Maruoka Castle is a

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 ...

located in

Fukui Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Fukui Prefecture has a population of 737,229 (1 January 2025) and has a geographic area of 4,190 Square kilometre, km2 (1,617 sq mi). Fukui Prefecture border ...

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 92,210 in 31,509 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 550 persons per km². The total area of the city was .

Geography

Sakai is located in far northern Fukui Prefecture, bordered by the city of Awara and

Ishikawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu island. Ishikawa Prefecture has a population of 1,096,721 (1 January 2025) and has a geographic area of 4,186 Square kilometre, km2 (1,616 sq mi). Ishikawa Pr ...

to the north and the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

to the northeast, The city of Fukui borders the city to the south. The Kuzuryū River flows through the city.

Neighbouring municipalities

*Fukui Prefecture ** Awara ** Eiheiji ** Fukui ** Katsuyama *

** Kaga

Climate

Sakai has a Humid climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm, wet summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Sakai is 14.3 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2476 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.9 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.8 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Sakai has recently plateaued after a long period of growth. Sakai is the second most populous city in Fukui Prefecture. The Harue and Maruoka neighborhoods in the southern part of the city function as

commuter town A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

s for the city of Fukui.

History

Sakai is part of the ancient

Echizen Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area that is today the northern portion of Fukui Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Echizen bordered on Kaga Province, Kaga, Wakasa Province, Wakasa, Hida Province, Hida, and Ōmi Provin ...

. The semi-legendary

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 ...

Emperor Keitai (died 10 March 531) was the 26th emperor of Japan,Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 継体天皇 (26)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. No firm dates can be assigned to this emperor's life or reign, but he is conve ...

is said to have come from the area that is now the Maruoka neighbourhood of Sakai. During the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, the area was divided between the holdings of the Maruoka Domain, Fukui Domain and ''

tenryō 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 war ...

'' holdings directly under control of 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 ...

. 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, the area was organised into part of Sakai District in Fukui Prefecture. The epicentre of the 1948 Fukui earthquake was in Maruoka. The towns of Mikuni and Maruoka were created with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. The village of Harue was raised to town status on April 3, 1942. The village of Sakai was created on March 1, 1955 by the merger of the villages of Higashi-Jūgō, Hyōgo and Ōseki. It was raised to town status on April 1, 1961. The modern city of Sakai was established on March 20, 2006, from the merger of the former town of Sakai with the towns of Harue, Maruoka and Mikuni. Sakai District was dissolved as a result of this merger.

Government

Sakai 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 legislature of 26 members.

Education

Sakai has 19 public elementary schools and five middle schools operated by the city government, and three public high school operated by the Fukui Prefectural Board of Education. The prefectural also operates one special education school.

High schools

*Maruoka Senior High School *Mikuni Senior High School *Sakai Senior High School

Transportation

Airport

* Fukui Airport (No scheduled flight services.)

Railway

As of 16 March 2024,

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

no longer operates in Sakai as its operations on the

Hokuriku Main Line The Hokuriku Main Line () is a railway line owned by the West Japan Railway Company (JR West) connecting Maibara Station in Maibara, Shiga, with Tsuruga Station in Tsuruga, Fukui. The line formerly extended as far as Naoetsu Station in ...

were transferred to third-sector company Hapi-line Fukui. * Hapi-line Fukui ** - * Echitetsu Logomark

Echizen Railway

Mikuni Awara Line The is a railway line operated by Echizen Railway in Fukui Prefecture. The line extends 27.8 km from the city of Fukui, Fukui, Fukui to Mikuni-Minato station at Sakai, Fukui, Sakai with a total of 22 stations. It was operated by Keifuku Ele ...

** - - - - - (Awara-shi) - - - -

Highway

* 20px

Hokuriku Expressway The , (abbreviated as , is a 4-laned national Expressways of Japan, expressway in Japan. It is owned and managed by East Nippon Expressway Company and Central Nippon Expressway Company. Overview The first section was opened in 1972 by Japan ...

* * *

Local attractions

* Echizen-Kaga Kaigan Quasi-National Park * Maruoka Castle, one of the 100 Famous Castles of Japan * Maruoka Domain Battery, National Historic Site *Mikuni Onsen * Rokuroseyama Kofun Cluster, National Historic Site * Technoport Fukui Stadium *

Tōjinbō is a series of cliffs on the Sea of Japan in Japan. It is located in the Antō part of Mikuni, Fukui, Mikuni-chō in Sakai, Fukui, Sakai, Fukui Prefecture. The cliffs average in height and stretch for .

, National Scenic Site and Natural Monument

Notable people

* Chosei Komatsu (from Mikuni) – artistic director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica *

Kazuhiko Masada (born May 23, 1975) is a Japanese professional wrestler, mostly known for his ring name Mazada (written in all capitals). He is one of the founding members of the renowned stable Tokyo Gurentai along with Nosawa Rongai and Kikuzawa. Champi ...

(from Mikuni) - Japanese

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

and member of Tokyo Gurentai * Shigeharu Nakano (from Maruoka) - author and Communist Party politician *

Ai Takahashi (born September 14, 1986) is a Japanese singer and actress formerly associated with the Hello! Project and is best known as the leader of Morning Musume and Hello! Project until 2011. She is also a former member of its popular subgroup Mini Mon ...

(from Harue) – former leader of Japanese idol group

Morning Musume , formerly and commonly known as and colloquially referred to as , is a Japanese girl group, holding the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon, Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most to ...

References

External links

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