is the prefectural capital city of

Tochigi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,943,886 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,408 km2 (2,474 sq mi). Tochigi Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to th ...

in the northern

Kantō region The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa. Sl ...

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 519,223, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Utsunomiya is famous for its '' gyoza'' (pan fried dumplings). There are more than two hundred ''gyoza'' restaurants in Utsunomiya. had a population of 888,005 in the 2000 census. The nearby city of Oyama is included in Greater Tokyo, but Greater Utsunomiya is not, despite the two areas amalgamating somewhat. It is the 10th most populated city in the

Geography

Utsunomiya is located in south-central Tochigi Prefecture in the northern Kantō plains. It is approximately north of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

. The historic town of Nikkō is approximately northwest of Utsunomiya. The average altitude of the city is .

Surrounding municipalities

* Nikkō * Kanuma * Shimotsuke * Mooka *

Sakura A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of genus ''Prunus'' or ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especially in Japan. They generally ...

Mibu 270px, Mibu Toy Museum is a town located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 39,158 in 16,149 households, and a population density of 640 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Mibu is lo ...

* Kaminokawa * Takanezawa * Shioya

Climate

Utsunomiya has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(

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'') with hot and humid summers and cool winters. The average annual temperature in Utsunomiya is . The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Utsunomiya has recently plateaued after decades of strong growth.

History

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence that the area of Utsunomiya has been continuously settled since the

Japanese Paleolithic The is the period of human inhabitation in Japan predating the development of pottery, generally before 10,000 BC. The starting dates commonly given to this period are from around 40,000 BC; although any date of human presence before 35,000 BC ...

period onwards, and numerous burial mounds from the

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

are found within its borders. The , which is 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 Shimotsuke Province claims to have been founded in 353 AD. The town of Utsunomiya developed around this shrine, and the area was under the control of the Utsunomiya clan, an offshoot of the

Fujiwara clan was a powerful family of imperial regents in Japan, descending from the Nakatomi clan and, as legend held, through them their ancestral god Ame-no-Koyane. The Fujiwara prospered since the ancient times and dominated the imperial court until th ...

from the

Heian The Japanese word Heian (平安, lit. "peace") may refer to: * Heian period, an era of Japanese history * Heian-kyō, the Heian-period capital of Japan that has become the present-day city of Kyoto * Heian series, a group of karate kata (forms) * ...

through

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

s, and was destroyed by

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

. 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 ...

, the Utsunomiya area was ruled by a succession of ''

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 ...

'' clans under Utsunomiya Domain, and prospered from its location at the junction of the Nikkō Kaidō and the Ōshū Kaidō. During the

Bakumatsu period was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji governm ...

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

, the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle was a major conflict in the northern Kantō area. Following 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 ...

, Utsunomiya was briefly (1871–1873) part of Utsunomiya Prefecture, which was then merged into the new Tochigi Prefecture, and became capital of the prefecture in 1884. Utsunomiya became an important garrison for the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emper ...

. With the establishment of the municipalities system on April 1, 1889, the town of Utsunomiya was officially established. At the end of the 1889, Utsunomiya had a population of 30,698 making it the third most populous municipality in the Kantō area, after Tokyo and

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

. Utsunomiya was raised to city status on April 1, 1896. On July 12, 1945 much of Utsunomiya and the surrounding areas were destroyed in the American Bombing of Utsunomiya during World War II. The city limits were expanded from 1951 to 1955 by annexing neighboring Suzumenomiya town and Hiraishi, Yokokawa, Mizuhono, Kunimoto, Shiroyama, Tomiya, Toyosato, and Sugatagawa villages and the part of Shinoi village from Kawachi District and Kiyohara village from Haga District. In 1996, Utsunomiya was designated a core city within increased autonomy. On March 31, 2007, Utsunomiya absorbed the towns of Kamikawachi and

Kawachi Kawachi ( or ) may refer to: Places * Kawachi Province, one of the old provinces of Japan * Kawachi, Kumamoto, a former town in Kumamoto Prefecture * Kawachi, Osaka, a former city in Osaka Prefecture * Kawachi, Ibaraki, a town in Ibaraki Prefect ...

(both from Kawachi District), pushing the population of Utsunomiya City over 500,000.

Government

Utsunomiya 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 45 members. Utsunomiya, together with the town of Kamikawa collectively contributes 13 members to the Tochigi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between the Tochigi 1st district and

Tochigi 2nd district Tochigi 2nd district (栃木県 ��区, ''Tochigi-ken- ai-ikku'') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the national Diet of Japan. It is located in northeastern Tochigi and consists of the towns of K ...

of the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paral ...

Economy

Utsunomiya is the commercial and industrial center of Tochigi Prefecture. Utsunomiya is home to a Canon optical manufacturing plant, a Japan Tobacco plant,

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

design centers, and various other industrial concerns in the Kiyohara Industrial Park. In addition, one of the largest malls in the north

, Bell Mall is located near central Utsunomiya.

Education

* Utsunomiya University *

Sakushin Gakuin University is a private university in Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan, established in 1989. The predecessor of the school, a women's junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational inst ...

Bunsei University of Art is a private university in Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan, established in 1999. The university also has a graduate school. The university is affiliated with the Utsunomiya Bunsei Junior College and the Hidehumi Ueno Memorial Museum. External lin ...

* Utsunomiya Kyowa University * Utsunomiya Junior College *

Utsunomiya Kaisei is the prefectural capital city of Tochigi Prefecture in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 519,223, and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Utsunomiya is famous for its ''gyoza'' ...

* Teikyo University Utsunomiya campus * Utsunomiya has 68 public

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

s and 25 public

junior high school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

s operated by the city government as well as one junior high school operated by the prefectural government and one elementary school and one junior high school by the national government. In addition, there is one private elementary school and four private junior high schools. The city has ten public

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

s operated by the Tochigi Prefectural Board of Education. There are also five private high schools. In addition, Tochigi Prefecture also operates eight special education schools for the handicapped.

Transportation

Railway

Utsunomiya is served by the high-speed Tohoku Shinkansen line from Tokyo, as well as a number of suburban lines operated by

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters ar ...

(JR East) and the

private railway A private railway is a railroad run by a private business entity (usually a corporation but not need be), as opposed to a railroad run by a public sector. Japan In Japan, , commonly simply ''private railway'', refers to a public transit railway o ...

operator Tobu Railway. JR logo (east)

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters ar ...

– Tohoku Shinkansen * JR logo (east)

– Tohoku Main Line (

Utsunomiya Line The Utsunomiya Line ( ja, 宇都宮線, ) is the name given to a 163.5 kilometer section of the Tōhoku Main Line between Tokyo Station in Tokyo and Kuroiso Station in Nasushiobara, Tochigi, Japan. It is part of the East Japan Railway Company ...

/ Shōnan-Shinjuku Line/ Ueno-Tokyo Line) * - Utsunomiya - JR logo (east)

– Nikkō Line * - Utsunomiya JR logo (east)

–

Karasuyama Line The is a railway line in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, owned and operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects in the town of Takanezawa with in Nasukarasuyama. Services Trains run approximately once every hour, traveling the ...

* -

Tobu Railway -

Tobu Utsunomiya Line is a Japanese commuter railway and ''keiretsu'' holding company in the Greater Tokyo Area as well as an intercity and regional operator in the Kantō region. Excluding the Japan Railways Group companies, Tobu's rail system is the second longes ...

* - - - Construction of a light rail transit system,

Utsunomiya Light Rail The is a light rail line under construction between Haga, Tochigi and Utsunomiya, the capital of Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. History The project was approved in 2016. Construction started in 2018, with a target opening date of March 2022, ...

, connecting Utsunomiya railway station with the neighbouring town of Haga was approved in 2016, with completion scheduled for December 2019.

Highways

* * * * * * * * *

Local attractions

*site of

Utsunomiya Castle is a Japanese castle located in Utsunomiya, central Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. At the end of the Edo period, Utsunomiya Castle was home to a branch of the Toda clan, ''daimyō'' of Utsunomiya Domain. History Early history Utsunomiya Castle w ...

*site of Tobuyama Castle * Ōya-ji – a Buddhist temple including a museum with artifacts dating back to the

Jōmon Period The is the time in Japanese history, traditionally dated between 6,000–300 BCE, during which Japan was inhabited by a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united through a common Jōmon culture, which reached a c ...

.
Official Utsunomiya City Tourism Website

Sports

*Utsunomiya is represented in the J. League of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

with its local club

Tochigi SC , commonly referred to as Tochigi SC are a football club based in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. They currently play in the J2 League. History Teachers in Tochigi Prefecture founded the club in 1953. They were initially called self-exp ...

. *The

Utsunomiya Brex Utsunomiya Brex is a Japanese professional basketball team based in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. After winning the JBL 2 in 2008, the team played in the National Basketball League (Japan), National Basketball League. In July 2015 it was announc ...

are part of Japan's main basketball league, the

B.League The B.League is a professional men's basketball league that began in Japan in September 2016. The league is operated by the Japan Professional Basketball League and was formed as a result of a merger between the National Basketball League that ...

* Tochigi Green Stadium * Kiyohara Baseball Stadium * Utsunomiya Velodrome - Utsunomiya is the host city of the

Japan Cup The is one of the most prestigious horse races in Japan. It is contested on the last Sunday of November, post time of 15:40 at Tokyo Racecourse in Fuchu, Tokyo at a distance of 2400 meters (about miles) run under weight for age conditions with ...

, a UCI sanctioned cycling race. *

1990 UCI Road World Championships The 1990 UCI Road World Championships took place in Utsunomiya, Japan, from September 1 to September 2, 1990. Events summary References External linksLes-sports.info {{DEFAULTSORT:1990 Uci Road World Championships UCI Road World Champio ...

took place in Utsunomiya.

Culture

Utsunomiya's famous dumplings

History of Gyoza

Following the Second World War, Japanese soldiers who returned from Manchuria brought home to Utsunomiya gyoza recipes which originated from China. Soon after, the soldiers began to open dumpling (gyoza) restaurants around Utsunomiya. After the Utsunomiya city officials started to realize the popularity of gyoza in 1990, the Utsunomiya Gyoza Association was created. The creation of this association only made gyoza's popularity grow in the city. Utsunomiya gyoza is famous country-wide, so it attracts many tourists, as well as brings in a significant amount of revenue into the city.

Popularity of Gyoza

The city has 30 restaurants that specialize in serving gyoza. Utsunomiya is allegedly the highest consumer city of gyoza in Japan. There is also a statue in the shape of the gyoza outside of Utsunomiya's JR station.

The Gyoza Festival

Utsunomiya's annual Gyoza Dumplings Festival occurs at the Castle Ruins Park. Visitors are able to taste different types of gyozas served by various gyoza-making restaurants. Festival attendees can also watch various bands and comedians nearby the festival grounds.

Sister cities

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

(then Manukau City), New Zealand, sister city since February 24, 1982 *

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...

, United States, sister city since July 10, 1992 * Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, China, Friendship-city since September 30, 1984 *

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and Centre-Val de Loire Centre-Val de Loire (, , ,In isolation, ''Centre'' is pronounced . ) or Centre Region (french: région Centre, link=no, ), as it was known until 2015, is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France. It straddles the middle Loire Valle ...

, France, Friendship-city since May 7, 1989
Orleans Department of Tourism * Pietrasanta,

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

, Italy

Notable people

* Kozue Ando, professional football player *

Minori Chihara is a Japanese voice actress and former singer who has had roles in several anime series.Doi, Hitoshi"Chihara Minori" ''Seiyuu Database''. January 3, 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2011. She is well known for her voice role as Yuki Nagato in '' The ...

, voice actress *

Nanae Chrono Nanae Chrono, known in Japan as is a female Japanese manga artist. She is best known as the creator of the manga series ''Peacemaker Kurogane'', '' Senki Senki Momotama'', and ''Vassalord''. Works Serials *; (1999) :This was a oneshot manga o ...

, manga artist *

Yukio Edano is a Japanese politician who served as the leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan from its formation in 2017 until 2021. A member of the House of Representatives in the Diet since 1993, he served as Chief Cabinet Secretary and ...

, politician * Hajime Funada, politician * Naoya Kondo, professional football player *

Ikuo Matsumoto is a former Japanese football player and manager. He played for Japan national team. Club career Matsumoto was born in Utsunomiya on November 3, 1941. After graduating from high school, he joined Toyo Industries in 1964. In 1965, Toyo Industri ...

, professional football player * Masako Mori, singer * Toshio Nobe, manga artist *

Takuya Nomura is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working as a freelancer and is best known for his tenure with the professional wrestling promotions Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) and Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1). Professional wrestling career Indep ...

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

* Sadao Watanabe, jazz musician *

Susumu Yanase is a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party of Japan, a member of the House of Councillors in the Diet of Japan, Diet (national legislature). A native of Utsunomiya, Tochigi and graduate of Tohoku University, he joined the government of Tochi ...

, politician *

Kanako Itō is a female Japanese singer from Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan. She has sung a large number of songs that have been used in a variety of video games, visual novels, and anime. Itō has sung songs for many visual novels, one song in particular bei ...

, singer * Naoki Yamamoto, professional racing driver *Lucie, Too, rock band

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Tochigi Prefecture