Motoyama, Kōchi 1.76

Motoyama is a town located in Nagaoka District, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan.HistorySince the Meiji Restoration, what is now called Motoyama town has gone through several territorial changes. In 1889, 12 villages combined to become what was called Nishimotoyama Village, which was renamed as Motoyama Village a year later. In 1910 the village was reclassified as a "town." Also in 1889, 13 other villages neighboring Motoyama combined to become Yoshino Village. It was in 1955 when Motoyama and Yoshino villages combined, but soon after that 5 western wards were separated and were incorporated into the neighboring Tosa.Population and DemographicsThe population in Motoyama was 7,343 in 1965, but as of May 2017 it has gone down to 3‚605 and continues to decrease.According to the 2005 census: the population of people 15 years old and under is 417, the population of those 65 years and over is 1,657 and the percentage of seniors in Motoyama is 38% compared to the prefectural average of 26%. There are 1,835 households with on average 2.32 people per household. The number of people per household continues to decrease as households with seniors continue to increase. It is assumed that this trend will continue for the foreseen future.