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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Murayama, Yamagata

city in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 17, 2026
Entity authorityQ858008 ↗
Source-derived summary

Murayama (村山市, Murayama-shi) is a city located in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 February 2020, the city had an estimated population of 23,643 in 8133 households, and a population density of 120 persons per km². The total area of the city is 196.98 square kilometres (76 sq mi).

Geography

Murayama is located in northeast Yamagata Prefecture, in a river valley of the Mogami River, with branches of the Ōu Mountains to the east and west.

Neighboring municipalities

Yamagata Prefecture

Funagata

Higashine

Kahoku

Obanazawa

Ōishida

Ōkura

Sagae

Climate

Murayama has a Humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfa) with large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year, but is heaviest from August to October. The average annual temperature in Murayama is 11.2 °C (52.2 °F). The average annual rainfall is 1,250.1 mm (49.22 in) with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.5 °C (76.1 °F), and lowest in January, at around −1.2 °C (29.8 °F).

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Murayama has declined steadily over the past 70 years and is now less than it was a century ago.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Murayama, Yamagata” as city in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Murayama, Yamagata and city.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2020—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1954-11-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Murayama, Yamagata and city providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Murayama, Yamagata”, the useful work is to connect “city in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q858008. VIAF identifies the subject as 252325809. The Library of Congress control number is n83064717. Authority coordinates are 38.483, 140.380. 4 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Murayama, Yamagata”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Murayama, Yamagata primary sources, Murayama, Yamagata archive and Murayama research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Murayama, Yamagata”?
  2. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
  3. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Murayama, Yamagata” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.