is a
prefecture
A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...
of
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
located on the island of
Kyūshū
is the third-largest island of Japan's four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa and the other Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Islands). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regio ...
. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders
Fukuoka Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...
to the north,
Ōita Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,081,646 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, K ...
to the northeast,
Miyazaki Prefecture to the southeast, and
Kagoshima Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,527,019 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 9,187 Square kilometre, km2 (3,547 Square m ...
to the south.
Kumamoto
is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2.
had a populat ...
is the capital and largest city of Kumamoto Prefecture, with other major cities including
Yatsushiro,
Amakusa, and
Tamana. Kumamoto Prefecture is located in the center of Kyūshū on the coast of the
Ariake Sea
The is a body of salt water surrounded by Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, and Kumamoto Prefectures, all of which lie on the island of Kyūshū in Japan. It is the largest bay in Kyūshū. Its deepest point is only about 50 meters (165 ft) deep, and ext ...
, across from
Nagasaki Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan, mainly located on the island of Kyūshū, although it also includes a number of islands off Kyūshū's northwest coast - including Tsushima and Iki. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,246,4 ...
, with the mainland separated from the
East China Sea
The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...
by the Amakusa Archipelago. Kumamoto Prefecture is home to
Mount Aso, the largest active
volcano
A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...
in Japan and among the largest in the world, with its peak above
sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...
.
History
Historically, the area was called
Higo Province; and the province was renamed Kumamoto during 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...
. The creation of prefectures was part of the
abolition of the feudal system. The current Japanese
orthography
An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis.
Most national ...
for Kumamoto literally means "bear root/origin," or "origin of the bear." However,
Man'yōgana
is an ancient writing system that uses Chinese characters to represent the Japanese language. It was the first known kana system to be developed as a means to represent the Japanese language phonetically. The date of the earliest usage of t ...
-like phonetic transcriptions based on the
kanji
are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...
for "a ball, a sphere" (球 /ku/ ~ /kjū/) and "to polish, to grind, to brush (one's teeth)" (磨 /ma/) are used for the names of the
Kuma River (球磨川) and
Kuma District (球磨郡). The ''Kuma'' element also appears in the ancient
Kumaso.
Geography

Kumamoto Prefecture is in the center of
Kyushu
is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...
, the southernmost of the four major Japanese islands. It is bordered by the
Ariake inland sea and the
Amakusa archipelago
An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...
to the west,
Fukuoka Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders ...
and
Ōita Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Ōita Prefecture has a population of 1,081,646 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 6,340 km2 (2,448 sq mi). Ōita Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northwest, K ...
to the north,
Miyazaki Prefecture to the east, and
Kagoshima Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,527,019 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 9,187 Square kilometre, km2 (3,547 Square m ...
to the south.
Mount Aso (), an extensive active volcano, is in the east of Kumamoto Prefecture. This volcano is located at the centre of the
Aso caldera.
As of 31 March 2019, 21% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as
natural parks: the
Aso Kujū and
Unzen-Amakusa National Parks;
Kyūshū Chūō Sanchi and
Yaba-Hita-Hikosan Quasi-National Parks; and
Ashikita Kaigan,
Itsuki Gokanoshō,
Kinpōzan,
Misumi-Ōyano Umibe,
Okukuma,
Shōtaisan, and
Yabe Shūhen Prefectural Natural Parks.
Cities

Fourteen cities are located in Kumamoto Prefecture:
Towns and villages
These are the towns and villages in each
district
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
:
Mergers
Demographics
the population was 1,748,134 inhabitants with a population density of . The prefecture ranks 23rd in Japan.
Economy

The largest
motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...
production facility in the world is located in Kumamoto.
In 2023,
Mitsubishi Electric
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational electronics and electrical equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1921 as a spin-off from the electrical machinery manufacturing d ...
announced plans to spend 100 billion yen on a new
semiconductor factory in Kumamoto, with a target start date of April 2026 to begin production.
Tourism
*
Kumamoto Castle
*
Mount Aso is one of the world's largest active volcanoes.
*
Suizenji Park
*
Tsūjun Bridge, the largest stone aqueduct in Japan is in Yamato
The prefecture has a mascot named "
Kumamon", a black bear with red cheeks, who was created to attract tourists to the region after the
Kyushu Shinkansen
The is a Japanese Shinkansen high-speed railway network. It is an extension of the San'yō Shinkansen from Honshu connecting the city of Fukuoka (Hakata Station) in the north of Japan's Kyushu Island to the city of Kagoshima (Kagoshima-Chuo Sta ...
line opened.
Education
Universities
National
*
Kumamoto University
Public
*
Prefectural University of Kumamoto
Private
*
Heisei College of Music
*
Kumamoto Gakuen University
*
Kumamoto Health Science
*
Kyushu Lutheran College
*
Kyushu University of Nursing and Social Welfare
*
Shokei Gakuin University
*
Sojo University
Transportation
Rail
*
Hisatsu Orange Railway
is a third-sector railway company which operates Hisatsu Orange Railway Line in Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures. The line follows the former part of the JR Kyushu Kagoshima Main Line that connected Yatsushiro and Sendai in Kumamoto and K ...
*
JR Kyushu
The , also referred to as , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services within Kyushu, Japan. It formerly operated the Beetle hydrofoil service across the Tsushima Strait be ...
**
Hisatsu Line
**
Hohi Line
**
Kagoshima Line
**
Kyushu Shinkansen
The is a Japanese Shinkansen high-speed railway network. It is an extension of the San'yō Shinkansen from Honshu connecting the city of Fukuoka (Hakata Station) in the north of Japan's Kyushu Island to the city of Kagoshima (Kagoshima-Chuo Sta ...
**
Misumi Line
*
Kumamoto Electric Railway
*
Kumagawa Railroad
*
Minami Aso Railway
Tramway
*
Kumamoto City Transportation Bureau
Road
Expressways and toll roads
*
Kumamoto Amakusa Road
*
Kyushu Chūō Expressway
*
Kyushu Expressway
*
South Kyushu Expressway
National highways
*
Route 3
*
Route 57
*
Route 208 (Kumamoto-Tamana-Arao-
Ōmuta)
*
Route 212
*
Route 218 (Kumamoto-
Takachiho-
Nobeoka)
*
Route 219
*
Route 265
*
Route 266
*
Route 267 (Hitoyoshi-
Isa-
Satsuma-
Satsumasendai)
*
Route 268
*
Route 324
*
Route 325 (Yamaga-Minamiaso-Takamori-Takachiho)
*
Route 387
*
Route 388 (
Saiki-Nobeoka-Unomae)
*
Route 389
*
Route 442
*
Route 443
*
Route 445
*
Route 501 (Ōmuta-Arao-Udo)
*
Route 503
Ports
Ferry routes
*
Kumamoto
is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2.
had a populat ...
-
Shimabara
*
Nagasu-
Unzen
*
Reihoku-
Nagasaki
, officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...
*
Ushibuka-
Kuranomoto (
Nagashima)
*
Yatsushiro-
Kamiamakusa
Airport
*
Amakusa Airport
*
Kumamoto Airport
Sports

These sports teams are based in the prefecture:
*Professional:
**Blaze Kumamoto - Men's
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
**Mashiki Renaissance Kumamoto - Women's association football
**
Roasso Kumamoto - Men's football and
J League Second Division
*Amateur:
**Kumamoto Golden Larks - regional baseball
The Kumamoto Prefecture hosted the
2019 World Women's Handball Championship, having previously hosted the
1997 World Men's Handball Championship
The 1997 World Men's Handball Championship was the 15th team handball World Championship. It was held in Kumamoto, Japan and was the first World Championship not played in a European country. Russia men's national handball team, Russia won the ch ...
.
Sister cities
Kumamoto Prefecture is the 'sister state/prefecture' of
Montana
Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
.
Kumamoto has a sister city located in Texas named
San Antonio
San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
, which holds an annual fall festival 'akimatsuri' for its Japanese citizens. In 2015 the mascot, 'Kumamon' visited as an honorary ambassador during the festival located at the Japanese Tea Gardens.
Notable people
*
Aki Yashiro, a popular Japanese singer
*
Jun Kunimura, a popular Japanese actor
*
Tetsu Komai, a Hollywood actor
*
Kazuaki Kiriya
is a Japanese photographer and film director, director of films and music videos. His birth name is . He is represented by Paradigm Agency.
Early life and career
In 1983, in his second year of junior high school, he moved to the United States. ...
, a filmmaker
*
Kimeru, a pop artist
* Miku Kobato, founder and vocalist of
Band-Maid
*
Kunio Nakagawa, Japanese Army general
*
Yuri Masuda, singer
*
Munetaka Murakami, Japanese baseball player
*
Shodai Naoya, Sumo wrestler
*
Tomiko Van, singer, vocalist of
Do As Infinity
*
Eiichiro Oda, manga author, creator of ''
One Piece
''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, as he explores the Grand Line in search of the myt ...
''
*
Yuki Midorikawa
is a Japanese Mangaka, manga artist.
She is primarily known for her shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga works in the magazines ''LaLa'' and ''LaLa DX'', published by Hakusensha.
Her most successful works have been ''Hotarubi no Mori e'', which rece ...
, manga author, creator of ''
Natsume's Book of Friends'' and ''
Hotarubi no Mori e''
*
Tetsuya Noda, contemporary artist
*
Katsuhiro Ueo, drifting driver
*
Ichiki Tatsuo, journalist and defector in the
Indonesian National Revolution
The Indonesian National Revolution (), also known as the Indonesian War of Independence (, ), was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during A ...
*
Madoka Hisagae, female Japanese
fencer
*
Hitomi Tanaka, pornographic actress
[ in Japanese]
* Kenta Matsumoto, vocalist and bassist of
WANIMA
* Koushin Nishida, guitarist of
WANIMA
* Kouki Fujiwara, drummer of
WANIMA
Notes
References
* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan encyclopedia.''Cambridge:
Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou.
The pres ...
.
OCLC 58053128
External links
*
* National Archives of Japa
... Kumamoto map (1891)*
{{Authority control
Kyushu region
Prefectures of Japan