is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

in western

Shizuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northea ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. , the city had an estimated population of 117,925 in 45,519 households. The total area of the city is .

Geography

Kakegawa is in the coastal plains of southwest Shizuoka Prefecture. It is bordered to the south by the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

, and extends for approximately 30 kilometers north-south by 16 kilometers east-west.

Surrounding municipalities

*Shizuoka Prefecture **

Fukuroi 270px, Shizuoka Stadium is a city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 88,395 in 34,842 households, and a population density of 820 persons per km². The total area of the city was . Fukuroi is a memb ...

** Shimada **

Mori Mori is a Japanese and Italian surname, and also a Persian pet name for Morteza. It is also the name of two clans in Japan, and one clan in India. Italian surname * Barbara Mori, Uruguayan-Mexican actress *Camilo Mori, Chilean painter * Cesa ...

** Kikugawa **

Omaezaki 270px, Omaezaki City Hall is a city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Omaezaki is located at the tip of Omaezaki Peninsula on Japan's Pacific coast. , the city had an estimated population of 32,422 in 12,095 households and a population d ...

Demographics

Like most of Japan, Kakegawa's population is almost exclusively Japanese. However, Kakegawa has a noticeable ''Nikkei'' (particularly, South American) population and it is more common to find signs written in Portuguese than in English. Per Japanese census data, the population of Kakegawa has been increasing over the past 50 years.

Climate

The city has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and relatively mild winters (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Kakegawa is 16.1 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2100 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 27.1 °C, and lowest in January, at around 5.8 °C.

History

The Kakegawa area has been regional commercial center within

Tōtōmi Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today western Shizuoka Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tōtōmi''" in . Tōtōmi bordered on Mikawa, Suruga and Shinano Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . The or ...

since at least the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle b ...

, but developed as a

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, a ...

under the

Imagawa clan was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji by way of the Kawachi Genji. It was a branch of the Minamoto clan by the Ashikaga clan. Origins Ashikaga Kuniuji, grandson of Ashikaga Yoshiuji, established himself in ...

, whose headquarters was in neighboring

Suruga Province was an old province in the area that is today the central part of Shizuoka Prefecture. Suruga bordered on Izu, Kai, Sagami, Shinano, and Tōtōmi provinces; and was bordered by the Pacific Ocean through Suruga Bay to the south. Its abbrev ...

Kakegawa Castle is a ''hirayama''-style Japanese castle. It was the seat of various ''fudai daimyō'' clans who ruled over Kakegawa Domain, Tōtōmi Province, in what is now central Kakegawa, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Background Kakegawa Castle is located ...

was built by Asahina Yasuhiro, a retainer of Imagawa Yoshitada, in the Bunmei era (1469–1487). The castle later fell into the hands of the

Tokugawa clan The is a Japanese dynasty that was formerly a powerful '' daimyō'' family. They nominally descended from Emperor Seiwa (850–880) and were a branch of the Minamoto clan (Seiwa Genji) through the Matsudaira clan. The early history of this cl ...

, but was then given to

Toyotomi clan The was a Japanese clan that ruled over the Japanese before the Edo period. Unity and conflict The most influential figure within the Toyotomi was Toyotomi Hideyoshi, one of the three "unifiers of Japan". Oda Nobunaga was another primary ...

retainer

Yamauchi Kazutoyo , also spelled Yamanouchi (1545/1546? – November 1, 1605). He was retainer of Oda Nobunaga and later Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His father Yamauchi Moritoyo, was a descendant of Fujiwara no Hidesato, a senior retainer of the Iwakura Oda clan (o ...

in 1580. After the establishment of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

Kakegawa Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The domain was centered at Kakegawa Castle in Tōtōmi Province, in what is now the city of Kakegawa, Shizuoka.

was created, and ruled by numerous '' fudai''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

. The area prospered during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

, as the Tōkaidō highway connecting

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

with

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the c ...

passed through Kakegawa, whose post stations included

Nissaka-shuku was the twenty-fifth of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō. It is located in what is now part of the city of Kakegawa, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. History Nissaka-shuku was located at the western entrance to , regarded as one of the thr ...

and Kakegawa-juku. Neighboring

Yokosuka Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Tōtōmi Province. It was centered at Yokosuka Castle in what is now the Matsuo district of the city of Kakegawa in Shizuoka Prefecture.fudai'' holding, was also located within what are now the city limits of Kakegawa. After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, Kakegawa was made part of the short-lived Hamamatsu Prefecture in 1871, which merged with Shizuoka Prefecture in 1876. Kakegawa Town was created in the cadastral reform of April, 1891, four years after the opening of Kakegawa Station on what later became the

Tōkaidō Main Line The is a major Japanese railway line of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) network, connecting and stations. It is long, not counting its many freight feeder lines around the major cities. The high-speed Tōkaidō Shinkansen largely parallel ...

railway. The town expanded steadily over the years, annexing neighboring villages and towns in Ogasa District, and was elevated in status of that of a city in 1954. On April 1, 2005, the towns of Daitō and Ōsuka (both from Ogasa District) were merged into Kakegawa.

Government

Kakegawa has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...

city legislature of 30 members

Economy

Kakegawa has a mixed economy. It serves as a regional commercial center for west-central Shizuoka Prefecture. In the agricultural sector, production and processing of

green tea Green tea is a type of tea that is made from '' Camellia sinensis'' leaves and buds that have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process which is used to make oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China, and since th ...

predominates. The city is surrounded by

fields and is known for its high quality tea. Other crops include cantaloupe, tomatoes, strawberries and roses. In terms of industrial production, Kakegawa has several light industry industrial complexes. Major products include telecommunications equipment and electronics, cosmetics, automotive components and musical instruments.

Education

Tokyo Women's Medical University , TWMU, is a private university in Tokyo, Japan. The University olso operates the Tokyo Women's Medical University Hospital within the campus, as well as a separate hospital in Yachiyo, Chiba 270px, Keisei Rose Gardens is a city located in ...

- Kakegawa campus *Kakegawa has 23 public elementary schools, and nine public middle schools operated by the city government and four public high schools operated by the Shizuoka Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates two special education schools for the handicapped. The city formerly hosted a Brazilian school, a primary school called Centro Educacional Sorriso de Criança.

Transportation

Railway

Central Japan Railway Company is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and in Japanese as JR Tōkai ( ja, JR東海, links=no). ''Tōkai'' is a reference to the geographical ...

Tōkaidō Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed rail line that is part of the nationwide Shinkansen network. Along with the Sanyo Shinkansen, it forms a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt, also known as the Tokaido corridor. Opened in 19 ...

** * Tenryū Hamanako Railroad Tenryū Hamanako Line **

Highway

Tōmei Expressway The is a national expressway on the island of Honshū in Japan. It is operated by Central Nippon Expressway Company. The expressway is designated as E1 under the "2016 Proposal for Realization of Expressway Numbering", because it parallels N ...

Shin-Tōmei Expressway The , literally meaning New Tōmei, is a national expressway in Japan running parallel to the Tomei Expressway as an alternate route. It is operated by Central Nippon Expressway Company. The expressway is also numbered E1A under the "2016 Proposa ...

* *

Local attractions

, located only a few hundred meters from Kakegawa Station
Kakegawa Kacho-en
which hosts a large variety of bird and plant species in a greenhouse-enclosed private garden. * Yokosuka Castle, a National Historic Site * Takatenjin Castle ruins, a National Historic Site * Wadaoka Kofun group, a National Historic Site * Kotonomama Hachiman-gu, the ''

ichinomiya is a Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth. ''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retrieved 2013-5-14. The term gave rise ...

'' of

Twin towns – sister cities

Kakegawa is twinned with: * Corning, United States (1987) * Eugene, United States (1979) *

Hoengseong County Hoengseong County is a county in Gangwon Province, South Korea. The roots of ''Codonopsis lanceolata'' ( ko, deodeok, script=Latn), a bonnet bellflower species, play an important role in local agriculture. The Korean Minjok Leadership Academy ...

, South Korea (2001) * Ōshū, Japan (1985) *

Pesaro Pesaro () is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche ...

, Italy (2019)

Notable people

Yoshinobu Ishikawa was the governor of Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan, first elected in 1993. A native of Kakegawa, Shizuoka, formerly known as Daitō, Shizuoka, and graduate of the University of Tokyo, Department of Law, he had worked at the Ministry of Home Affai ...

, politician * Ichiki Kitokurō, politician *

Yoshioka Yayoi was a Japanese physician, educator, and women's rights activist. She founded the Tokyo Women's Medical University in 1900, as the first medical school for women in Japan. She was also known as Washiyama Yayoi. Biography Yoshioka was born in wha ...

, physician, educator *

Satoru Mizushima is a Japanese filmmaker and nationalist. He graduated from Waseda University majoring in German literature. He can often be seen and heard during nationalist rallies in Tokyo, especially during anti-Chinese protests. He denies Japan's destructiv ...

, filmmaker *

Shunpei Uto was a Japanese former freestyle swimmer who won two medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics. Uto endured much hardship after World War II and deposited both his medals to a pawnshop A pawnbroker is an individual or business (pawnshop or pa ...

, Olympic swimmer * Kenya Matsui, professional soccer player *

Hajime Moriyasu is a Japanese football manager and former player. He made more than 250 appearances in 14 years with Sanfrecce Hiroshima, including a year on loan to Kyoto Purple Sanga, before spending his final season as a professional with Vegalta Sendai. He ...

, former professional soccer player and current manager of the

Japan national football team The , nicknamed the , represents Japan in men's international football. It is controlled by the Japan Football Association (JFA), the governing body for football in Japan. Japan was not a major football force until the end of the 1980s, wi ...

*Yusuke Morisawa, dancer and member of the group ''

World Order In international relations, international order refers to patterned or structured relationships between actors on the international level. Definition David Lake, Lisa Martin and Thomas Risse define "order" as "patterned or structured relatio ...

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Cities in Shizuoka Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan