is a city in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 26,378, and a population density of 31.6 persons per km<sup>2</sup> in 10,759 households. The total area of the city is . TÃ Âno is known as "The City of Folklore" for its rural nature, its preservation of traditional culture and especially for the collection of folktales, TÃ Âno Monogatari, written by Kunio Yanagita in 1910.
Tà Âno is located in central Iwate Prefecture, in the floodplain of the Sarugaishi River, surrounded by a ring of mountains. Mount Hayachine sits at the northernmost point of the city where Hanamaki, Kawai and Tà Âno meet. At 1,914 meters it is also the city's highest point. Mt. Rokkoushi, (1,294 meters) dominates the landscape to the east and Mt. Ishigami (1,038 meters) is the highest mountain in the west. Together these peaks form Tà Âno's "big three" mountains. The highest points in southern Tà Âno are Mt. Sadato (884 meters) on the border of Sumida and Mt. Tane (871 meters) on the borders of Sumita and à Âshà «.
Accordingly, to legend, in the past the hills in Miyamori blocked the Sarugaishi River creating a large lake in the TÃ Âno area. Miyamori itself is characterized by a series of valleys to the west of Mt. Ishigami that flow west into the Sarugaishi River just below the Tase Dam.
Tà Âno has a humid climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by mild summers and cold winters. The average annual temperature in Tà Âno is 9.6 ðC. The average annual rainfall is 1388 mm with September as the wettest month and February as the driest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 22.6 ðC, and lowest in January, at around -2.2 ðC.
Per Japanese census data, the population of TÃ Âno peaked around the year 1960 and has declined steadily over the past 60 years. It is now less than it was a century ago. Per official data from TÃ Âno city hall, 37.6% of the population is over the age of 65.
The area of present-day TÃ Âno was part of ancient Mutsu Province, and has been settled since at least the JÃ Âmon period. Pottery fragments can still be found in farmers' fields and other places. Later the area was inhabited by the Emishi and many place names are based on the Ainu language. In the Early Nine-Years War lasting from 1051 to 1063, Minamoto no Yoshiie fought running battles with Abe no Sadato throughout the area. There are references to this in "TÃ Âno Monogatari" and arrowheads still turn up from time to time. Later the Hiraizumi Fujiwara controlled TÃ Âno which was a prized area for horse breeding, farming and hunting.
During the Sengoku period, the area was dominated by various samurai clans before coming under the control of the Nambu clan during the Edo period, who ruled Morioka Domain under the Tokugawa shogunate. The Nambu built Nabekura Castle in what is now known as Nabekura Park in downtown TÃ Âno as a defence against the powerful Date clan of Sendai Domain to then south, and assigned to Nanbu Naoyoshi, formerly castellan of Ne Castle near Hachinohe in 1627. This formed an unofficial subsidiary 12,500 koku domain of Morioka Domain, which lasted until the Meiji restoration.
With the Meiji period establishment of the modern municipalities system, the town of Tà Âno was established on April 1, 1889 within Nishihei District of Iwate Prefecture. In 1896, Nishihei and Minamihei districts were merged to form Kamihei District. During the Meiji period, Tà Âno developed a silk and cotton weaving industry dependent on Morioka. The silk industry was destroyed by intensely cold weather during the winter of 1905âÂÂ06. The residents of Tà Âno were reduced to eating wild roots by the famine of this period and many died or moved away.
The city of TÃ Âno was officially founded on December 1, 1954 by the merger of the former town of TÃ Âno with the seven villages of Ayaori, Otomo, Tsukimoushi, Matsuzaki, Tsuchibuchi, Aozasa and Kamigo.
On October 1, 2005, the village of Miyamori (from Kamihei District) was merged into TÃ Âno to bring the city to its present boundaries.
TÃ Âno has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of eighteen members. TÃ Âno contributes one seat to the Iwate Prefectural legislature. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Iwate 3rd district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.
There are two senior high schools in Tà Âno, under the purview of Iwate's Prefectural Board of Education. Iwate Prefectural Tà Âno Senior High School offers an academic curriculum, while Iwate Prefectural Tà Âno Ryokuhà  Senior High School is vocational.
The Tà Âno city board of education operates three junior high schools: Tà Âno, Tà Âno-Higashi, and Tà Âno-Nishi, and 11 elementary schools: Aozasa, Ayaori, Kamigà Â, Masuzawa, Miyamori, Otomo, Tassobe, Tà Âno, Tà Âno North, Tsuchibuchi, and Tsukimoushi.
East Japan Railway Company (JR East) - Kamaishi Line
The city has a number of sightseeing spots, such as Kappabuchi, a pool where the mythical creatures called kappa are said to live. TÃ Âno Furusato Village preserves several , or L-shaped houses, from the 18th and 19th centuries. The Chiba Family House is another large that is preserved in TÃ Âno as a museum.
TÃ Âno's food includes Genghis Khan or barbecued lamb and hittsumi or wheat dumplings as well as horse meat. The Miyamori part of TÃ Âno is known for its wasabi production and a local brewery makes a wasabi beer.
Festivals include the TÃ Âno Folktales Festival in early February, in which local storytellers recite stories from the TÃ Âno Monogatari. The TÃ Âno Tanabata Festival is held in early August and features a parade of dancers through the city center. In mid-September is the TÃ Âno Festival which also features a parade and yabusame or horseback archery.
TÃ Âno is known throughout Japan as the cradle of TÃ Âno Monogatari (Tales of TÃ Âno), written in 1910 by Kunio Yanagita, who gathered folk tales of the area. This book is now considered one of the greatest studies of Japanese folklore, and inspired the 1982 movie of the same name.
Several of these tales involve the Kappa, mischievous water sprites. A legendary location in TÃ Âno is the Kappa-buchi, a water stream where kappas are said to live.
The mascot of the city, Karin-chan, is a cute kappa holding a bellflower. She is usually depicted walking in front of a .
TÃ Âno is also twinned with three Japanese cities:
From 1990 to 2010, the high schools of TÃ Âno and the Chattanooga School for the Arts & Sciences (CSAS) in Chattanooga, Tennessee were paired by School Partners Abroad to establish an exchange program. Near the end of every Japanese school year (in March), a delegation of TÃ Âno high-school students visited Chattanooga, and reciprocally, a delegation from CSAS visited TÃ Âno every summer. The city of TÃ Âno embraced this exchange and organized a delegation of junior high school students to visit CSAS and the Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts (CSLA) a few weeks before the high school students. After many delegations between the two cities, Chattanooga and Tono became sister cities on September 15, 2017.