Shikama, Miyagi

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Shikama is a small town in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It sits in the west-central part of the prefecture, near the Ōu Mountains, and parts of the area lie within Funagata Renpō Prefectural Natural Park. The town covers about 109 square kilometers and, as of May 2020, had a population of around 6,700 people.

The climate is cool in summer and cold in winter, with a lot of rain. The average yearly temperature is about 11°C, and the wettest month is September. The population has been shrinking for several decades.

Historically, Shikama was part of ancient Mutsu Province and has been inhabited since the Jōmon period. It appears in old records around 737 AD. In the Sengoku period, the area was fought over by samurai clans and later came under the Date clan during the Edo period. The modern village of Shikama was established in 1889 and became a town in 1978. A planned merger with nearby towns in 2003 was rejected by residents.

Shikama uses a mayor-council government with a directly elected mayor and a 13-member town council. It is part of the Miyagi Prefectural legislature and the national Miyagi 4th district. The economy is mainly agricultural, focused on rice and Egoma (perilla).

Education in Shikama includes one public elementary school, one public junior high school, and one high school run by the prefecture.

For contact, the town hall phone number is 0229-65-2111, and the address is 41 Yotsugama Kitatani, Shikama-chō, Kami-gun, Miyagi-ken 981-4122. The official website is also available.