Amakusa (天草市, Amakusa-shi) is a city located in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan.

[citation needed] The area of Amakusa was part of ancient Higo Province, During the Edo Period it was tenryō territory under direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate and administered from the office of the Nagasaki bugyō.

After the Meiji restoration, the villages of Takahama, Fukurengi, Shimoda and Oe were established in Amakusa District, Kumamoto with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889.

[citation needed] Amakusa has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 26 members.

In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Kumamoto 4th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.