270px, Saga City Hall is the capital

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Saga Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu. Saga Prefecture has a population of roughly 780,000 and has a geographic area of . Saga Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the northeast and Nagasaki Prefect ...

, located on the island 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 ...

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 ...

. , the city had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 227,138 in 104354 households, and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing 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 geog ...

of 530 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Saga City is located in the southeast portion of

. After the 2005 merger the city became very long north to south. It now borders 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 ...

to the south and

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 southeast and north. The northern half of the city is mountainous and undulating, and is part of the Sefuri Mountains, which are part of the Chikushi Mountains that run east to west through northern Kyushu. The southern half of the city is the Saga Plain, which is part of the western part of the Chikushi Plain that stretches along the north shore of the Ariake Sea, and is a low-lying area with almost no undulations. The urban area is located near the center of the Saga Plain. Mergers with surrounding towns and villages in 2005 and 2007 expanded the city area more than fourfold from 104 km2 to 431 km2, making it the second largest municipality in the prefecture after Karatsu City. Saga can also be regarded as within the Greater Fukuoka metropolitan area, and by extension, Fukuoka-Kitakyushu Metropolitan Area.

Adjoining municipalities

Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...

* Itoshima * Ōkawa *

Sawara-ku, Fukuoka is one of the wards in Fukuoka-shi, Fukuoka-ken, Kyūshū, Japan. Data *Population: 213,178 people (as of January 1, 2012) *Area: 95.88 square kilometers (the largest in Fukuoka-shi) History On April 1, 1889, Fukuoka-shi was founded. The ...

Yanagawa Yanagawa may refer to: * Yanagawa, Fukuoka * Yanagawa, Fukushima * Yanagawa (surname) * Yanagawa (film) {{disambig ...

* Kanzaki *

Karatsu is a city located in Saga Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. Its name, formed from the Japanese word roots 唐 ''kara'' (China, or continental East Asia in general), and 津 ''tsu'' (port), signifies its historical importance as an ancie ...

* Ogi *

Taku Taku may refer to: Places North America * the Taku River, in Alaska and British Columbia ** Fort Taku, also known as Fort Durham and as Taku, a former fort of the Hudson's Bay Company near the mouth of the Taku River ** the Taku Glacier, in A ...

Climate

Saga has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Cfa'').The annual average precipitation ranges from about 1800 mm (71 in) in the city center to about 2400 mm (94 in) in Mitsuse. The annual average temperature ranges from about 13 °C (55 °F) in Mitsuse to 17 °C (63 °F) in the city center.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Saga is as shown below.

History

The area of Saga was settled in the Jōmon and

Yayoi period The Yayoi period (弥生時代, ''Yayoi jidai'') (c. 300 BC – 300 AD) is one of the major historical periods of the Japanese archipelago. It is generally defined as the era between the beginning of food production in Japan and the emergence o ...

s and was part of ancient

Hizen Province was an old provinces of Japan, old province of Japan in the area of the Saga Prefecture, Saga and Nagasaki Prefecture, Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Higo Province. Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen Province, Ch ...

. The ruins of the Hizen Provincial Capital have been located in the former

Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai, Nara, Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a Names of Japan, name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial ...

neighborhood of the city. In the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

, the area was controlled by the

Ryūzōji clan was a Japanese kin group which traces its origin to Hizen Province on the island of Kyushu. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Hōki"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 802. History The clan was founded by Fujiwara no Suekiyo in 1186. The clan was a ...

, but in 1608 the clan was replaced by their senior retainer,

Nabeshima Naoshige was a warlord of the Sengoku and early Edo periods and progenitor of the Nabeshima lords of the Saga Domain. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"Nabeshima Naoshige"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 680. Naoshige was the second son of . His mothe ...

, who became ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' of

Saga Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period Tokugawa Shogunate. It encompassed most of what are now Saga and Nagasaki Prefectures and was ruled from Saga Castle in what is now the urban center of the city of Saga. It was ruled through its histo ...

under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

. Saga, formerly a small town centered on water transportation and agriculture, developed into the

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, ...

of the domain after the construction of

Saga Castle is a Japanese castle located in Saga City, Saga Prefecture, Japan. It is a ''hiraijirō'', a castle built on a plains rather than a hill or mountain, and is surrounded by a wall rather than being built above a stone base. Saga castle was home t ...

, and commerce and industry flourished. The domain due to its proximity to

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 ...

, it actively introduced Western science and technology, and in the

Bakumatsu period were the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, under foreign diplomatic and military pressure, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunat ...

was one of the main centers involved in 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 ...

Municipal timeline

*April 1, 1889 - The modern municipal system was established and the city of Saga is founded. At the same time, the current city region is occupied by 21

villages A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...

from three districts. ** Kanzaki District: Hasuike and Mitsuse. ** Ogi District: Kitayama and Nanzan. ** Saga District: Higashikawasoe, Honjō, Hyōgo, Kamino, Kase, Kasuga, Kawakami, Kinryū, Kitakawasoe, Kose, Kuboizumi, Matsuume, Nabeshima, Nikita, Nishiyoka, Oseki and Takakise. *June 6, 1899 - Kose changed 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 ...

'' of its name. *October 1, 1922 - Kamino was incorporated into Saga. *November 3, 1935 - Hasuike was elevated to town status. *March 31, 1954 - Hyōgo, Kase, Kose, Nishiyoka and Takakise were all incorporated into Saga. *October 1, 1954 - Honjō, Kinryū, Kitakawasoe, Kuboizumi and Nabeshima were all incorporated into Saga. *March 1, 1955 - Higashikawasoe and Nikita were merged to create the town of Morodomi. *October 1, 2005 - The towns of Fuji, Morodomi and

(all from Saga District) and the village of Mitsuse (from Kanzaki District) merged with Saga. (population: 206,967 ; area: 355.15 km²) *October 1, 2007 - The towns of Higashiyoka, Kawasoe, and

Kubota is a Japanese multinational corporation based in Osaka. It was established in 1890. The corporation produces many products including tractors and other agricultural machinery, Heavy equipment, construction equipment, engines, vending machines, P ...

(all from Saga District) were all incorporated into Saga. (population: roughly 240,000 ; area: 431.42 km²) Saga District was dissolved as a result of this merger.

Government

Saga 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 consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

city council of 36 members. Saga contributes 11 members to the Saga Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the

Saga 1st district Saga 1st district (佐賀県第1区, ''Saga-ken dai-ikku'') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives in the national Diet of Japan located in Saga Prefecture. Kazuhiro Haraguchi initially won the district narrowly for the ...

of the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

Economy/Industry

In the areas surrounding the city, the agricultural industry focuses on planting grains that make use of water. The fishery centers on seaweed cultivation using the

. Originally one of the largest rice-producing areas, a large farmland has been converted it into a vegetable field in response to changes in the environment surrounding agriculture. In terms of industry, the terrain is facing the Ariake Sea, but since it is a shallow area where large vessels cannot navigate, heavy industry has not developed much. In addition, in the first half of the 20th century, coal and prefecture western flourished because there was not much competition. On the other hand, the food industry and the textile industry have developed throughout the late 20th century. Although the food industry is still strong, the textile industry has been the main industry since the 1970s. However, since the 1990s the automobile parts industry has been growing due to the accumulation of automobiles and parts industry in northern

. Although it is located at the prefecture capital and the service industry accounts for a large number of employees, the shipping industry in commerce is not particularly large compared to other cities of the same size. Currently, three large suburban commercial facilities with a sales floor area of 50,000 m² are in competition with each other, and there is an unbalanced demand for supply. The number of companies with head offices and main offices in the city is the largest in the prefecture, but it is not that much compared to the neighboring prefectures. There is also the tendency of branch offices to be in urban cities, which is often prefecture capitals. In terms of percent by industry, the tertiary industry exceeds 70%, but it is the lowest among the seven prefectures of Kyushu. The proportion of secondary industries is small, while the proportion of primary industry is relatively high. (Census data: October 1, 2005)

Education

Colleges and universities

* Nishikyushu University Junior College *

Saga University ; abbreviated as or , is a national university in Saga, Saga Prefecture, Japan. The university has five faculties with around 7,000 students. Its two campuses are in and . History The history of Saga University is complicated. The oldest Saga t ...

Saga Women's Junior College is a private junior college in Saga, Saga, 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 ...

Primary and secondary education

Saga has 35 public elementary schools operated by the city government and one by the national government. The city has 18 public junior high schools operated by the city government and one by the national government, and two private junior high schools. There are also two private combined junior/senior high schools and one combined junior/high school operated by the Saga Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture operates six public high schools and there are five private high schools in addition to the above mentioned combined junior/senior high schools.

Transportation

Airports

Saga Airport is an airport in the Kawasoe, Saga, Kawasoe area of Saga, Saga, Saga, Saga Prefecture, Japan. It also uses the unofficial name . Saga Airport is located on the edge of the Ariake Sea, in what is effectively a polder, 35 minutes from JR Saga Sta ...

, located in the former town of Kawasoe. Before the opening of Saga Airport, both

Fukuoka Airport — formerly known as Itazuke Air Base — is an international airport located east of Hakata Station in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Japan. The facility has two runways and covers 355 hectares (877 acres) of land. Fukuoka Airport is the principal a ...

and

Nagasaki Airport is an airport located off the coast of Ōmura, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. The airport was the first airport in the world to be built on the ocean, using an existing small island located in the center of Ōmura Bay, with land areas that were ...

was the nearest airport. However, many people in Saga still use these airports due its greater number of routes and flights offered. There is an express bus which connects the two airports.

Railway

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 ...

Nagasaki Main Line The , or simply known as the Nagasaki Line, is a railway line owned by the Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) connecting Tosu Station in Saga Prefecture to Nagasaki Station in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. There is a separate branch of this line ...

: - - - (only in operation during the Saga International Balloon Fiesta) - -

Karatsu Line The is a regional railway line in Saga Prefecture, Japan, owned and operated by Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). It connects in Saga, Saga, Saga City to in Karatsu, Saga, Karatsu City, both in Saga Prefecture, Japan. The line was originally ...

Highways

Nagasaki Expressway is one of the Expressways of Japan from Tosu to Nagasaki. It runs through the prefecture of Saga, and the southern half of the Nagasaki prefecture. The total length is 120.4 km. History * November 16, 1973, Tosu Interchange and Junction ...

(Saga Yamato Interchange,Kinryū Service Area ) * ("Hokubu Bypass") * * ("Nambu Bypass") * (Mitsuse Tunnel); (Yamato Roadside Station) * * *

Sister cities

Saga is twinned with: *

Cussac-Fort-Médoc Cussac-Fort-Médoc is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. Fort Médoc in Cussac-Fort-Médoc, together with several buildings in nearby Blaye, was listed in 2008 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as ...

, France *

Glens Falls Glens Falls is a city in Warren County, New York, United States and is the central city of the Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,830 at the 2020 census. The name was given by Colonel Johannes Glen, the falls ref ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States, since 1988 *

Lianyungang Lianyungang () is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Jiangsu province of China, province, China. It borders Yancheng to its southeast, Huai'an and Suqian to its south, Xuzhou to its southwest, and the province of Shandong to its north. Its ...

, China * Warren County, New York United States, since 1988 *

Yeonje District Yeonje District () is a ''Subdivisions of South Korea, gu'' in central Busan, South Korea. It has an area of 12.08 km2, and a population of about 220,000. Yeonje District was created in March 1995 following its separation from Dongnae Distri ...

, South Korea

Local attractions

* Kakurintei Tea House located in the grounds of

Kono Koen Kono may refer to: Geography *Kono District, a district in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone **Kono people, an ethnic group in Sierra Leone *Kono, Nigeria, a village in Rivers State, Nigeria *Kōno, Fukui, a village in Fukui, Japan Languages *K ...

is a very quaint and picturesque Japanese

tea house A teahouse or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel, especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment that only ser ...

overlooking a pond. *

- Standing out from many cultural assets is the plains castle within the city,

. It is one of the rare castles in Japan surrounded by a wall rather than built on one. First built between 1591 and 1593, there was a fire in 1726. Renovated in 1728, there was yet another fire in 1835.

Nabeshima Naomasa was the 10th and final ''daimyō'' of Saga Domain in Hizen Province, Kyūshū, Japan. His honorary title was '' Hizen-no-Kami'', and he was occasionally referred to as “Prince Hizen” in western accounts during the Bakumatsu period. Biogra ...

, ''

'' of the

Nabeshima clan is a Japanese samurai kin group. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Nabeshima", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p.38 retrieved 2013-5-5. History The clan controlled Saga D ...

, renovated it within two years and moved in. In 1874 it was a court building and a prefectural office. 1883 saw it become a junior school. The buildings were eventually replaced by modern school buildings. Saga city center 1

*" Saga International Balloon Fiesta" held every autumn in the dry riverbed of the Kase River. A quarter of the visitors are from Saga. The number of visitors was about 15 million in 2005.

Hot air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carri ...

ists from many countries enter this event.

National Historic Sites

* Chōshizuka Kofun (Saga) * Higashimyō Site * Hizen Provincial Capital ruins *

Mietsu Naval Dock The was a Bakumatsu period repair and shipbuilding facility, located in what is now the Hayatsue, Kawasoe-machi, neighborhood of the city of Saga, Saga Prefecture Japan. Established by Saga Domain in 1858, it also served as an educational and t ...

Site, also a World Heritage Site * Nishikuma Kofun * Obukumayama Kōgoishi * Ōkuma Shigenobu Former Residence

Notable people from Saga

* Egashira 2:50, a comedian *

Hanawa is a Japanese singer and comedian raised in Saga City. He began his career in 1997 going throughout the 2000s distinguishing himself by use of his bass guitar throughout comedy acts. He rose to fame in Japan during 2003 for a comical song abou ...

, singer and comedian. He released a CD about Saga city *

Yasuko Matsuyuki is a Japanese actress and singer signed to Stardust Promotion. History Yasuko Matsuyuki was born in 1972 in Tosu, Saga. She has two younger brothers. One is , who is also an actor, and the other is Yo Matsuyuki who is a rock singer. In 1989, ...

, singer and actress known for her glamorous and sophisticated personality. She is mentioned in Hanawa's song as being one of the celebrities that won't admit being from Saga. She moved away from Saga at the age of 19 to be a model. *

Noriko Nakagoshi is a Japanese actress. Biography Nakagoshi debuted as a model for '' ViVi'' magazine in 1999. She began acting the same year, making her acting debut as Midori Sato in the show ''Tengoku no Kiss''. Her acting attracted her great attention and fro ...

, an actress *

Saburō Sakai was a Japanese naval aviator and flying ace (''"Gekitsui-O"'', ) of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Sakai had 28 aerial victories, including shared ones, according to official Japanese records, though he and his ghostwriter Marti ...

, Japanese

naval aviator Naval aviation / Aeronaval is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. It often involves '' navalised aircraft'', specifically designed for naval use. Seaborne aviation encompas ...

and

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

Rikako Sakata is a Japanese actress and model who is affiliated with Ever Green Entertainment. Biography In April 2006, Sakata won the Grand Prix at the exclusive model audition for the fashion magazine, ''Love Berry'', the same year on June 1, she became an ...

, actress known for Miu Kazashiro in

Kamen Rider Fourze is a Japanese tokusatsu drama in Toei Company's Kamen Rider Series, being the thirteenth series in the Heisei period run and the twenty-second overall. It began airing on September 4, 2011, the week following the conclusion of ''Kamen Rider OOO'' ...

Shigeo Shingo was a Japanese industrial engineer who was considered as the world’s leading expert on manufacturing practices and the Toyota Production System. Life and work After having worked as a technician specializing in fusions at the Taiwanese railw ...

, an

industrial engineer Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...

who distinguished himself as one of the world's leading experts on manufacturing practices. *

Ikumi Yoshimatsu is a Japanese actress, stunt woman, book author, opinion leader, social activist and beauty queen who was crowned Miss International 2012 in Okinawa. It was Japan's first Miss International win in the 52-year history of the pageant. In 2014, ...

Miss International 2012 Miss International 2012, the 52nd Miss International pageant, was held on October 21, 2012, at Okinawa Prefectural Budokan Arena Building in Okinawa, Japan. Fernanda Cornejo from Ecuador crowned her successor Ikumi Yoshimatsu from Japan at t ...

References

External links

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