Climate
| Climate | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| Daily highs °C | 3 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 18 | 23 | 26 | 29 | 24 | 18 | 12 | 6 |
| Nightly lows °C | -3 | -3 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 19 | 21 | 16 | 9 | 4 | 0 |
| Precipitation mm | 114 | 92 | 93 | 118 | 123 | 128 | 178 | 181 | 178 | 161 | 184 | 164 |
| Source: SG MSN Weather (http://weather.sg.msn.com...). |
July is the rainy season, with regular afternoon showers. The spring and summer before and after that have less rain, and are therefore good for outdoor activities. In November, cold weather thunder storms are said to mark the end of fall and the beginning of hatahata a local fish season. In the winter, the coastal areas of Yurihonjo get a little snow, and the inland areas get a lot, which makes for good skiing and snowboarding.
History
Honjo, located at the heart of Yurihonjo, is a city surrounded by hills "Dewa-kyuryo", plateaus "Yuri-hara" and the sea. It is believed that the area of Honjo was under the sea about 1,000,000 years ago and that its higher zones started gradually emerging some 500,000 years later. By 3000 B.C., some large villages had been formed at the foot of the Dewa-kyuryo.
The name Yuri appeared for the first time in "Azumakagami", a book written around 1200. The Yuri clan was a powerful family who governed Nikaho, Yashima, Koyoshi and other neighboring districts. Their territories, however, were confiscated by the government in 1213, and for the following 400 years up to 12 clans ruled over the area together. In the early 17th century, the area was disputed between the government and the local clans. It finally became the property of the Rokugo clan from Ibaraki in 1623 and remained so for about 250 years.
There once was a castle in Honjo, located on the site of today's Honjo Park. As a matter of fact, the old way of writing Honjo, æ¬å, means "main castle". However this castle can no longer be seen as it was burnt down in 1868 by the members of the Rokugo clan themselves at the end of their reign.
On April 1, 1889, the district officially gained the name "Honjo Town". On March 31, 1954, the town merged with the villages of Koyoshi, Otomo, Ishizawa, Minami-utetsu, Kita-utetsu and Matsugazaki. Then, on March 22, 2005, Honjo Town merged again with 7 other small towns of the area to become "Yurihonjo City".