iwate

Mizusawa

水沢市
Mizusawa 水沢市
Former municipality
	Flag Emblem
	Location of Mizusawa in Iwate Prefecture
	Mizusawa Location in Japan
	Coordinates: 39°08′37.7″N 141°08′20.3″E / 39.143806°N 141.138972°E
Country	Japan
Region	Tōhoku
Prefecture	Iwate Prefecture
District	Isawa
Merged	February 20, 2006; (now part of Ōshū)
Area
• Total	96.92 km2 (37.42 sq mi)
Population (September 1, 2005)
• Total	60,239
• Density	621.53/km2 (1,609.8/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+09:00 (JST)
Symbols
Bird	Eurasian skylark
Flower	Weeping sakura
Tree	Maple

Mizusawa (水沢市, Mizusawa-shi) was a city located in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. It is currently part of the city of Ōshū. Mizusawa is home to one of the six International Latitude Observatories. The observatories were close to the parallel of 39 degrees 8 minutes north latitude. They worked together to study the Earth's "wobble" using stars selected by Dr. Kimura, the astronomer in charge of the Mizusawa station. Twelve groups of stars that had six pairs of stars each were chosen. Two groups of stars were observed at each station following a schedule of dates, time, and duration prepared by Kimura.^[1]

As of February 2006, the city had an estimated population of 60,239 and a population density of 621.53 persons per km². The total area was 96.92 km².

History

On April 1, 1889, the town of Mizusawa was created due to the establishment of the modern municipalities system (shichōson-sei).
On April 1, 1954, Mizusawa became a city when the town absorbed the neighboring villages of Anetai, Shinjo, Sakuragawa, Kuroishi and Haneda.
On February 20, 2006, Mizusawa, along with the city of Esashi, the towns of Isawa and Maesawa, and the village of Koromogawa (all from Isawa District), was merged to create the city of Ōshū, and no longer exists as an independent municipality.