270px, Matsuzaki Town Hall
is a
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
located in on the southwest coast of
Izu Peninsula in
Kamo District,
Shizuoka Prefecture,
Japan. , the town had an estimated
population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...
of 6,563 in 2969 households, and a
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...
of 77 persons per km². The total area of the town is . ''
Sakuramochi'' is a noted local specialty. Matsuzaki is listed as one of
The Most Beautiful Villages in Japan.
Geography
Matsuzaki is located on the southwest coast of
Izu Peninsula, facing
Suruga Bay on the Pacific Ocean. It is a hilly region with an indented
ria
A ria (; gl, ría) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea.
Definitions
Typically rias have a dendritic, treelike outline although they ca ...
coastline. The area has numerous
hot spring
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by c ...
s. Warmed by the warm
Kuroshio Current
The , also known as the Black or or the is a north-flowing, warm ocean current on the west side of the North Pacific Ocean basin. It was named for the deep blue appearance of its waters. Similar to the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic, the Ku ...
, the area enjoys a warm
maritime climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...
with hot, humid summers and mild, cool winters. Parts of the town are within the borders of
Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park
is a national park in Yamanashi, Shizuoka, and Kanagawa Prefectures, and western Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. It consists of Mount Fuji, Fuji Five Lakes, Hakone, the Izu Peninsula, and the Izu Islands. Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park covers .
Rat ...
.
Neighboring municipalities
Shizuoka Prefecture
*
Shimoda
*
Minamiizu
*
Kawazu
*
Nishiizu
Demographics
Per Japanese census data,
Matsuzaki population statistics
/ref> the population of Matsuzaki has been in slow decline 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, notabl ...
''Cfa''). The average annual temperature in Matsuzaki is . The average annual rainfall is with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .[
]
History
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 characte ...
, all of Izu Province
was a province of Japan in the area of Shizuoka Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Izu''" in . Izu bordered on Sagami and Suruga Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was .
The mainland portion of Izu Province, comprising th ...
was ''tenryō
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' ...
'' territory under direct control 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 ...
, and the area now comprising Matsuzaki Town consisted of 21 villages. With the establishment of the modern municipalities system of the early Meiji period
The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912.
The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...
in 1889, the area was divided into 11 villages within Kamo District, and 10 villages within Naka District. After the abolishment of Naka District, all 21 villages were reunited under Kamo District. Matsuzaki Village was elevated to town status in 1901. The town annexed neighboring Nakagawa Village in 1955 and Iwashina Village in 1956.
Around March 31, 2010, the city of Shimoda and three municipalities in Kamo District ( Kawazu, Matsuzaki, and Minamiizu) were scheduled to merge.
Economy
The economy of Matsuzaki is dominated by commercial fishing
Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...
, forestry and the tourist industry centered on hot spring resorts. Some 64% of the area is forest.
Education
Matsuzaki has one public elementary school and one public junior high school operated by the town government. The town has one public high school operated by the Shizuoka Prefectural Board of Education.
Transportation
Highway
*
Notable people from Matsuzaki
*Irie Chōhachi - artist
*Kondō Heisaburō - pharmacologist
*Yoda Benzō - Hokkaido pioneer
* Rentarō Mikuni - actor
Gallery
File:Matsuzaki Town - panoramio - ion66.jpg, Downtown Matsuzaki
Image:Mount Eboshi (Matsuzaki) s2.jpg, Port of Kumomi and Mount Eboshi
Image:Matsuzaki_Kumomi_kaigan_shore.jpg, Matsuzaki Kumomi shoreline
Image:Izu Cote d Azur.jpg, Iwachi shore (岩地海岸), also dubbed "Izu Côte d'Azur", in Matsuzaki
References
External links
Matsuzaki official website
(Japanese)
*
{{Authority control
Towns in Shizuoka Prefecture
Populated coastal places in Japan
