is a

city 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 ...

Fukushima Prefecture Fukushima Prefecture (; ja, 福島県, Fukushima-ken, ) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,810,286 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miya ...

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, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. , the city has an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 322,996 people in 141760 households, and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of 430 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Kōriyama is designated as a

core city In urban planning, a core city, principal city metropolitan core, or central city, is the largest or most important city or cities of a metropolitan area. A core city is surrounded by smaller satellite cities, towns, and suburbs. A central city i ...

and functions as a commercial center for Fukushima Prefecture. Kōriyama is the third largest

conurbation A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most ca ...

in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains a ...

Geography and climate

Kōriyama is located in the center of the

Nakadōri is a region comprising the middle third of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. It is sandwiched between the regions of Aizu to the west and Hamadōri to the east. The principal cities of the area are Kōriyama and the prefecture's capital, Fukushima ...

region of Fukushima Prefecture in the

of Japan. The Adatara Mountains are to the north,

Lake Inawashiro is the fourth-largest lake in Japan, located in central Fukushima Prefecture, south of Mount Bandai. It is also known as the . The lake is located within the borders of Bandai-Asahi National Park. It is a surface area of , circumference of , dept ...

is to the west, and the

Abukuma Highlands The or Abukuma Mountains is a highland area of Japan that extends from the southern part of Miyagi Prefecture to the eastern part of Fukushima Prefecture and then to the northern part of Ibaraki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, pre ...

are to the east. The Abukuma River flows through downtown Kōriyama. The downtown area extends to the west of Kōriyama Station.

Neighboring municipalities

Sukagawa 270px, Sukagawa City Hall is a city located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 76,251 in 38824 households, and a population density of 270 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Geography Sukagaw ...

Aizu-Wakamatsu is a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 118,159 in 50,365 households, and a population density of 310 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Geography Aizuwakamatsu is located in the west ...

Nihonmatsu is a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 54,013 in 20,179 households, and a population density of 160 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . The Adachi neighborhood of Nihonmatsu was the bir ...

Tamura Tamura (usually written 田村), a Japanese placename and family name, may refer to: In places: *Tamura, Fukushima, a city in Japan *Tamura District, Fukushima, in Japan * Tamura Station, in Nagahama, Japan People with the surname Tamura: * Tamura ...

Motomiya is a city located in north-central Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 30,401 in 10,680 households and a population density of 350 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . It is the smallest city in Fu ...

* Otama * Ten-ei * Hirata * Miharu *

Ono ONO, Ono or Ōno may refer to: Places Fiji * Ono Island (Fiji) Israel * Kiryat Ono * Ono, Benjamin, ancient site Italy * Ono San Pietro Ivory Coast * Ono, Ivory Coast, a village in Comoé District Japan * Ōno Castle, Fukuoka * Ō ...

Inawashiro is a town located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 13,810 in 5309 households, and a population density of 35 persons per km². The total area of the town was . It is noted as the birthplace of the famous ...

Climate

Kōriyama 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 freezing ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by hot wet summers and cool, quite dry winters. The average annual temperature in Kōriyama is . The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kōriyama has increased over the past 60 years.

History

Kōriyama originated as a regional governmental center in the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the cap ...

, when the area was on the frontier of

Yamato was originally the area around today's Sakurai City in Nara Prefecture of Japan, which became Yamato Province and by extension a name for the whole of Japan. Yamato is also the dynastic name of the ruling Imperial House of Japan. Japanese his ...

settlement of the Tōhoku region. The surrounding area developed into ''

shōen A was a field or manor in Japan. The Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4''). Shōen, from about the 8th to the late 15th century, describes any of the private, ...

'' controlled by various samurai clans in the Heian and

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

s. Nearby centers, such as

developed into

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, ...

s, Kōriyama remained as a commercial center and thrived as a

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in the address increases ...

because of its importance as a traffic focal point into the

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 ...

and was part of the territory of

Nihonmatsu Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in southern Mutsu Province. It was centered on Nihonmatsu Castle in what is now the city of Nihonmatsu, Fukushima, and its territory included all of Nihonmatsu, Motomi ...

. With the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889, the town of Kōriyama was established within

Asaka District Asaka is a Districts of Uzbekistan, district of Andijan Region in Uzbekistan. The capital lies at Asaka, Uzbekistan, Asaka. It has an area of and it had 340,000 inhabitants in 2022. The district consists of 1 city (Asaka), 4 urban-type settlemen ...

. In the early

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

, many dispossessed samurai were assigned undeveloped lands in the area to reclaim and as a result, the population grew and region developed into an agricultural center. The relative abundance of

hydroelectric power Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

also helped with the development of local industry. Kōriyama was raised from town to city status on September 1, 1924 with the annexation of neighboring Odawara Village. Kuwano Village was likewise annexed on June 1, 1925. During the 1930s, Kōriyama was noted a center for military equipment production. It was thus a target for American bombers during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and the city was subject to three large-scale air raids during the war. From 1954 to 1955, Kōriyama expanded by annexing the town of Otsuki and portions of the villages of Tomita and Iwae, and in 1965 annexed the villages of Nishida and Nakata. In 1997, the city received

designation, giving it increased autonomy from national and prefectural governments. On March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake caused damage, but Kōriyama is located outside of the mandatory evacuation zone set by the Japanese government after the

Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster The was a nuclear accident in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Ōkuma, Fukushima, Japan. The proximate cause of the disaster was the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which occurred on the afternoon of 11 March 2011 and ...

. Many people from the evacuation zone relocated to Kōriyama. On 30 July 2020, a ''

shabu-shabu ''Shabu-shabu'' ( ja, しゃぶしゃぶ, shabushabu) is a Japanese '' nabemono'' hotpot dish of thinly sliced meat and vegetables boiled in water and served with dipping sauces. The term is onomatopoeic, derived from the sound – "swish sw ...

'' restaurant exploded, damaging an area spanning several hundred meters.

Government

Kōriyama 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, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...

city legislature of 38 members. The city contributes nine members to the Fukushima Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, Kōriyama is part of the Fukushima 2nd Electoral District, which includes neighbouring Nihonmatsu, Motomiya and Adachi District.

Mayors

*1st: Yoshiya Ōmori (大森吉弥、1925–1929) *2nd: Jun Wada (和田潤, 1929–1937) *3rd: Hachirō Murai (村井八郎, 1937–1940) *4th: Ujirō Seki (関卯次郎, 1940–1942) *5th: Hachikurō Ōshima (大島破竹郎, 1942–1947) *6th: Shichiji Itō (伊藤七司, 6 April - 2 May 1947) *7th: Zenko Honma (本間善庫, 1947–1951) *8th: Morishige Tanji (丹治盛重, 1951–1959) *9th: Hiyoshi Hidese (秀瀬日吉, 1959–1977) *10th: Takashi Takahashi (高橋堯, 1977–1985) *11th: Hisashi Aoki (青木久, 1985–1993) *12th: Eiji Fujimori (藤森英二, 1993–2005) *13th: Masao Hara (原正夫, 2005–2013) *14th: Masato Shinagawa (品川萬里, current) Sources:

Economy

Kōriyama city is called the "commercial capital in Fukushima" and the economic bloc is the biggest in

. ;Principal companies headquartered in Koriyama * XEBIO; sporting goods * Kourakuen;

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 ...

noodle shop chain *

York Benimaru York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

; large supermarket retailer with networks in south Tōhoku, Nigata, and North Kanto ;Banks headquartered in Koriyama * Daito Bank *

Toho Bank is a Japanese regional bank headquartered in Fukushima, Fukushima Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of northern Honshū. Toho Bank provides financial services for individual and corporate customers, including deposits, loans, real estate, se ...

Transportation

Kōriyama is an important transportation hub, as it is located in the center of Fukushima Prefecture and is the nexus of several railway lines and expressways. Kōriyama Station is the central station for the city. However, Kōriyama does not have an airport.

Railway

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 are ...

Tōhoku Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen rail line, connecting Tokyo with Aomori in Aomori Prefecture in a route length of , making it Japan's longest Shinkansen line. It runs through the more sparsely populated Tōhoku region of Japan's main is ...

Tōhoku Main Line The Tōhoku Main Line ( ja, 東北本線, ) is a long railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The line starts from Tokyo Station in Chiyoda, Tokyo and passes through such cities as Saitama, Utsunomiya, Fukush ...

* - Kōriyama - JR logo (east)

East Ban'etsu Line The is a railway line in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Iwaki Station (Fukushima), Iwaki Station in Iwaki, Fukushima, Iwaki and Kōriyama Station (Fukushima), Kōriyama Station in Kōri ...

*Kōriyama - JR logo (east)

- West Ban'etsu Line *Kōriyama - - - ] - - JR logo (east)

- Suigun Line *Kōriyama - Asaka-Nagamori - -

Highway

Koriyama-JCT-ban-etsu-expressway,koriyama-city,japan

* - Asaka PA - Kōriyama-minami IC - Kōriyama IC - Kōriyama JCT * - Kōriyama-higashi IC - Kōriyama JCT - Gohyakugawa PA - Bandai-Atami IC * * * *

Media

Television

Fukushima Central Television , also known as Chūtele (中テレ) or FCT, is a Japanese broadcast network affiliated with the NNN. Their headquarters are located in Fukushima Prefecture. History The birth of the second commercial broadcaster in Fukushima Prefecture date ...

(

Nippon Television JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...

chain) *

Fukushima Broadcasting , also known as KFB, is a Japanese broadcast network affiliated with the ANN. Their headquarters are located in Kōriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture. History Pre-launch Prior to its launch, there were already 2 stations set up in the prefec ...

(

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Compan ...

chain) CATY *Information Network Kōriyama

Radio

*FM Fukushima (JFN)

Newspaper

*Fukushima Mimpō (Fukushima,

Mainichi The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English language news website called ''The Mainichi'' (previ ...

chain) *Fukushima Minyū (Fukushima, Yomiuri chain) *

Kahoku Shinpō is a Cities of Japan, city located in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 35,188 in 12787 households, and a population density of 550 persons per km². The total area of the city was . Geography Kahoku is locate ...

(

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...

)

Education

Universities and colleges

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

, Faculty of Engineering *

Ohu University is a private university, located in the city of Kōriyama is a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 322,996 people in 141760 households, and a population density of 430 persons per km2. The total are ...

* Kōriyama Women's University & Colleges * Kōriyama Women's University Junior College *

Open University of Japan is a distance learning university which has students from all over Japan; it accepted its first students in 1985. History Although founded by the national government initiative with a single-issue law and heavily subsidized by the government, i ...

, Fukushima Learning Center

Senior high schools

Kōriyama has ten public high schools operated by the Fukushima Prefectural Board of Education and six private high schools ;Public (prefectural) *Asaka High School *Asaka Mitate Branch High School *Asaka Reimei High School *Kōriyama High School *Kōriyama Higashi High School *Kōriyama Shōgyō High School *Kōriyama Kita Kōgyō High School *Asaka Kaisei High School *Konan High School *Kōriyama Hōsei High School ;Private *Tohoku High School of

*Shōshi Gakuen Shōshi High School *Teikyō Asaka High School *High School affiliated with Kōriyama Women's Colleges

Junior high schools

;Public *Koriyama First Junior High School *Koriyama Second Junior High School *Koriyama Third Junior High School *Koriyama Fourth Junior High School *Koriyama Fifth Junior High School *Koriyama Sixth Junior High School *Koriyama Seventh Junior High School *Tomita Junior High School *Asaka Junior High School *Asaka Second Junior High School *Ōtsuki Junior High School *Mihota Junior High School *Futase Junior High School *Nishida Junior High School *Katahira Junior High School *Kikuta Junior High School *Midorigaoka Junior High School *Moriyama Junior High School *Hiwada Junior High School *Meiken Junior High School *Koharada Junior High School *Kohken Junior High School *Miyagi Junior High School *Ose Junior High School *Konan Junior High School *Mitate Junior High School *Takase Junior High School *Atami Junior High School ;Private *Xaverio Junior High School

Multi-level schools

*Fukushima Korean School ( - North Korean international schoolHome
Fukushima Korean School. August 5, 2002. Retrieved on October 13, 2015.

Noted people from Koriyama

Takeshi Honda is a former Japanese competitive figure skater. He is a two-time World bronze medalist (2002, 2003), two-time Four Continents champion (1999, 2003), and six-time Japanese national champion. Personal life Takeshi Honda was born on 23 March ...

, Figure skater *

Toru Iwaya is a Japanese mezzotint engraver and painter. Biography Born in Koriyama, Japan in 1936, the youngest child of Iwaya Kanekichi and Kageyama Matsu, Toru Iwaya went, at the age of 19, to Tokyo. After he graduated from the Tokyo Fisheries (東� ...

, Mezzotint engraver, painter *

Miki Nagasawa is a Japanese voice actress. She was raised in Fukushima. Formerly affiliated for Haikyo, she is affiliated with Atomic Monkey. On anime roles, she played the eponymous character in ''Vampire Princess Miyu'', Wedy in ''Death Note'' and Maya I ...

, voice actress *, Japanese idol and voice actress *

Toshiyuki Nishida is a Japanese actor. He has won two Japanese Academy Awards for best actor, for ''The Silk Road'' (1988) and ''Tsuribaka Nisshi 6'' (1993). He has also won the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Actor for '' Get Up!'' and '' Tsuribaka Nisshi 14'' (2003) ...

, actor * Saga (

Alice Nine is a Japanese visual kei rock band formed in Tokyo in 2004. They were a part of PS Company until 2014. The band had King Records as its record label until 2010, when they joined Tokuma Japan. Then, in 2013, the band joined Universal Music Grou ...

), musician *

Masashi Ohuchi was a Japanese weightlifter who won a bronze medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics and a silver medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics. He won two gold medals at the Asian Games in 1966 and 1970. He further became the world champion in the light-heavywei ...

, Olympic weightlifter *

Toshio Tamogami General is a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force career military officer. He served as the Chief of Staff of Japan's Air Self-Defense Force from March 2007 until October 2008. Tamogami turned to politics in 2014 as a candidate for governor of Tokyo a ...

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

Japan Air Self-Defense Force The , , also informally referred to as the Japanese Air Force, is the air and space branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, responsible for the defense of Japanese airspace, other air and space operations, cyberwarfare and electronic warfa ...

Joji Yuasa is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music.Luciana Galliano, ''The Music of Joji Yuasa'' ed. Peter Burt. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012. Early life and education Joji Yuasa was born in Kōriyama, Fukushima, Kōriyama, Fukushi ...

, composer *

Hidekaz Himaruya , also romanized as Hidekaz Himaruya, is a Japanese manga artist from Kōriyama, Fukushima. He emigrated to the United States to study in the Parsons School of Design, but dropped out. He currently lives in Japan, and is best known for writing an ...

, creator Hetalia *

Takumi Nemoto is a Japanese politician of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Kōriyama, Fukushima and graduate of the University of Tokyo he joined the Ministry of C ...

, Politician ( Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare) *

GReeeeN Greeeen (stylized as GReeeeN) is a Japanese vocal group from Kōriyama in Fukushima Prefecture, comprising the all-male four members: HIDE, navi, 92 (read as "kuni"), and SOH. They made their debut with Universal Music in 2007. Their logo image i ...

, band

Twinnings

Japanese sister cities

Nara, Nara is the capital city of Nara Prefecture, Japan. As of 2022, Nara has an estimated population of 367,353 according to World Population Review, making it the largest city in Nara Prefecture and sixth-largest in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara is ...

(since 5 August 1971) *

Kurume, Fukuoka is a Cities of Japan, city in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, the city has an estimated population of 303,579 and a population density of 1,320 persons per km². The total area is 229.96 km². On February 5, 2005, the town o ...

(since 3 August 1975) *

Tottori, Tottori is the capital and the largest city of Tottori Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. Within Japan the city is best known for its sand dunes which are a popular tourist attraction, drawing visitors from outside the prefecture. The sand du ...

(since 25 November 2005)

International relations

Brummen Brummen () is a municipality and a village in the eastern Netherlands. Brummen has a small railway station - Brummen railway station on the line between Zutphen and Arnhem. The village is situated about southwest of Zutphen, no farther than 1 ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, sister city since 25 June 1988

Local attractions

Festivals

*Kōriyama Uneme Festival *Koriyama Summer Festival - an

Oktoberfest The Oktoberfest (; bar, Wiesn, Oktobafest) is the world's largest Volksfest, featuring a beer festival and a travelling carnival. It is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is a 16- to 18-day folk festival running from mid- or ...

-style festival. *Koriyama Autumn Festival - includes children's activities, ''

taiko are a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various Japanese drums called and to the form of ensemble drumming m ...

'' and ''

mikoshi A is a sacred religious palanquin (also translated as portable Shinto shrine). Shinto followers believe that it serves as the vehicle to transport a deity in Japan while moving between main shrine and temporary shrine during a festival or when ...

'' parades.

National Historic Sites

Ōyasuba Kofun The is a group of five early to middle Kofun period megalithic tumuli located in what is now part of the town of Kōriyama, Fukushima in the southern Tōhoku region of Japan. The largest of the tumuli at the site was designated a National Hi ...

References

External links

*
Koriyama City Guide 2017
(Japanese/English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Koriyama, Fukushima Cities in Fukushima Prefecture