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 ...

Gunma Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuk ...

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 76,098 in 32,439 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 . The total area of the city is . Shibukawa is the location of Ikaho Onsen, a popular

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

resort.

Geography

Shibukawa is located at the juncture of the

Tone River The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It is in length (the second longest in Japan after the Shinano River) and has a drainage area of (the largest in Japan). It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō (); ''Bandō'' is an obsolete alias of the ...

and Agatsuma River, in the central part of Gunma Prefecture, on the northern edge of the

Kantō plain The , in the Kantō region of central Honshu, is the largest plain in Japan. Its 17,000 km2 covers more than half of the region extending over Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture, Kanagawa Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Tochigi Prefe ...

s. It is about from

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. To the west is Mount Haruna, and to the east is Mount Akagi. To the north are Mount Onoko and Mount Komochi. The

flows from the north (between Mount Akagi and Mount Komochi) southward through the city, while the Agatsuma River flows from the west (between Mount Onoko and Mount Haruna), merging with the

near the center of the city. Shibukawa is at a central point (36°29′ N, 139°00′ E) of the

Japanese archipelago The is an archipelago of list of islands of Japan, 14,125 islands that form the country of Japan. It extends over from the Sea of Okhotsk in the northeast to the East China Sea, East China and Philippine Sea, Philippine seas in the southwest al ...

and is thus known as the . Shibukawa's highest altitude is 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 ...

; its lowest point is

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level ...

. The majority of the city lies between above sea level Farmland covers (20.8% of the city), housing covers (8.4%), and mountains and forests cover (32.2%) of the city’s area. The remaining (38.6%) has other land uses.

Surrounding municipalities

*To the north: Numata, Shōwa, Takayama *To the east: Maebashi *To the south: Maebashi,

Shintō , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes ...

, Yoshioka *To the west:

Takasaki is a Cities of Japan, city located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 372,369 in 167,345 households, and a population density of 810 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Takasaki is famous as th ...

, Higashiagatsuma, Nakanojō

Climate

Shibukawa has a

Humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Shibukawa is 13.7 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1335 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.1 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.3 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Shibukawa peaked around the year 1990 and has declined since.

History

Shibukawa is located within what was formerly Kōzuke Province. 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 of present-day Shibukawa prospered due to its location on the Mikuni Kaidō highway connecting

with Niigata. Post stations within the borders of modern Shibukawa were Shibukawa-shuku, Kanai-shuku, Kitamoku-shuku and Yokobori-shuku. Shibukawa town was created in Nishigunma District, Gunma Prefecture on April 1, 1889, with the creation of the modern municipalities system after 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 ...

. In 1896, Nishiguma District and Kataoka District merged to form Gunma District, Gunma; however, the area containing Shibukawa was separated out in October 1949 into Kitagunma District. On April 1, 1954, Shibukawa town absorbed the villages of Furumaki, Kanashima and Toyoaki to become the city of Shibukawa. On February 20, 2006, Shibukawa absorbed the town of Ikaho, the villages of Komochi and Onogami (all from Kitagunma District), and the villages of Akagi and Kitatachibana (both from Seta District).

Government

Shibukawa 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 18 members. Shibukawa contributes two members to the Gunma Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between the Gunma 1st district and the Gunma 5th district 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

Shibukawa is a regional commercial center and transportation hub. Seasonal tourism, particularly to its

and ski resorts, play a major role in the local economy. The area is noted for its production of konjac.

Education

Shibukawa has 14 public elementary schools and nine public middle schools operated by the city government, and four public high schools operated by the Gunma Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates two special education schools for the handicapped.

High schools

*Shibukawa High School *Shibukawa Girls' High School *Shibukawa Kougyou High School *Shibukawa Seisui High School

Middle schools

*Akagi North Middle School *Akagi South Middle School *Furumaki Middle School *Hokkitsu Middle School *Ikaho Middle School *Kanashima Middle School *Komochi Middle School *Shibukawa Middle School *Shibukawa North Middle School

Elementary schools

*Ikaho Elementary School *Furumaki Elementary School *Kanashima Elementary School *Miharada Elementary School *Nagaou Elementary School *Nakagou Elementary School *Onogami Elementary School *Shibukawa North Elementary School *Shibukawa South Elementary School *Shibukawa West Elementary School *Tachibana North Elementary School *Tachibana South Elementary School *Toyoaki Elementary School *Tsukuda Elementary School

Transportation

Railway

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and 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 are in ...

–

Jōetsu Line The is a major railway line in Japan, owned by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Takasaki Station in Gunma Prefecture with Miyauchi Station (Niigata), Miyauchi Station in Niigata Prefecture, linking the northwestern Kanto regi ...

* - - -

– Agatsuma Line * - - - – Ikaho Ropeway * Hototogisu Station and Miharashi Station

Highway

* – Shibukawa-Ikaho IC, Akagi IC * *

Local attractions

*Ikaho Onsen * Takehisa Yumeji Memorial Museum * Tokutomi Roka Memorial Museum * Mizusawa-dera, 16th stop on the Bandō Sanjūsankasho pilgrimage
Shibukawa Skyland Park
- an amusement park

- a farm designed to show its visitors about farming *Ikaho Sistina Museum - an op art museum which also has a Sistine Chapel replica *Japan Chanson Museum - a museum dedicated to the

chanson A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...

style of music *Shibukawa Sōgō Park - a large park encompassing hiking trails, campsites, tennis courts, a baseball diamond, a running track, and other recreational facilities *Onoike Ajisai Park- a hydrangea park with a pond and hiking trails
Shibukawa Sky Terume
- a

in a building which looks something like a spaceship

Festivals

Shibukawa calls itself the "Bellybutton of Japan" (日本のおへそ) and hosts the Bellybutton Festival (へそ祭り) every year in late July. The festival is based on a traditional Japanese form of entertainment where revelers paint a face on their torsos and stomachs and pretend it is a head. A

kimono The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn Garment collars in hanfu#Youren (right lapel), left side wrapped over ri ...

is then wrapped around the waist and the person's real head is hidden by a large cloth hat. The belly button is traditionally painted into a mouth. These days, modern motifs and

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

designs have crept into the festival, which city officials said is all about having fun.Shibukawa belly button festival

Sister cities

Shibukawa is twinned with: * Abano Terme,

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, since March 23, 1993 *

Whakatāne Whakatāne ( , ) is a town located in the Bay of Plenty Region, Bay of Plenty Region in the North Island of New Zealand, east of Tauranga and northeast of Rotorua. The town is situated at the mouth of the Whakatāne River. The Whakatāne Dis ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, since 1992 * Logan City, Queensland,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, friendship city since April 17, 1996 *

Hawaii County, Hawaii Hawaiʻi County (; officially known as the County of Hawaiʻi) is a county in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Hawaiian Islands. It is coextensive with the Island of Hawaiʻi, often called the "Big Island" to distinguish it from the state as a ...

, United States, since January 22, 1997 *

Foligno Foligno (; Central Italian, Southern Umbrian: ''Fuligno'') is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennine Mountains, Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clit ...

Umbria Umbria ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Italian Peninsula, Apennine Peninsula. The re ...

, since March 23, 2000

Noted people from Shibukawa

* Takahiro Fujioka, baseball player *Takumi Fujiwara, main protagonist of the manga series '' Initial D'' * Keisuke Kanoh, baseball player * Toru Minegishi, video game composer * Chocoball Mukai, actor * Jiro Sato, tennis player * Chūsei Sone, movie director * Kiyohiko Shibukawa, fashion model and actor

References

External links

Official Website

{{Authority control Cities in Gunma Prefecture Shibukawa, Gunma