is a prefecture of Japan located in the

Chūbu region The , Central region, or is a region in the middle of Honshū, Japan's main island. In a wide, classical definition, it encompasses nine prefectures (''ken''): Aichi, Fukui, Gifu, Ishikawa, Nagano, Niigata, Shizuoka, Toyama, and Y ...

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island ...

. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

to the east,

Yamanashi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Yamanashi Prefecture has a population of 817,192 (1 January 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,465 km2 (1,724 sq mi). Yamanashi Prefecture borders Saitama Prefecture to the n ...

to the northeast,

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the n ...

to the north, and Aichi Prefecture to the west. Shizuoka is the capital and

Hamamatsu is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. the city had an estimated population of 791,707 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, and a population density of . The total area of the site was . Overview ...

is the largest city in Shizuoka Prefecture, with other major cities including Fuji,

Numazu is a city located in eastern Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 189,486 in 91,986 households, and a population density of 1,014 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Numazu is at the no ...

, and Iwata. Shizuoka Prefecture is located on Japan's

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

coast and features

Suruga Bay Suruga Bay (駿河湾, ''Suruga-wan'') is a bay on the Pacific coast of Honshū in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is situated north of a straight line from Omaezaki Point to Irōzaki Point at the tip of the Izu Peninsula and surrounded by Honsh� ...

formed by the

Izu Peninsula The is a large mountainous peninsula with a deeply indented coastline to the west of Tokyo on the Pacific coast of the island of Honshu, Japan. Formerly known as Izu Province, Izu peninsula is now a part of Shizuoka Prefecture. The peninsu ...

, and Lake Hamana which is considered to be one of Japan's largest lakes.

Mount Fuji , or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highes ...

, the tallest

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

in Japan and

cultural icon A cultural icon is a person or an artifact that is identified by members of a culture as representative of that culture. The process of identification is subjective, and "icons" are judged by the extent to which they can be seen as an authentic s ...

of the country, is partially located in Shizuoka Prefecture on the border with Yamanashi Prefecture. Shizuoka Prefecture has a significant

motoring Motoring may refer to: * ''Motoring'' (film), a 1927 British comedy film * Motoring (TV series), a Canadian automotive television program (1988 to present) * 310 Motoring, an automotive customization garage based in Los Angeles, California * Moto ...

heritage as the founding location of

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

Suzuki is a Japan, Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, All-terrain vehicle, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs ...

, and

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

, and is home to the Fuji International Speedway.

History

Shizuoka Prefecture was established from the former Tōtōmi, Suruga and Izu provinces. The area was the home of the first Tokugawa ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

''.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fel ...

held the region until he conquered the lands of the

Hōjō clan The was a Japanese samurai family who controlled the hereditary title of ''shikken'' (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate between 1203 and 1333. Despite the title, in practice the family wielded actual political power in Japan during this period ...

in the Kantō region and placed land under the stewardship of

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and '' daimyō'' ( feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the C ...

. After becoming ''shōgun'', Tokugawa took the land back for his family and put the area around modern-day Shizuoka city under the direct supervision of the shogunate. With the creation of

Shizuoka han was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. The domain centered at Sunpu Castle is what is now the Aoi-ku, Shizuoka. From 1869 it was briefly called . History During the Muromachi period, Sunpu was the capital of th ...

in 1868, it once again became the residence of the Tokugawa family.

Geography

Shizuoka Prefecture is an elongated region following the coast of the

at the

. In the west, the prefecture extends deep into the Japan Alps. In the east, it becomes a narrower coast bounded in the north by

, until it comes to the

, a popular resort area pointing south into the Pacific. 11% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks, namely the Fuji-Hakone-Izu and

Minami Alps is a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 71,618 in 27,956 households, and a population density of 270 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Minami-Alps is Yamanashi Prefecture's thi ...

National Parks;

Tenryū-Okumikawa Quasi-National Park is a quasi-national park in the Tōkai region of Honshū in Japan. It is rated a protected landscape (category V) according to the IUCN. The park includes the Tenryū-kyō Gorge of the upper Tenryū River in Iida, Sakuma Dam and its surrounding ...

; and four Prefectural Natural Parks.

Tokai earthquakes

Throughout history, a disastrous earthquake called the Tokai earthquake has hit Shizuoka every 100 to 150 years. On 15 March 2011, Shizuoka Prefecture was hit with a magnitude 6.2 earthquake approximately NNE of

Shizuoka City is the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, and the prefecture's second-largest city in both population and area. It has been populated since prehistoric times. the city had an estimated population of 690,881 in 106,087 households, and ...

Municipalities

Since 2010, Shizuoka has consisted of 35

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

: 23

cities A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

and 12

towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

. File:Nihondaira from shizuoka plain.JPG,

File:Hamamatsu City - panoramio (1).jpg,

File:Numazu and Mount Fuji.jpg,

and

File:Fujinomiya 20120909.jpg, Fujinomiya File:Atami 20170211-1.jpg,

Atami is a city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 36,865 in 21,593 households and a population density of 600 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Atami is located in the far e ...

Mergers

After the introduction of modern municipalities in 1889, Shizuoka consisted of 337 municipalities: 1 (by definition: district-independent) city and 23 districts with 31 towns and 305

villages A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

. The Great Shōwa mergers of the 1950s reduced the total from 281 to 97 between 1953 and 1960, including 18 cities by then. The Great Heisei mergers of the 2000s combined the 74 remaining municipalities in the year 2000 into the current 35 by 2010.

List of governors of Shizuoka (since 1947)

Transportation

Rail

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

** Tōkaidō Line (

–

Odawara is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 188,482 and a population density of 1,700 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Odawara lies in the Ashigara Plains, in the far western po ...

) **

Itō Line The Itō Line ( ja, 伊東線, ) is a railway line owned by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) which connects Atami and Itō Stations, along the east coast of Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. From Itō, the line continues so ...

JR Central is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and in Japanese as JR Tōkai ( ja, JR東海, links=no). ''Tōkai'' is a reference to the geographical ...

Tōkaidō Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed rail line that is part of the nationwide Shinkansen network. Along with the Sanyo Shinkansen, it forms a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt, also known as the Tokaido corridor. Opened in 196 ...

** Tōkaidō Line (Atami–

Toyohashi is a city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 377,453 in 160,516 households and a population density of 1,400 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . By area, Toyohashi was Aichi Prefecture's second-la ...

) **

Gotenba Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). It connects Kōzu Station in Odawara to Numazu via Gotemba. The '' Mt. Fuji'' limited express service runs between Tokyo's Shinjuku Station and Gote ...

** Minobu Line **

Iida Line The is a Japanese railway line connecting Toyohashi Station in Toyohashi, Aichi with Tatsuno Station in Tatsuno, Nagano, operated by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). The line links eastern Aichi Prefecture and southern Nagano Pre ...

* Izukyū *

Izuhakone Railway The is a private railway company in Kanagawa Prefecture and Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The company also operates excursion ships, and the group companies operate buses and taxis. The company has its roots in founded in 1893. Izuhakone Railway ...

Daiyūzan Line The is a commuter railway line in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Izuhakone Railway. The line connects Odawara Station in the city of Odawara, Kanagawa, Odawara with the Daiyūzan Station in the city of Minam ...

** Sunzu Line * Gakunan Railway * Shizuoka Railway *

Ōigawa Railway The is a railway company in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The company is commonly known as . The company belongs to the Meitetsu Group. The first section of its lines opened in 1927. Operation The company operates preserved steam locomotives, ...

* Enshū Railway * Tenryū Hamanako Railroad

Roads

Expressways

Tōmei Expressway The is a national expressway on the island of Honshū in Japan. It is operated by Central Nippon Expressway Company. The expressway is designated as E1 under the "2016 Proposal for Realization of Expressway Numbering", because it parallels Na ...

* Shin-Tōmei Expressway * Chūbu-Ōdan Expressway * Izu-Jūkan Expressway * San-en Nanshin Expressway

Toll roads

*Shizuoka East-West Road *Shizuoka South-North Road *West Fuji Road (not a toll road anymore as of 2012) *Fujinomiya Road *Nishi-Fuji Road

National highways

* National Route 1 * National Route 42 * National Route 52 * National Route 135 * National Route 136 * National Route 138 * National Route 139 * National Route 149 * National Route 150 * National Route 152 * National Route 246 * National Route 257 * National Route 301 * National Route 362 * National Route 414 * National Route 469 * National Route 473 * National Route 474

Airports

Fujisan-Shizuoka airport,Makinohara-city,Japan

Shizuoka Airport , also called Mt. Fuji Shizuoka Airport, is located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Opened on June 4, 2009, the airport has domestic service to Sapporo, Fukuoka, Naha (Okinawa), Komatsu, Kumamoto, and Kagoshima. International routes connect it t ...

Ports

*Shimizu Port *Atami Port and Shimoda Port - Mainly ferry route to Izu Island *Numazu Port

Education

Universities

National universities * Hamamatsu University School of Medicine * Shizuoka University * Graduate University for Advanced Studies (Mishima Campus, National Institute of Genetics) Public universities * Shizuoka University of Art and Culture *

University of Shizuoka The , is a public university in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Overview The University of Shizuoka was created through the amalgamation of three former public universities in 1987 and was expanded to comprise five colleges. These ...

Private universities * Fuji Tokoha University * Hamamatsu University *

Hamamatsu Gakuin University is a private university Private universities and private colleges are institutions of higher education, not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. They may (and often do) receive from governments tax breaks, public stude ...

Juntendo University is a private university in Japan. Its headquarters are on its campus in Bunkyo, Tokyo, for the School of Medicine and in Inzai, Chiba, for the School of Health and Sports Science. The university was established in 1838 for medical and in 1946 ...

(Mishima Campus) *

Nihon University , abbreviated as , is a private research university in Japan. Its predecessor, Nihon Law School (currently the Department of Law), was founded by Yamada Akiyoshi, the Minister of Justice, in 1889. It is one of Japan's leading private univers ...

(Mishima Campus) *

Seirei Christopher University is a co-educational private university in Hamamatsu city, Shizuoka Prefecture Japan. History Seirei Christopher University began as the “Bethel Home”, a private tuberculosis sanatorium established in 1932 by local Japanese Christians in Hama ...

Shizuoka Eiwa Gakuin University is a co-educational private university in Shizuoka city, Shizuoka Prefecture Japan. History The Shizuoka Eiwa Girls’ School was founded in 1887 by missionaries from the Methodist Church of Canada with the support of the Shizuoka prefectural g ...

* Shizuoka Institute of Science and Technology * Shizuoka Sangyo University * Shizuoka University of Welfare * Tokyo Women's Medical University (Daito Campus) *

Tokai University is a private non-sectarian higher education institution located in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded by Dr. Shigeyoshi Matsumae. It was accredited under Japan's old educational system in 1946 and under the new system in 1950. In 2008, Tokai ...

(Shimizu and Numazu Campuses) * Tokoha Gakuen University

Senior high schools

*Numazu Commercial High School *

Shizuoka Prefectural Susono High School is a public high school in Susono, Shizuoka, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, ...

*Shizuoka Prefectural High School

Sports

The sports teams listed below are based in Shizuoka.

Basketball

San-en NeoPhoenix is a B.League professional basketball team, based in the eastern Mikawa and Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture region of central Japan. The team was founded in 1965 as the company team of the OSG Corporation, a Toyokawa-based machine parts man ...

Motorsport

* Fuji International Speedway

Rugby

Yamaha Júbilo Shizuoka Blue Revs (formerly the Yamaha Júbilo) are a rugby union team based in Iwata, Shizuoka, Japan. The team came second behind Toshiba Brave Lupus in the second season of Japanese rugby's Top League (2004–05). They were coached by form ...

( Iwata)

Football

Shimizu S-Pulse is a professional Japanese football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J2 League (J2). The club was formed in 1991 as a founding member of the J.League (''"Original Ten"''), which bega ...

( Shimizu, Shizuoka) *

Júbilo Iwata is a professional Japanese association football team that currently play in the J2 League. The team name ''Júbilo'' means 'joy' in Spanish and Portuguese. The team's hometown is Iwata, Shizuoka prefecture and they play at Yamaha Stadium. For ...

( Iwata) ** Matches between the above two teams, both currently in the top flight of the J. League, are known as the Shizuoka Derby. * Honda F.C. (

) *

Azul Claro Numazu is a Japanese professional football team based in Numazu, Shizuoka Prefecture. They earned promotion to play at the nationwide third-tier J3 League starting in 2017. History Azul Claro Numazu was established in 1977 as Numazu Arsenal and slow ...

(

) *

Fujieda MYFC are a Japanese J2 League football club based in Fujieda, Shizuoka. It is funded by online subscribers and is the first of its kind in Japan. The club spent two seasons in the Japan Football League before having their application accepted in ...

(

Fujieda is a city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 145,032 in 59,480 households, and a population density of 750 persons per km². The total area of the city was . Fujieda is a member of the World Health O ...

)

Volleyball

* Toray Arrows (men's volleyball team) ( Mishima city)

Tourism

Museums

Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art The is a prefectural museum in Shizuoka City, Japan. Overviews Founded in 1986, the 9,238.51m2 museum is located on a hill on the northern side of the Nihondaira plateau in the southern part of the city. The 3,024.36m2 domed Rodin wing house ...

* Museum of Natural and Environmental History, Shizuoka

Theme parks

* Air Park Japan Air Self-Defense Force Hamamatsu Public Information Building) * Shimizu Sushi Museum

Festivals and events

* Shimoda Black Ship Festival, held in May * Shimizu Port Festival, held on August 5 to 7 * Shizuoka Festival, held in April * Daidogei World Cup in central

, held in November * Enshu Daimyo Festival in Iwata, held in April *

Festival, held in July * Mishima Festival, held in August File:Fujinomiya Hongu Sengen Taisha Honden.jpg,

Fujisan Hongū Sengen Taisha The is a Shintō shrine in the city of Fujinomiya in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is the ''ichinomiya'' of former Suruga Province, and is the head shrine of the approximately 1300 Asama or Sengen shrines in the country. The shrine has an ...

Fujinomiya File:181124 Shuzenji Onsen Izu Shizuoka pref Japan01s3.jpg, Shuzenji Onsen Izu File:Sunpu-castle tatsumi-yagura.JPG,

Sunpu Castle was a Japanese castle in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan. The sobriquet of this feudal fortress was the "Castle of the Floating Isle".Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)Shizuoka It was also referred to as or . Hi ...

Shizuoka Aoi-ku File:Hamamatsu.JPG,

Hamamatsu Castle is a replica ''hirayama''-style Japanese castle. It was the seat of various '' fudai daimyō'' who ruled over Hamamatsu Domain, Tōtōmi Province, in what is now central Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan under the Edo period Tokugawa shogu ...

Naka-ku File:Kakegawa castle.jpg,

Kakegawa Castle is a ''hirayama''-style Japanese castle. It was the seat of various '' fudai daimyō'' clans who ruled over Kakegawa Domain, Tōtōmi Province, in what is now central Kakegawa, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Background Kakegawa Castle is located ...

Kakegawa is a city in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 117,925 in 45,519 households. The total area of the city is . Geography Kakegawa is in the coastal plains of southwest Shizuoka Prefecture. It is borde ...

File:静岡県立美術館-1.JPG,

Shizuoka Suruga-ku File:LakeSanaru2.JPG, Lake Sanaru

Nishi-ku File:BentenjimaKaihinkoenHamamatsu1.jpg, Lake Hamana

Nishi-ku File:Beach in Atami City with sea bathers.jpg, Atami Sun Beach

File:Prunus lannesiana cv. Kawazu-zakura 05.jpg, Kawazu Cherry blossom Kamo District Kawazu File:Mt Fuji at Mihonomatsubara.jpg, Miho no Matsubara Shizuoka Shimizu-ku File:富士サファリパークライオン2 Fuji-safari-park-Lion2.jpg, Fuji Safari Park Susono File:Hanahaku2014-4.JPG, Hamanako Garden Park

Nishi-ku File:Snowtown Yeti.JPG, Snowtown Yeti &

Susono File:Haiden of Kunozan Toshogu.jpg, Kunōzan Tōshō-gū Shizuoka Suruga-ku File:Jogasaki Coast 20111016 b.jpg, Jogasaki Coast Itō

Notes

References

* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005)
''Japan encyclopedia.''
Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the reti ...

.
OCLC 58053128

External links

Official Shizuoka Prefecture website

{{Authority control Chūbu region Prefectures of Japan