Kōchi at-large district (House of Representatives)

History

In the 1947 Japanese general election, conservative parties won a majority of seats, with prime minister Shigeru Yoshida leading in the polls. Subsequently, they would continue winning majorities in the district, a trend that persisted after these parties merged to create the LDP until the 1967 Japanese general election. In the 1967 Japanese general election, the Kōmeitō ran in the district for the first time, winning in third-place. Afterwards, the party would win a seat from the district except in the 1972 Japanese general election, with Akira Nakano, Masatarō Hiraishi, and Noritoshi Ishida being the Kōmeitō's representatives for the district. Meanwhile, the LDP would win a majority of seats only twice: in 1969 and 1972. Due to the 1994 Japanese electoral reform, the at-large district was replaced with three single-member districts starting with the 1996 Japanese general election.

Among the district's representatives were Shigeru Yoshida, who was prime minister (1946–1947; 1948–1954) and was elected from the district during its first seven elections of its existence; Jōji Hayashi, who was Chief Cabinet Secretary (1947) and deputy prime minister (1948–1951); Gen Nakatani, who was Director-General of the Japan Defense Agency (2001–2002) and Minister of Defense (2014–2016); and Yūji Yamamoto, who was Minister of State for Financial Services (2006–2007) and Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries (2016–2017).

At the time the Public Offices Election Law came into law in 1950, the district encompassed the entirely of Kōchi Prefecture.