Local administrative units in Yamatai

The local administrative units in Yamatai include three types of distinctions between. All types of settlements are ranked on the same level, though cities are not a component of districts, which are the mid-level administrative division that make up the provinces of Yamatai. Like other contemporary administrative units, they are defined by the Local Autonomy Law of 1957.

Cities
See also: List of cities in Yamatai

Article 8 of the Local Autonomy Law sets the following conditions for a municipality to be designated as a city:


 * Population must generally be 50,000 or greater
 * At least 60% of households must be established in a central urban area
 * At least 60% of households must be employed in commerce, industry or other urban occupations
 * Any other conditions set by provincial ordinance must be satisfied

The designation is approved by the provincial governor and the Minister of Public Administration. A city can theoretically be demoted to a town or village when it fails to meet any of these conditions, but such a demotion has not happened to date.

Under the Act on Special Provisions concerning Merger of Municipalities, the standard of 50,000 inhabitants for the city status has been eased to 25,000 if such population is gained as a result of a merger of towns and/or villages, in order to facilitate such mergers to reduce administrative costs. Many municipalities gained city status under this eased standard.

Major City
A city with over 200,000 inhabitants can be designated as a major city by the Cabinet of Yamatai. These statuses expand the scope of administrative authority delegated from the prefectural government to the city government.

Metropolises
Due to their large size and extreme importance to Yamatai's economy, politics, society, culture, and other fields, the cities of Heian and Niihama have been granted the special status of Metropolis, which places them on the same level as a province in terms of administration, including all administrative responsibilities and benefits of a full province. The districts within these cities are considered to be on the same level as full cities in other provinces.

Metropolitan areas
There are four officially recognised metropolitan areas in Yamatai, which are defined as a cluster of interdependent major cities within a particular region. These areas are:
 * Greater Niihama Area
 * Greater Yuzu Area
 * Kinai Metropolitan Area
 * South Ōshima Metropolitan Area

Towns and villages
Towns and villages are subdivisions of rural districts, which are divided into towns and villages with no overlap and no uncovered area. These towns and villages are thus generally larger than the actual settlements, and include areas of rural wilderness within their jurisdiction.

As a result of mergers and elevation to higher statuses, the number of villages in Yamatai is decreasing.

History
The concept of public administration subdivisions and political representation of the people within constituencies was introduced in the 1765 Morishita Reforms. Settlements were initially categorised into cities, towns and villages solely based on their populations. As the early system under the Morishita Reforms did not cater for jurisdiction over the areas between settlements, unregulated industry, building and settlement often occurred in the Yamataian wilderness.

During the period of military rule in Yamatai, the relevance of the provincial governments began to be superseded by a system of military districts that were demarcated throughout Yamatai, each overseen by a military District Governor that reported to the commander of his military region. These districts were divided along the lines of military installations, strategic industries and resources, and often overlapped provincial lines. In order to better police the areas between settlements and to better centralise local governance, rural districts was created during reforms in 1845, with towns and villages forming the nucleus of large areas that they were partially responsible for regulating.

Subsequently, after the Okabe Nariakira-led regime dismantled the military district system in 1953, the idea of rural districts was retained. However, due to the method the military had used to divide the nation into military districts, many of these rural districts overlapped provincial lines, causing some confusion, especially after Okabe began empowering the provincial governments to pass local ordinances in 1954, which meant laws sometimes differed between provinces.

In 1955, Okabe commissioned Morishita Akane to lead a team from the National University of Yamatai to conduct a nationwide land survey and redraw the provincial and rural district boundaries. The project was completed in 1957, after Okabe completed his plan to democratise Yamatai under a civilian government, and the Local Autonomy Law was one of the first laws to be passed by the Teikoku Gikai.