List of villages in Japan

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{{Administrative divisions of Japan}}

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A {{nihongo|village|村|mura, son}}{{Efn|As a standalone word, 村 is pronounced with the kun'yomi mura. As a bound morpheme, it also has the on'yomi son, for example in the compounds {{nihongo|shichōson|市町村||"cities, towns and villages"}} and {{nihongo|sonchō|村長||"village mayor"}}. As a suffix in village names, it can be either -mura or -son; -son is rather common for villages in Okinawa (check the list below).}} is a local administrative unit in Japan. [https://www.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/ENGLISH/ABOUT/STRUCTURE/structure01.htm Japan’s Local Government System] Tokyo Metropolitan Government

It is a local public body along with {{nihongo|prefecture|県|ken|or other equivalents}}, {{nihongo|city|市|shi}}, and {{nihongo|town|町|chō, machi|}}. Geographically, a village's extent is contained within a prefecture. Villages are larger than a local settlement; each is a subdivision of rural {{nihongo|district|郡|gun}}, which are subdivided into towns and villages with no overlap and no uncovered area. As a result of mergers and elevation to higher statuses, the number of villages in Japan is decreasing.

As of 2006, 13 prefectures no longer have any villages: Tochigi (since March 20, 2006), Fukui (since March 3, 2006), Ishikawa (since March 1, 2005), Shizuoka (since July 1, 2005), Hyōgo (since April 1, 1999), Mie (since November 1, 2005), Shiga (since January 1, 2005), Hiroshima (since November 5, 2004), Yamaguchi (since March 20, 2006), Ehime (since January 16, 2005), Kagawa (since April 1, 1999), Nagasaki (since October 1, 2005), and Saga (since March 20, 2006).

村 can have the reading of mura or son, but with the exception of Tottori, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Tokushima, Miyazaki and Okinawa, most prefectures use the mura reading.

Atarashiki-mura (which is an autonomous village community) is not included in the list below because it is not a separate municipality.