| Kakegawa 掛川市 |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| — City — | |||
|
|||
| Location of Kakegawa in Shizuoka | |||
|
Kakegawa
|
|||
| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | Japan | ||
| Region | Chūbu (Tōkai) | ||
| Prefecture | Shizuoka | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Saburo Matsui (since April 2009) | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 265.63 km2 (102.6 sq mi) | ||
| Population (February 2010) | |||
| • Total | 117,858 | ||
| • Density | 444/km2 (1,150/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | Japan Standard Time (UTC+9) | ||
| City symbols | |||
| - Tree | Sweet Osmanthus | ||
| - Flower | Chinese bellflower | ||
| - Bird | Japanese Bush-warbler | ||
| Phone number | 0537-21-1111 | ||
| Address | 1-1-1, Nagaya, Kakegawa-shi, Shizuoka-ken 436-8650 |
||
| Website | City of Kakegawa | ||
Kakegawa (掛川市 Kakegawa-shi) is a city in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the city had an estimated population of 117,858 and a population density of 444 persons per km². The total area was 265.63 km².
Contents |
Kakegawa is located in the coastal plains of southwest Shizuoka Prefecture. It is bordered to the south by the Pacific Ocean.
The Kakegawa area has been regional commercial center within Tōtōmi Province since at least the Kamakura period, but developed as a castle town under the Imagawa clan, whose headquarters was in neighboring Suruga Province. Kakegawa Castle was built by Asahina Yasuhiro, a retainer of Imagawa Yoshitada, in the Bunmei era (1469–1487). The castle later fell into the hands of the Tokugawa clan, but was then to Toyotomi clan retainer Yamauchi Kazutoyo in 1580. After the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, Kakegawa Domain was created, and ruled by numerous fudai daimyō. The area prospered during the Edo period, as the Tōkaidō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto passed through Kakegawa, whose post stations included Nissaka-shuku and Kakegawa-juku. Neighboring Yokosuka Domain, a smaller fudai holding, was also located within what are now the city limits of Kakegawa.
After the Meiji Restoration, Kakegawa was made part of the short-lived Hamamatsu Prefecture in 1871, which merged with Shizuoka Prefecture in 1876. Kakegawa Town was created in the cadastral reform of April, 1891, four years after the opening of Kakegawa Station on what later became the Tōkaidō Main Line railway. The town expanded steadily over the years, annexing neighboring villages and towns in Ogasa District, and was elevated in status of that of a city in 1954.
On April 1, 2005 the towns of Daitō and Ōsuka, both from Ogasa District, were merged into the original Kakegawa.
Kakegawa has a mixed economy. It serves as a regional commercial center for west-central Shizuoka Prefecture. In the agricultural sector, production and processing of green tea predominates. The city is surrounded by green tea fields and is known for its high quality tea. Other crops include cantelope, tomatoes, strawberries and roses. In terms of industrial production, Kakegawa has several light industry industrial complexes. Major products include telecommunications equipment and electronics, cosmetics, automotive components and musical instruments.
Sakuragi • Ikoinohiroba • Hosoya • Haranoya • Harada • Towata •
Like most of Japan, Kakegawa's population is almost exclusively Japanese. However, there is a small population of westerners due to the nearby Corning factory as well as to the continued presence of foreign English language teachers. In addition, Kakegawa has a noticeable Nikkei (particularly, South American) population and it is more common to find signs written in Portuguese than in English.
Only a few hundred meters from the station is the rebuilt Kakegawa Castle, which was reopened in April 1994. Another local attraction is the Kakegawa Kacho-en, which hosts a large variety of bird and plant species in a greenhouse-enclosed private garden, open to the public. Both the ocean and mountains are contained within Kakegawa's limits.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||