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 ...

located in

Ibaraki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, Tochigi Prefecture ...

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 n ...

. , the city had 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 usi ...

of 67,197 in 28,873 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 RosenberPopu ...

of 634 persons per km². The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 31.5%. The total area of the city is . Kashima is the home of the J. League's

Kashima Antlers are a football club in Kashima, Ibaraki, currently playing in the J1 League, top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The name ''Antlers'' is derived from the city name, Kashima, which literally means "deer island". The club has fin ...

. Its home field,

Kashima Soccer Stadium is a football stadium in the city of Kashima, in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. It is the home stadium of the Kashima Antlers, a team in the J1 League. The stadium has a capacity of 40,728.2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. The city is also the site of the Kashima Shrine, one of the oldest Shinto shrines in eastern Japan, and considered the birthplace of many influential styles of Japanese swordsmanship (''

Kenjutsu is an umbrella term for all ('' ko-budō'') schools of Japanese swordsmanship, in particular those that predate the Meiji Restoration. Some modern styles of kendo and iaido that were established in the 20th century also included modern forms ...

'').

Geography

Kashima is located in southeastern Ibaraki Prefecture, bordered by the

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 conti ...

to the east and Lake Kitaura ( Lake Kasumigaura) to the west, with a width of less than 10 kilometers from east-to-west. It is approximately 110 kilometers to the northeast of Tokyo.

Surrounding municipalities

Ibaraki Prefecture *

Itako , also known as or , are blind women who train to become spiritual mediums in Japan. Training involves severe ascetic practices, after which the woman is said to be able to communicate with Japanese Shinto spirits, ''kami'', and the spirits of ...

Kamisu is a city located in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 95,384 in 40,759 households and a population density of 649 persons per km2. The percentage of the population aged over 65 was 23.6%. The total area o ...

* Namegata * Hokota

Climate

Kashima 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 freez ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kashima is . The average annual rainfall is with October 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 Kashima has recently plateaued after a long period of growth.

History

Kashima was developed from 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 c ...

together with the ''

ichinomiya is a Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth. ''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retrieved 2013-5-14. The term gave rise ...

'' of Hitachi Province, Kashima Shrine. After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, the town of Kashima was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889 within Kashima District. In 1954, Kashima annexed with the neighboring villages of Takamatsu, Toyosu, Toyosato and Namino. Kashima merged with the village of Ono on September 1, 1995 and was elevated to city status.

Government

Kashima 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 multi ...

city council of 20 members. Kashima contributes one member to the Ibaraki Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of

Ibaraki 2nd district , the House of Representatives of Japan is elected from a combination of multi-member districts and single-member districts, a method called Parallel voting. Currently, 176 members are elected from 11 multi-member districts (called proportional r ...

of the lower house of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paral ...

Economy

Kashima is the central city of the Kashima Industrial Zone, and it has a large

industrial park An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park ...

with about 1500 factories, especially

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewabl ...

and

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...

plants. The Japanese government created this zone in 1963, and the development was mostly completed in 1973. Agriculture and

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must oft ...

also play a part in the local economy.

Education

Kashima has 12 public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government, and one public high school operated by the Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education. There are also one private middle school and two private high schools. * Seishin Gakuen Women's Junior College (1984-2003)

Sports

is the local J. League football club.

Transportation

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 ar ...

–

Kashima Line The is a railway line operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It links Katori Station with Kashima Soccer Stadium Station by crossing and then following the Tone River, at the border between Chiba Prefecture and Ibaraki Prefectur ...

* -

Kashima Rinkai Railway The is a railway company in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. The Public-Private Partnerships In Japan, third sector company is abbreviated as KRT. It was founded in 1969 to transport freight to and from the coastal industrial area of Kashima, Ibaraki, ...

Ōarai Kashima Line * - - - - -

Highway

* *

Seaport

* Port of Kashima

Sister city relations

* – Seogwipo,

Jeju Province Jeju Province, officially Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, is one of the nine provinces of South Korea. The province comprises Jeju Island (; ), formerly transliterated as Cheju or Cheju Do, the country's largest island. It was previously ...

Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its ea ...

, since November 2003 * –

Yancheng Yancheng () is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China. As the city with the largest jurisdictional area in Jiangsu, Yancheng borders Lianyungang to the north, Huai'an to the west, Yangzhou and Tai ...

Jiangsu Province Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its c ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, since November 2008

Local attractions

* Kashima Shrine Kashima-jingu romon gate

Notable people from Kashima

Tsukahara Bokuden was a famous swordsman of the early Sengoku period. He was described as a '' kensei'' (sword saint). He was the founder of a new Kashima style of kenjutsu, and served as an instructor of Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiteru and Ise provincial governor ...

, swordsman * Harumi Hanayagi, actress * Ryuta Sasaki, former professional soccer player *

Hitoshi Sogahata is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Kashima Antlers and the Japan national team. Club career Sogahata was born in Kashima on August 2, 1979. He joined J1 League club Kashima Antlers based in his local fr ...

, professional soccer player * Yuichi Nemoto, former professional soccer player * Yasutaka Nomoto, professional soccer player * Juri Takahashi, singer, dancer, K-pop idol and former J-pop idol, member of

K-pop K-pop (), short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, experimental, rock, jazz, go ...

girlgroup A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

Rocket Punch *

Yoko Matsugane is a Japanese gravure idol from Ibaraki Prefecture. She is known for her voluptuous figure. History Matsugane has released several DVDs and photobooks and has appeared on several TV shows in Japan. As of January 2006, she had left her mode ...

, gravure idol

Gallery

File:Kamisu Ibaraki.JPG, Port of Kashima with

in the foreground File:Kashima Soccer Stadium 1.jpg,

Kashima Soccer Stadium is a football stadium in the city of Kashima, in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. It is the home stadium of the Kashima Antlers, a team in the J1 League. The stadium has a capacity of 40,728.Torii Gate at the entrance of Kashima Shrine File:Monument for Kashima Antlers near Kashima Shrine.JPG, Monument for Kashima Antlers near Kashima Shrine

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Ibaraki Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan