is a

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

of the city of

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, 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 ancie ...

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 S ...

, Japan. Many of Fukuoka Prefecture and Fukuoka City's principal government, commercial, retail and entertainment establishments are located in the district. Hakata-ku is also the location of Fukuoka's main train station,

Hakata Station is a major railway station in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Japan. It is the largest and busiest railway terminal in Kyushu, and is a gateway to other cities in Kyushu for travelers coming from Honshu by rail travel. The San'yō Shinkansen from Osaka end ...

Fukuoka Airport , formerly known as Itazuke Air Base, is an international and domestic airport located east of Hakata Station in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Japan. Fukuoka Airport is the principal airport on the island of Kyushu and is the fourth busiest passenger ...

and the Hakata Port international passenger ship terminal.

Geography

Hakata-ku is a ward of Fukuoka City located on its eastern edge. It is 31.47 km² with a population of 206,629 (current January 1, 2009). Much of the ward consists of low-lying plains beside the . The northwestern end of the ward faces

Hakata Bay is a bay in the northwestern part of Fukuoka city, on the Japanese island of Kyūshū. It faces the Tsushima Strait, and features beaches and a port, though parts of the bay have been reclaimed in the expansion of the city of Fukuoka. The bay ...

, which includes both

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

and international cruise ship terminals . The northeast end of the ward is slightly elevated, and is named , with nearby

. Around

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

; is the main dining and entertainment district of the ward along the . Hakata-ku also houses the Fukuoka Prefectural office.

Economy

Many Japanese companies have established branch offices in Hakata-ku due to its ease of access to local government offices as well transportation hubs such as Hakata Station and Fukuoka Airport. The headquarters of

JR Kyūshū 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 and the JR Kyushu Jet Ferry Beetle hydrofoil service across the Tsushima Strait ...

Best Denki is a Japanese electronics retailer with outlets across Japan, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. It operated in Hong Kong and Taiwan from the late 1980s until 2011 and 2017 respectively. Best Denki headquarters is located in Fukuoka. Previously ...

, and many other companies are in the ward.

Air Next was a low-cost airline based on the grounds of Fukuoka Airport in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan and a wholly owned subsidiary of All Nippon Airways (ANA). It operated domestic services from its main base at Fukuoka Airport. O ...

, a subsidiary of

All Nippon Airways , also known as ANA (''Ē-enu-ē'') or is an airline in Japan. Its headquarters are located in Shiodome City Center in the Shiodome area of Minato ward of Tokyo. It operates services to both domestic and international destinations and had mo ...

, is headquartered on the grounds of

in Hakata-ku.

Link Airs was a regional airline startup headquartered on the fifth floor of the Fukuoka Gion Daiichi Seimei Building (福岡祇園第一生命ビル ''Fukuoka Gion Daiichi Seimei Biru'') in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Japan, which planned to serve Fukuoka Airport, ...

has its headquarters in the Fukuoka Gion Daiichi Seimei Building (福岡祇園第一生命ビル ''Fukuoka Gion Daiichi Seimei Biru'') in Hakata-ku.

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...

has an Asia-Pacific sales office on the 12th floor of the Fukuoka Gion Daiichi Seimei Building. Prior to its dissolution,

Harlequin Air was an airline with its headquarters on the grounds of Fukuoka Airport in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Japan. It was owned by Japan Air System (later ''Japan Airlines Domestic'' in 2004), operating domestic passenger services. Scheduled flights were wh ...

was headquartered on the grounds of the airport in Hakata-ku. Hakata's economy was significantly transformed in 1996 with the opening of

Canal City Hakata is a large shopping and entertainment complex in Fukuoka, Japan. Called the "city within the city," it boasts numerous attractions including shops; cafes; restaurants; a theater; game center; cinemas; two hotels; and a canal, which runs through t ...

, an award-winning destination shopping and entertainment center.

Cruise ship tourism

From the early 2010s Hakata became the beneficiary of significant growth in cruise ship tourism; particularly with visitors from China. In 2014, 91 cruise ships travelled from China called at Hakata. In 2015, 245 cruise ship calls were made at Hakata Port. After expansion and redevelopment of the port facilities, the number of cruise ship port calls in 2016 is expected to exceed 400. As of 2015, the largest passenger vessel making regular port calls at Hakata is the

Royal Caribbean International Royal Caribbean International (RCI), also formerly known as Royal Caribbean Cruise Line (RCCL), is a cruise line brand founded in 1968 in Norway and organised as a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group since 1997. Based in Miami, Flori ...

owned

MS Quantum of the Seas ''Quantum of the Seas'' is a currently operated by Royal Caribbean International and is the lead ship of her class. At her time of delivery in 2014, ''Quantum of the Seas'' was the third largest cruise ship in the world by gross tonnage. She ...

. Partly as a result of growing international tourism, in 2015 Fukuoka reported the fastest rising tax revenues and population in Japan.

History

Hakata is one of the oldest cities in Japan. In the Middle Ages Hakata, which faces onto the Genkai-Nada Channel (玄界灘) dividing Japan from Korea, was a base for merchants who traded with China and Korea, and the city housed Japan's first Chinatown.

Taira no Kiyomori was a military leader and ''kugyō'' of the late Heian period of Japan. He established the first samurai-dominated administrative government in the history of Japan. Early life Kiyomori was born in Heian-kyō, Japan, in 1118 as the first so ...

is said to have built the artificial harbor Sode-no-minato (袖の湊) to increase commerce. Hakata was burned down by many wars, including the

Mongol invasions The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire: the Mongol Empire ( 1206- 1368), which by 1300 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...

In the early

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

Kuroda Nagamasa was a ''daimyō'' during the late Azuchi–Momoyama and early Edo periods. He was the son of Kuroda Kanbei, Toyotomi Hideyoshi's chief strategist and adviser. Biography His childhood name was Shojumaru (松寿丸). In 1577, when Nagamasa was a ...

, appointed the lord of

Chikuzen Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today part of Fukuoka Prefecture in Kyūshū. It was sometimes called or , with Chikugo Province. Chikuzen bordered Buzen, Bungo, Chikugo, and Hizen Provinces. History The original provincial ...

, and most of his

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

vassals lived in Fukusaki, on the opposite shore of the Naka River from Hakata. Kuroda Nagamasa changed the name of the area to Fukuoka after his home town; Fukuoka in Okayama Prefecture. He ordered Tachibana Castle and Najima Castle dismantled, and had

Fukuoka Castle is a Japanese castle located in Chūō-ku, Fukuoka, Japan. It is also known as Maizuru Castle (舞鶴城 Maizuru-jō) or Seki Castle (石城 Seki-jō). Completed in the early Edo period for ''tozama daimyō'' Kuroda Nagamasa, it has been decreed ...

built using the stones from those older castles. At that time Hakata was no larger than one square kilometer, demarcated by defensive lines along the Naka River, the Boshu-bori (or Boshu Canal), and the Ishido or Mikasa River. In 1876, Hakata, then also known as Dai-Ni-Dai-ku, and Fukuoka, or Dai-Ichi-Dai-ku, were merged. In 1878 the settlement was renamed Fukuoka-ku (福岡区) by the Fukuoka prefectural government, though the population of Hakata was 25,677 and that of Fukuoka was 20,410. At that time, the name Hakata vanished from the administration. In 1889, after a local referendum in which half the voters chose the name Fukuoka and half chose Hakata, the city was officially renamed Fukuoka-shi, but at the same time a new train station then being built was named Hakata Station. An imperial decree issued in July 1899 established Hakata as an open port for trade with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. In 1972, when Fukuoka City was granted designated status by government ordinance, a ward including the old Hakata area was given the name Hakata-ku. In 2016 a large

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

appeared in the city center just west of Hakata station. The sinkhole was filled and the affected roads were completely repaired within a few days. However, the hasty repair seems to have been problematic as less than a month later the road began showing signs of imminent implosion.

Culture

Hakata was the traditional center for the manufacture of Hakata ningyō, which are traditional Japanese dolls that are famous throughout Japan. Today, almost all Hakata ningyō makers (''Hakata ningyō shi'') have their factories out of the Old Hakata Area, a part of modern Hakata-ku.

Hakata-ori is a traditional Japanese textile that has been produced in Fukuoka Prefecture for more than 770 years. There are two varieties of : and . is woven in a traditional pattern related to Buddhist beliefs, and was influenced by fabrics produced i ...

is a

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

used for

obi #REDIRECT Obi {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous title ...

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 left side wrapped over right, unless the wearer is deceased. The kimono ...

. It is also the home of

Mentai Rock is the name given to the collection of Japanese artists who gained national popularity during the late 1970s. Continuing through the early 1980s, the collective had little in common other than their origin - the Hakata ward of Fukuoka City. The ...

, named after the popular

mentaiko Pollock roe, also pollack roe (also known as ''myeongnan'' and ''tarako'') is the roe of Alaska pollock (''Gadus chalcogrammus'') which, despite its name, is a species of cod. Salted pollock roe is a popular culinary ingredient in Korean, Japanese ...

dish served in the region, that spawned numerous J-pop idols during the early 1980s. Neo Mentai Rock is the name given to a recent renewal in activity from local musicians. Hakata-ben is the local Japanese

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of Linguistics, linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety (linguisti ...

spoken in the Old Hakata Area. Hakata is also the location of the pop group

HKT48 HKT48 (read "H.K.T. Forty-eight") is a Japanese idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. HKT48 is named after the Hakata-ku, Fukuoka city of Fukuoka Prefecture, where Akimoto originally intended to base the group. The group currently performs at ...

. Another popular group from Hakata are

Kanikapila Kanikapila is a style of Hawaiian music produced in an impromptu jam session, most commonly taking place at a beach, or family gathering. The term comes from ''kani'' which means sound. and ''pila'' which means any string instrument in the Hawaii ...

and

NUMBER GIRL was a rock band formed in Fukuoka, Japan in August, 1995 by guitarist and vocalist Shutoku Mukai. They first disbanded in 2002 following bassist Kentaro Nakao's departure from the band. Number Girl played fast, guitar-driven rock similar to th ...

. Parts of the famous crime novel 'Points and lines' ('Ten to Sen' in Japanese) by the award-winning Japanese writer

Seichō Matsumoto was a Japanese writer, credited with popularizing detective fiction in Japan. Matsumoto's works broke new ground by incorporating elements of human psychology and ordinary life. His works often reflect a wider social context and postwar nihil ...

occur in Hakata and its train station. The South Korean government maintains the Korea Education Institution ( ko, 후쿠오카 한국교육원; ja, 福岡韓国教育院) in Hakata-ku.

Famous foods

Mentaiko Pollock roe, also pollack roe (also known as ''myeongnan'' and ''tarako'') is the roe of Alaska pollock (''Gadus chalcogrammus'') which, despite its name, is a species of cod. Salted pollock roe is a popular culinary ingredient in Korean, Japanese ...

Tonkotsu is a ramen dish that originated in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture on the Kyushu island of Japan, and it is a speciality dish in both Fukuoka and Kyushu. The soup broth is based on pork bones and other ingredients, which are typically boiled for se ...

(pork bone)

ramen is a Japanese dish, Japanese noodle dish. It consists of served in a broth; common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen has its roots in Chinese ...

, also called simply Hakata ramen *

Motsunabe is a type of nabemono in Japanese cuisine, which is made from beef or pork tripe or other offal. It is a popular stew made with guts portions of various types of meat, prepared in a conventional kitchen cooking pot or a special Japanese nabe po ...

Japanese cheesecake , image = Japanese cheesecake with raspberry jam.jpg , caption = Japanese cheesecake with raspberry jam , alternate_name = Soufflé-style cheesecake, cotton cheesecake, light cheesecake , country = Japan , re ...

* Mizutaki -

Nabemono ''Nabemono'' (鍋物, なべ物, ''nabe'' "cooking pot" + ''mono'' "thing"), or simply ''nabe'', is a variety of Japanese cuisine, Japanese steamboat (food), hot pot dishes, also known as one pot dishes and "things in a pot". Description Nab ...

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

* Hakata Torimon ( :ja:博多通りもん) - a type of cake * Hakata no Hito - a type of cake Nakasu-yatai

Tsukemen ''Tsukemen'' ( ja, つけ麺, English: "dipping noodles") is a ramen dish in Japanese cuisine consisting of noodles which are eaten after being dipped in a separate bowl of soup or broth. The dish was invented in 1961 by Kazuo Yamagishi, a restau ...

(dipping noodles)

Festivals

* Hakata Dontaku Minato Matsuri - May 3 and 4 *Hakata Gion Yamakasa - from July 1 to 15 *Hakata O-kunchi - October 23 and 24 (prior to 1953, November 23)

Transportation

Rail

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, and ...

Sanyō Shinkansen , stylized as SANYO, is a Japanese electronics company and formerly a member of the ''Fortune'' Global 500 whose headquarters was located in Moriguchi, Osaka prefecture, Japan. Sanyo had over 230 subsidiaries and affiliates, and was founded b ...

***

*JR Kyūshū **

Kyūshū Shinkansen The is a Japanese Shinkansen high-speed railway network. It is an extension of the San'yō Shinkansen from Honshu connecting the city of Fukuoka (Hakata Station) in the north of Japan's Kyushu Island to the city of Kagoshima ( Kagoshima-Chuo S ...

***Hakata Station **

Kagoshima Main Line The is a major railway line operated by the Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) between Mojikō in Kitakyushu, and Kagoshima Station in Kagoshima City, at the southern end of Kyushu. Until March 13, 2004, it extended 393 km between its two ...

***

Yoshizuka Station is a railway station on the Kagoshima Main Line and the Sasaguri Line operated by JR Kyushu in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Lines The station is served by the Kagoshima Main Line and is located 75.0 km from the starting ...

- Hakata Station -

Takeshita Station is a railway station on the Kagoshima Main Line, operated by JR Kyushu in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.Wikipedia contributors. "竹下駅." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 23 Oct. 2010. Web. 22 Dec. 2010. ''in Japanese'' L ...

Minami-Fukuoka Station is a train station operated by JR Kyushu on the Kagoshima Main Line in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Lines The station is served by the Kagoshima Main Line and is located 84.9 km from the starting point of the line ...

Sasaguri Line is a railway line in Japan operated by Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu). It connects Keisen Station in Keisen, Fukuoka with Yoshizuka Station in Fukuoka, Fukuoka. Stations History The Kyushu Railway Co. opened the Yoshizuka - Sasaguri sec ...

***Yoshizuka Station *

Nishi-Nippon Railroad The , also called or NNR, is one of Japan's "Big 16" private railroad companies. With headquarters in Fukuoka, it operates local and highway buses, supermarkets, real estate and travel agencies, as well as railways in Fukuoka Prefecture ...

Tenjin Ōmuta Line Tenjin may be: * Tenjin (kami), the Shinto kami (spirit) of scholarship * Tenjin, Fukuoka, Japan, the downtown region of the city ** Tenjin Station, a subway station * Tenjin River, in Tottori Prefecture, Japan * Tenjin Beach, a recreational beach ...

***

Zasshonokuma Station is a train station located in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, operated by the Nishi-Nippon Railroad (Nishitetsu). Lines The station is served by the Nishitetsu Tenjin Ōmuta Line Tenjin may be: * Tenjin (kami), the Shinto kami (spirit) of scholarship * Te ...

Fukuoka City Subway The serves Fukuoka, Japan. It consists of three subway lines, the Kūkō, or Airport Line, the Hakozaki Line and the Nanakuma Line). The lines are operated by the Fukuoka City Transportation Bureau. Unlike most other public operators in Japa ...

** Kūkō Line ***

Nakasu-Kawabata Station is a subway station on the Hakozaki Line and Kūkō Line (Fukuoka City Subway), Kūkō Line located in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Fukuoka in Japan. The station's symbole mark is Chinese characters "" and "" look like Happi ...

- Gion Station - Hakata Station - Higashi-Hie Station -

Fukuokakūkō Station is a Fukuoka City Subway station serving Fukuoka Airport in Fukuoka prefecture, Japan. The station symbol is a blue airplane and a cloud. This is the only subway station in Japan which directly connects with an airport. History The station op ...

(Fukuoka Airport) **

Hakozaki Line The is a subway line, which forms part of the Fukuoka City Subway system in the city of Fukuoka, Japan. It connects Nakasu-Kawabata in Hakata Ward with Kaizuka in Higashi Ward, all within Fukuoka. The line's color on maps is blue. Official ...

***Nakasu-Kawabata Station - Gofukumachi Station - Chiyo-Kenchōguchi Station

Bus

*Hakata

bus terminus A bus terminus is a designated place where a bus or coach starts or ends its scheduled route. The terminus is the designated place that a timetable is timed from. Termini can be located at bus stations, interchanges, bus garages or bus stops. Te ...

(see

Nishitetsu The , also called or NNR, is one of Japan's "Big 16" private railroad companies. With headquarters in Fukuoka, it operates local and highway buses, supermarkets, real estate and travel agencies, as well as railways in Fukuoka Prefecture ...

)

Airport

Harbor

*Bayside place Hakata Futoh (Hakata Pier) *Chūō Wharf (Central Wharf) - international ferry

Beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

and

Kobee Kobee (Korean: 코비, Japanese: コビー) is a South Korean jet hydrofoil ferry line that operates services between Busan, South Korea and Fukuoka, Japan. Miraejet operates the ferry line. See also * Beetle - A ferry line between Fukuoka and Bu ...

and New Camellia

Facilities

Commerce

**Grand

Hyatt Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacat ...

Fukuoka *Hakata Riverain **

Hakata-za The is a kabuki theatre in Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, located near the Nakasu-Kawabata Station. It was originally constructed in 1996. Overview The Hakata-za is a multipurpose theater that can be used in all theater genres, such as k ...

** Hotel Ōkura Fukuoka

Culture

Level-5 stadium (official name: Higashi-Hirao Park Hakatanomori Football Stadium (東平尾公園博多の森球技場), renamed on March 1, 2008 for naming rights), is located in the Hakata Ward of Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is the home ground of ...

(Hakata no mori Stadium) *

Fukuoka Convention Center in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka, Japan is a collection of three separate buildings operated by the Fukuoka Convention Center Foundation. Fukuoka Kokusai Center The Fukuoka Kokusai Center opened in . A Sumo Tournament is held here every November. Many ...

- Marine Messe Fukuoka, Fukuoka International Congress Center, Fukuoka Kokusai Center *Hakata Civic Center, Hakata Library *Hakata South Library *

Nakasu is the red-light district which exists between the sandbank of the and the in Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is named after a popular, but very short-lived, entertainment quarter of Edo, which existed in the late 18th century. The ...

* Rakusui-en

References

External links

Hakata ward official website
Japanese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hakata-Ku, Fukuoka Wards of Fukuoka