is the capital

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 ...

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 no ...

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 had an estimated population of 187,985 in 90,924 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 880 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Overview

Toponymy

Kōfu's name means "capital of Kai Province". During the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

, it was famous as the stronghold of

Takeda Shingen , of Kai Province, was a pre-eminent ''daimyō'' in feudal Japan. Known as the "Tiger of Kai", he was one of the most powerful daimyō with exceptional military prestige in the late stage of the Sengoku period. Shingen was a warlord of great ...

Cityscapes

File:Kofu Castle2.jpg,

Kōfu Castle was a Japanese castle located in the city of Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture, in the Chubu region of Japan. The site has been protected as a National Historic Site since 2019. The castle is also known as Maizuru Castle, and the present-day surroundi ...

（

Maizuru Castle Park was a Japanese castle located in the city of Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture, in the Chubu region of Japan. The site has been protected as a National Historic Site since 2019. The castle is also known as Maizuru Castle, and the present-day surroundi ...

） File:Takeda-jinja 201905b.jpg,

Tsutsujigasaki Castle 270px, Model of Tsutsujigasaki Castle 270px, Tsutsujigasaki Castle Aerial Photograph was the fortified residence of the final three generations of the Takeda clan, located in the center of the city of Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. It is no ...

（2019）
（

Takeda Shrine Main gate to Takeda Shrine is a Shinto shrine located in the city of Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, dedicated to the ''kami'' of Takeda Shingen. The shrine's annual celebration is on April 12, Shingen's death anniversary. History Followi ...

） File:DownTown of Kofu City.jpg,

Skyline A skyline is the outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city’s overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the land. City skylines ...

of Kōfu City（2018） File:Kofu City Hall-1.jpg, CBD of Kōfu City（2014） File:View kofu celeo.JPG,

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 ...

of Kōfu City（2015） File:Kasuga Avenue mall Kofu-City.JPG,

Kasuga

Geography

Kōfu is located in north-central

which is in Central Honshu. It extends from the northern border of the prefecture with

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 ...

to the south until it almost reaches the prefecture's southern border. It is narrow along its east–west axis. The city bisects the Kōfu Basin and is 250 to 300 meters above sea level. Kōfu is surrounded by mountains on all sides. Three quarters of Kōfu's territory is a part of

Mount Kinpu , or is a mountain and the main peak in the Okuchichibu Mountains, Okuchichibu Range in Kantō Mountains in the Akaishi Mountains, South Japan Alps. It is located in Chichibu-Tama-Kai National Park

in the north. Much of the northern portion of the city is within the Chichibu-Tama-Kai National Park.

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-highest p ...

is visible in the distance from Kōfu to the south.

Climate

Kōfu has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(''Cfa''), though it is less wet than either the south or

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

coast due to its location in a shielded mountain valley. The average annual temperature in Kōfu is 11.9 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1345 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.3 °C, and lowest in January, at around -0.1 °C. Temperature ranges are noticeably greater than in coastal regions: in 2004 Kōfu reached a temperature of previously almost unknown in Japan, and it has fallen below as early as 26 October, which is about a month before the earliest freezing temperatures in such coastal cities as

Kanazawa is the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 466,029 in 203,271 households, and a population density of 990 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Overview Cityscape File:もてな ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Surrounding municipalities

;

* Kai * Yamanashi *

Fuefuki 270px, Ichinomiya Asama Shrine is a city in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 69,463 in 29,406 households, and a population density of 340 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Fuefuki is ...

* Hokuto * Chūō * Shōwa *

Fujikawaguchiko is a town located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 26,542 in 10618 households, and a population density of 170 persons per km2. The total area of the town is . Geography Fujikawaguchiko is located in so ...

Ichikawamisato is a town located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 15,799 in 6679 households., and a population density of 210 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Ichikawamisato is located in s ...

Minobu is a town located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 11,674 in 5447 households, and a population density of 39 persons per km2. The total area of the town is . Geography Minobu is in south-central Yamanash ...

;

* Kawakami

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kōfu as remained relatively stable over the past 50 years.

History

Prehistoric Ages

Archaeologists have discovered evidence of human settlement in the Kōfu area dating to the

Japanese Paleolithic The is the period of human inhabitation in Japan predating the development of pottery, generally before 10,000 BC. The starting dates commonly given to this period are from around 40,000 BC; although any date of human presence before 35,000 BC ...

period, with continuous settlement through the Jōmon,

Yayoi The started at the beginning of the Neolithic in Japan, continued through the Bronze Age, and towards its end crossed into the Iron Age. Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a period previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon p ...

and

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

s. File:Kai Choshizuka Kofun zenkei.JPG, Kai Chōshizuka Kofun

Ancient Ages

During 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 ...

, the

provincial temple were Buddhist temples established in each of the provinces of Japan by Emperor Shōmu during the Nara period (710 – 794). History Shōmu (701 – 756?) decreed both a ''kokubun-ji'' for monks and a for nuns to be established in each ...

of Kai Province was established in what is now Kōfu, indicating that the Nara period provincial capital was located nearby, as the name of the city implies. During the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

, a branch of the

Minamoto clan was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during the ...

, the "Kai-Genji" ruled over vast ''

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, ...

'' estates, and developed a military force noted for its use of

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

Middle Ages

By the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

, a branch of the Kai-Genji, the

Takeda clan The was a Japanese samurai clan active from the late Heian period until the late 16th century. The clan was historically based in Kai Province in present-day Yamanashi Prefecture. The clan reached its greatest influence under the rule of Taked ...

came to dominate the area, and built a castle in what is now part of Kōfu. Under the rule of

Takeda Nobutora was a Japanese ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) who controlled the Province of Kai, and fought in a number of battles of the Sengoku period. He was the father of the famous Takeda Shingen. Biography Nobutora’s son was Harunobu, later known as Take ...

, Kōfu was rebuilt as a

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, ...

starting in 1519, and remained the capital of the Takeda clan under

and his son

Takeda Katsuyori was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the Sengoku period, who was famed as the head of the Takeda clan and the successor to the legendary warlord Takeda Shingen. He was son in law of Hojo Ujiyasu. Early life He was the son of Shingen by the daughter ...

. File:躑躅ヶ崎館.jpg,

File:Kai-Zenkoji-temple Kofu-city Yamanashi Japan.JPG, Kai Zenkoji

Early Modern Ages

During 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 ...

, Kai Province was ''

tenryō The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

'' territory ruled directly by the Tokugawa shogunate, and

remained its administrative center. In 1705, in a signal honour, it was conferred on

Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu was a Japanese samurai of the Edo period. He was an official in the Tokugawa shogunate and a favourite of the fifth shōgun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. His second concubine was Ogimachi Machiko, a writer and scholar from the noble court who wrote ...

a favourite of the fifth shōgun. He was a member of the Yanagisawa clan descendants of the "Kai-Genji", the branch of the

which had been enfeoffed with the province of Kai in the eleventh century. His son, Yoshiyasu was transferred to Yamato-Koriyama Castle in 1724 after which Kofu Castle was again held directly by the Shogunate. File:Kofu Castle 201904q.jpg,

File:Chuo district intersection. Kofu city.jpg,

Kōshū Kaidō The was one of the five routes of the Edo period. It was built to connect Edo (modern-day Tokyo) with Kai Province in modern-day Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. The route continues from there to connect with the Nakasendō's Shimosuwa-shuku in Na ...

（ Kōfu-shuku）

Late Modern Ages

Following 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 ...

, with the establishment of the modern municipalities system, the town of Kōfu was proclaimed on July 1, 1889. The city experienced a major flood disaster in 1907 (明治40年の大水害) caused by heavy rain in a typhoon from the night of August 21, 1907 and by deforestation which was accelerated in Yamanashi Prefecture, due to the need for wood for fuel of the steam engines of the growing industrial policy of the Fujimura Prefectural Government. A police officer inspected the stricken area from August 23 to October 10, 1907. Patrol diaries of Masaki Tsukasa Kasaburo said "This heavy rainfall causes rivers to run down, landslides and levee failures, bridge piers destruction, etc., resulting in the destruction of homes and villages, village isolation, runoff and runoff, and traffic disruptions caused serious damage 233 people died, 5757 houses were run out, 650 hectares of lands have been buried or run down, 3353 landslides, collapse and damage distance of about 140 kilometers of levees, runoff and burial of roads, the damage distance was about 500 kilometers, 393 telephone poles collapsed. It was the largest natural disaster in modern times in Yamanashi Prefecture. 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 ...

, much of the city was destroyed by

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

bombers during a major air raid during the night of 6 July 1945. File:Flood disaster of 1907 of Kofu-City.jpg, 1907 Kōfu Flood File:Yoka-Machi Street Kofu-City 1912.JPG, 1912 Yoka-Machi Street File:Kofu city hall building of the second. Taken in 1918.jpg, 1918 Kōfu city hall building File:Air raid Kofu-City.jpg, Kōfu after the 1945 air raids（ Bombing of Kōfu in World War II）

Contemporary Ages

Kōfu was designated as one of the

special cities of Japan A of Japan was a category of Cities of Japan, cities in Japan in operation until 2015. Each special city had a population of at least 200,000, and was delegated functions normally carried out by Prefectures of Japan, prefectural governments. Thos ...

on April 1, 2000. On March 1, 2006, Kōfu, with a population of 193,795, absorbed the town of

Nakamichi is a Japanese consumer electronics brand that originated in Japan and gained a name from the 1970s onwards for innovative and high quality audio cassette decks. Nakamichi is a subsidiary of Chinese holding company Nimble Holdings. Nakamich ...

(from Higashiyatsushiro District), and the northern part of the village of Kamikuishiki (from Nishiyatsushiro District) increasing the population to 201,184. On April 1, 2019, Kōfu's city status is elevated into 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 ...

Government

Council

Kōfu 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 32 members. The city supplies nine members to the Yamanashi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between the

Yamanashi 1st district is a single-member electoral district for the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet of Japan located in western Yamanashi Prefecture. As of September 2022 it had 424,557 eligible voters. Before the introduction of single ...

and the Yamanashi 2nd district for the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, the lower house of the

National Diet The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (Japan), House of Councillors (, ...

of Japan.

External relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

International

;Sister Cities

National

;Sister City

Economy

The city is a regional commercial and transportation center for central Yamanashi Prefecture. Local industries include food processing including

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

production, textiles and crystalware.

Media

Yamanashi Broadcasting System , also known as YBS, is a Japanese broadcast network affiliated with Nippon News Network (NNN) and Nippon Television Network System (NNS). Its headquarters is located in Kōfu, Yamanashi. Network * TV: Nippon News Network (NNN) * RADIO: Ja ...

UHF Television Yamanashi , also known as UTY, is a Japanese broadcast network affiliated with the JNN. Its headquarters are located in Kōfu, Yamanashi. History Television Yamanashi was established on 1 April 1970 as the second broadcasting station located in Yamanashi ...

Education

Universities and Colleges

;Public *

University of Yamanashi The , abbreviated to , is a university that has campuses in Kofu and Chūō, Japan. The University of Yamanashi has its origin in “Kitenkan” which was founded in 1795 as a branch school of “Shoheizaka-School” of Tokugawa Government (late ...

Yamanashi Prefectural University is a public university in Kōfu, 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 ...

;Private *

Yamanashi Gakuin University Yamanashi Gakuin University (Japanese: 山梨学院大学, ''Yamanashi gakuin daigaku'') (YGU) is a university in Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. Yamanashi Gakuin was founded in 1946. Today, it is a comprehensive educational institution that ...

* Yamanashi Eiwa College *

Yamanashi Gakuin Junior College is one of the Private university, private junior college, junior Colleges located at Kōfu, Yamanashi in Japan. It was established in 1951, and is now attached to Yamanashi Gakuin University. It consists of two Academic department, departments. ...

Primary and secondary education

* Kōfu has 25 public elementary schools and 11 public junior high schools operated by the city government, as well as one national combined elementary/middle school. In addition, there are two private elementary schools and three private junior high schools. The city has eight public high schools operated by the Yamanashi Prefectural Board of Education, and five private high schools.

Transportation

Airways

Airports

The nearest airport is

Matsumoto Airport Matsumoto Airport (松本空港) , also known as Shinshu-Matsumoto Airport, is an airport located southwestAIS Japan
of c ...

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 Prefecture, Okinawa), Komatsu, Ishikawa, Komatsu, Kumamoto, and Kagosh ...

Haneda Airport , officially , and sometimes called as Tokyo Haneda Airport or Haneda International Airport , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Narita International Airport (NRT). It serves as the primary ...

Narita International Airport Narita International Airport ( ja, 成田国際空港, Narita Kokusai Kūkō) , also known as Tokyo-Narita, formerly and originally known as , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Haneda Airport ...

Railways

Conventional Lines

;

East Japan Railway Company 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 ...

（JR East） * JR CO line symbol

Chūō Main Line The , commonly called the Chūō Line, is one of the major trunk railway lines in Japan. It connects Tokyo and Nagoya, although it is the slowest direct railway connection between the two cities; the coastal Tōkaidō Main Line is slightly faste ...

：- - - ; JR logo (central)

Central Japan Railway Company（JR TōKai） * JR Central Minobu Line

Minobu Line The is a railway line in the Tōkai region of Japan operated by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central). It connects Fuji Station in Fuji, Shizuoka to Kōfu Station in Kōfu, Yamanashi, and the Tōkaidō Main Line with the Chūō Main ...

：- - - - - -

Buses

Bus Terminus

* Kōfu Station Bus Terminu

Roads

Expressway

Chūō Expressway The is a national expressway in Japan. It is owned and operated by NEXCO Central. Naming Officially the expressway is designated as the Chūō Expressway Nishinomiya Route (from Takaido Interchange to Komaki Junction), the Chūō Expressway Na ...

Japan National Route

* * * * * *

Local attractions

Historical Sites

* Kai Zenkō-ji *

Yōgaiyama Castle was a Sengoku period '' yamajiro'' located in Kai Province (present day Yamanashi Prefecture), constructed in the 1520s by the Takeda clan. Since 1991, the ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 1938. The castle is also know ...

* Ōmaruyama Kofun

Other sites

* Yumura Onsen *

Yamanashi Science Museum is a science museum located in Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. The museum specializes in astronomy, and technology. History The museum was originally located at Kofu Castle but was moved to its present location in 1998 when reconstructio ...

Culture

Festivals

Shingen-ko Festival

The biggest festival in Kōfu is the . It is held annually on the first or second weekend of April and celebrates the legacy of Takeda Shingen. The festival is three days long. Usually a famous Japanese celebrity plays the part of Takeda Shingen. There are several parades going to and from the Takeda Shrine and Kōfu Castle. This is the largest public

history play History is one of the three main genres in Western theatre alongside tragedy and comedy, although it originated, in its modern form, thousands of years later than the other primary genres. For this reason, it is often treated as a subset of trage ...

in Japan. In 2012 the event was included in the

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

as the "largest gathering of samurai" in the world with 1061 participants.

Sports

File:Vfk2009112101.jpg,

JIT Recycle Ink Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches. It serves as a home ground of Ventforet Kofu. The stadium holds 17,000 people and was built in 1985. It is a ...

File:Midorigaoka sports park.JPG,

Kofu Midorigaoka Sports Park Stadium is an athletic stadium in Kōfu, Yamanashi, Japan. It was formerly known as Yamanashi Prefectural Stadium until April 1988. It hosted the 1954 Emperor's Cup, and the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the ...

File:Kose sports park gymnasium.JPG, Arena of Kose sports park gymnasium File:Arena of Kose sports park gymnasium-1.JPG, Arena of Kose sports park gymnasium

Notable people from Kofu

Banjō Ginga , sometimes credited as his real name , is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator who was born in Kofu, Yamanashi. Ginga is affiliated with Aoni Production. He is married to voice actress Gara Takashima. Known for his deep baritone voice, ...

– voice actor *

Hideo Hagiwara was a Japanese artist who worked mainly with woodblock prints. He was born in Kōfu, Yamanashi. Between 1921 and 1929 he lived in Korea and Manchuria. He studied at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, where he graduated at the Oil Painting Section in ...

– woodblock print artist *

Tsuneo Horiuchi is a former professional baseball player in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, and a politician. A right-handed pitcher, in he was voted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. Baseball career Horiuchi played for the Yomiuri Giants his ...

– former manager of Yomiuri Giants baseball team *

Takao Kajimoto was a left-handed Japanese baseball pitcher for the Hankyu Braves from 1954 to 1973. He won 254 games and was a 12-time All-Star during his career. He is a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and Meikyukai. Career Kajimoto was signed b ...

– former professional baseball player and sports announcer *

Junichi Kanemaru is a Japanese voice actor and singer employed by 81 Produce as of 2020. His roles included Hayato Kazami in ''Future GPX Cyber Formula'', Ryo Akiyama in ''Digimon Tamers'' and Sonic the Hedgehog in the eponymous series since 1998. He came in e ...

- voice actor *

Yoshinobu Kanemaru is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he also works as a backstage producer. Kanemaru is best known for his work in Pro Wrestling Noah, where he holds the records for the most reigns with the GHC ...

– professional wrestler *

Hidetoshi Nakata is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest Asian players of all time. Nakata began his professional career in 1995 and won the Asian Football Confederation Player ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who last played with the

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, but has since retired following the 2006 World Cup. *

Naoko Takeuchi is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known as the author of ''Sailor Moon'', one of the most popular manga series of all time. She has won several awards, including the 1993 Kodansha Manga Award for ''Sailor Moon''. Takeuchi is married to ...

– manga artist, creator of ''

Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 52 individual chapters were published in 18 volumes. The seri ...

'' and other comics. *

Fujizakura Yoshimori Fujizakura Yoshimori (富士櫻栄守) (born 9 February 1948 as Hideo Nakasawa) is a former sumo wrestler from Kōfu, Yamanashi, Japan. His highest rank was ''sekiwake''. He wrestled for Takasago stable. He made his debut in 1963 and had one of t ...

– former sumo wrestler *

Ryūden Gōshi is a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture. He made his professional debut in March 2006 and first reached the top ''makuuchi'' division in January 2018. Ryūden has won a championship in every division except ''m ...

- sumo wrestler * Hiroki Nakamura – founder and designer of cult fashion brand

Visvim Visvim is a Manufacturing in Japan, Japanese menswear brand founded by Hiroki Nakamura in Ura-Harajuku in 2001. The brand is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, and has stores in Japan and the USA. Visvim is also sold internationally in department st ...

Mariko Tsutsui is a Japanese actress. Personal life Tsutsui graduated from Kōfu Daiichi High School in Yamanashi Prefecture. She dropped out of Aoyama Gakuin University. She later graduated from the Waseda University School of Social Sciences. As well as a ...

- actress with notable lead roles in

Kōji Fukada is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Career Born in Tokyo, Fukada had a father who was a film aficionado and he watched many films on VHS when he was young. It was when he was 19 years old studying at Taisho University and disco ...

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Harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

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A Girl Missing is a 2019 drama film written and directed by Kōji Fukada. It was entered into numerous international film festivals, including Locarno, Toronto, New York and Rotterdam. Plot Home nurse Ichiko works for the Oishi family, where she is treated a ...

List of mayors of Kofu

This is a list of Kofu majors starting from 1889. *Itsupei Wakao (若尾逸平) 29 August 1889 to 3 June 1890 *Tadao Takagi (高木忠雄) 11 July 1890 to 28 September 1897 *Hikotaro Ishihara (石原彦太郎) 6 November 1897 to 18 June 1898 *Kunsaku Kobayashi (小林董作) 19 September 1898 to 18 June 1906 *Tamizo Wakao (若尾民造) 24 July 1906 to 5 March 1907 *Heishiro Kato (加藤平四郎) 20 April 1907 to 17 August 1915 *Tadayoshi Natori (名取忠愛) 15 January 1916 to 25 June 1919 * 23 September 1922 to 14 March 1923 *Nobutsugu Hori (堀信次) 23 October 1919 to 19 June 1922 *Atsuo Ishii (石井淳雄) 31 July 1923 to 30 July 1927 *Jihei Narishima (成島治平) 8 October 1927 to 8 August 1931 *Eiji Shinkai (新海栄治) 24 August 1931 to 26 August 1935 * 12 September 1939 to 11 September 1943 *Itsuzo Saiki (斎木逸造) 27 August 1935 to 11 September 1939 *Jiro Noguchi (野口二郎) 12 September 1943 to 27 February 1946 *Moemon Imai (今井茂右衛門) 18 March 1946 to 3 September 1947 *Shigehisa Kawamura (川村茂久) 10 October 1947 to 25 December 1948 *Tatsuo Yamamoto (山本達雄) 25 February 1949 to 22 February 1953 *Keijiro Takano (鷹野啓次郎) 25 February 1953 to 11 November 1968 *Kiyoshi Akiyama (秋山清) 29 November 1968 to 24 February 1971 *Chikayoshi Kawaguchi (河口親賀) 25 April 1971 to 26 April 1983 *Chuzo Hara (原忠三) 27 April 1983 to 26 April 1991 *Hidehiko Yamamoto (山本栄彦) 27 April 1991 to 19 December 2002 *Masanobu Miyajima (宮島雅展) 3 April 2003 to 1 February 2015 *Yuichi Higuchi (樋口雄一) 2 February 2015 to Incumbent

References

External links

Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kofu, Yamanashi Cities in Yamanashi Prefecture Kōfu, Yamanashi