A village (村 mura or son) is a local administrative unit in Japan.  

It is a local public body along with prefecture (ken or other equivalents), city (shi), and town (cho). Geographically, a village's extent is contained within a prefecture.

It is larger than an actual settlement, being in actuality a subdivision of a rural district, districts are subdivided into towns and villages, with no overlap, and no uncovered area.

See also: Municipality of Japan, Japanese addressing system.

Prefectures without villages

(As of January 16, 2005)

• Hyōgo
• Hiroshima
• Kagawa
• Shiga (the village of Kutsuki merged with several other towns to form the new city of Takashima on January 1, 2005)
• Ehime (several recent mergers, the last of which was on January 16, 2005)

Prefectures with only one village

(As of January 16, 2005)

• Kanagawa (Kiyokawa, Aikō District)
• Kyōto (Minamiyamashiro, Soraku District)
• Ōsaka (Chihayaakasaka, Minamikawachi District)
• Tottori (Hiezu, Saihaku District)
• Nagasaki (Ōshima, Kitamatsuura District)