Saga, Saga

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**Saga City**
**佐賀市**
Saga City's location in Saga Prefecture, Japan.
Location
Country	Japan
Region	Kyūshū
Prefecture	Saga Prefecture
Physical characteristics
Area	355.15 km²
Population (as of March 31, 2006)
Total	203,491
Location	°′″N, °′″E
Symbols
Saga City City Hall
Official website: Saga City

Coordinates: °′″N, °′″E

Saga (佐賀市; -shi) is the capital of Saga Prefecture, located on the island of Kyūshū, Japan.

As of March 31, 2006, the city has an estimated population of 203,491 and a population density of 572.97 persons per km². The total area is 355.15 km².

On October 1, 2005, the city merged with the towns of Morodomi, Yamato and Fuji (all from Saga District) and the village of Mitsuse from Kanzaki District to form the new city of Saga. With this creation, the city became neighbors with the city of Fukuoka in Fukuoka Prefecture.

Saga has a big event, the "Saga International Balloon Fiesta" every year. A quarter of the visitors are from Saga. The number of all visitors was about 15 million in 2005. Balloonists from lots of countries enter this event.

1 History
- 1.1 Description
2 Municipal Timeline
3 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Description

Standing out for many cultural assets is the plains Castle within the city. One of the rare castles surrounded by a wall rather than built on one. First built between 1591 to 1593. There was a fire in 1726. Renovated in 1728. Yet another fire in 1835. Nabeshima Naomasa again 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. The castle is divided into two main buildings Honmaru and Ni no Maru.

[edit] Municipal Timeline

April 1, 1889-The city was founded.
October 1, 2005-The city merged with towns of Morodomi, Yamato and Fuji (all from Saga District) and the village of Mitsuse from Kanzaki District to form the new city of Saga.