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 ...

Miyazaki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Miyazaki Prefecture has a population of 1,073,054 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 7,735 km2 (2,986 sq mi). Miyazaki Prefecture borders Ōita Prefecture to the north, Kuma ...

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 was founded on April 1, 1924. As of June 1, 2019, 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 161,137, with 70,549

household A household consists of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is im ...

s 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 247 per km². The total area is 653.36 km² making it the largest city in the prefecture in terms of area.

History

Miyakonojō is known as the birthplace of the

Shimazu Estate The was a '' shōen'' (estate or manor) in southern Kyushu of Japan, covering large portions of Satsuma, Ōsumi and Hyūga Provinces. It was the largest ''shōen'' of medieval Japan. The Shimazu clan took its name from this estate as the clan su ...

, the largest

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, ...

(estate or manor) of medieval Japan. In the 1020s, a powerful official named Taira no Suemoto developed a small manor named Shimazu-in. Expanded substantially in the first half of the 12th century, it eventually covered large portions of

Satsuma Satsuma may refer to: * Satsuma (fruit), a citrus fruit * ''Satsuma'' (gastropod), a genus of land snails Places Japan * Satsuma, Kagoshima, a Japanese town * Satsuma District, Kagoshima, a district in Kagoshima Prefecture * Satsuma Domain, a sou ...

, Ōsumi and

Hyūga Province was an old province of Japan on the east coast of Kyūshū, corresponding to the modern Miyazaki Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Hyūga''" in . It was sometimes called or . Hyūga bordered on Bungo, Higo, Ōsumi, and Sats ...

s. In 1185, Koremune no Tadahisa was appointed as ''

jitō were medieval territory stewards in Japan, especially in the Kamakura and Muromachi shogunates. Appointed by the ''shōgun'', ''jitō'' managed manors including national holdings governed by the provincial governor ( kokushi). There were also d ...

'' of the Shimazu Estate and thereafter claimed the clan name of Shimazu. It is said that one of Tadahisa's residences, called Iwayoshi Gosho, was located at Miyakonojō. Between 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 ...

and

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 ...

, the Hōngō family, which was a branch family of the Shimazus, controlled the area. After the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a clique seeking to seize political power in the name of the Imperi ...

, it became one of the cities to abolish the han system. In 1871, it became a prefecture for a year. On January 1, 2006, the towns of Takajō, Takazaki,

Yamada Yamada (山田, ) is the 12th most common Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese model, actress and idol *, Japanese field hockey player *, Japanese illustrator and manga artist *, Japanese rugby union player *, Ja ...

and Yamanokuchi (all from Kitamorokata District) were merged into Miyakonojō.

Geography

Climate

Miyakonojō 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° ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Cfa''), but is cooler than other cities in Miyazaki. The average temperature is , and it rains less than in Miyazaki City. The area's climate is influenced by its proximity to mountains.

Neighboring municipalities

Miyazaki Prefecture * Miyazaki * Nichinan *

Kobayashi Kobayashi (written: lit. "small forest") is the 8th most common Japanese surname. A less common variant is . Notable people with the surname include: Art figures Film, television, theater and music *, Japanese actress and voice actress *, ...

* Kushima * Mimata * Takaharu

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

* Soo * Kirishima * Shibushi

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Miyakonojō in 2020 is 160,640 people. Miyakonojō has been conducting censuses since 1920.

Industry

Many of Miyakonojō's citizens work as farmers. They produce ''gobō'', meat, and

bell pepper The bell pepper (also known as paprika, sweet pepper, pepper, or capsicum ) is the fruit of plants in the Grossum Group of the species ''Capsicum annuum''. Cultivars of the plant produce fruits in different colors, including red, yellow, orange ...

s. Miyakonojō is also home to some agriculture-related

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

. Miyakonojō is also famous for producing traditional Japanese archery bows from the abundant

bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...

in the area.

Education

Schools

Miyakonojō has 35 elementary schools and 19 junior high schools.

Notable residents

* Tomoji Tanabe, the world's oldest man 1895–2009, was born and lived in Miyakonojō.Oldest man marks 112th birthday
''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

'', 18 September 2007. *

Kōsei Inoue is a Japanese judoka. He won the gold medal in the under 100 kg class at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He is well known for his specialty throws, Uchi Mata (, inner thigh throw) and Ōuchi gari (, major inner reap). He is considered by th ...

, Olympic Gold Medalist in Judo. * Gōgen Yamaguchi, known as "The Cat", was a renowned

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

master of the

Gōjū-ryū , Japanese for "hard-soft style", is one of the main traditional Okinawan styles of karate, featuring a combination of hard and soft techniques. Both principles, hard and soft, come from the famous martial arts book used by Okinawan masters dur ...

style of

Karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

. *

Jūzō Yamasaki is a Japanese manga artist. His best known work is ''Tsuribaka Nisshi'' with art by Kenichi Kitami. Yamasaki originally wrote screenplays for Toei, but was laid off and decided to pursue a career in manga instead. He has won both the Shogakukan ...

, the

manga artist A is a comic artist who writes and/or illustrates manga. As of 2006, about 3,000 professional manga artists were working in Japan. Most manga artists study at an art college or manga school or take on an apprenticeship with another artist be ...

was born in Miyakonojō. *

Hideo Higashikokubaru is a Japanese politician. He originally rose to fame as a comedian and actor under the stage name , and was known for his role in the popular game show ''Takeshi's Castle''. He served as the Governor of Miyazaki Prefecture from 2007 to 2011, re ...

, a famous comedian and the former Governor of Miyazaki. *

Yuya Yanagi Yuya (sometimes Iouiya, or Yuaa, also known as Yaa, Ya, Yiya, Yayi, Yu, Yuyu, Yaya, Yiay, Yia, and Yuy) was a powerful ancient Egyptian courtier during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (circa 1390 BC). He was married to Thuya, an Egyptian nobl ...

, a professional baseball player for the

Chunichi Dragons The are a professional baseball team based in Nagoya, the chief city in the Chūbu region of Japan. The team plays in the Central League of Nippon Professional Baseball. They have won the Central League pennant nine times (most recently in 2011) ...

. *

Masatoshi Nagase is a Japanese actor. He is best known in the West for his roles in Friðrik Þór Friðriksson's ''Cold Fever'' and Jim Jarmusch's ''Mystery Train''. Nagase was described by Todd Brown of Twitch Film as "one of the great unsung heroes of Japane ...

, actor.

Current issues

Miyakonojō is experiencing a declining population. Several other cities in

are also facing this problem. Many schools are scheduled to close due to the declining population, which has resulted in fewer children.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Miyakonojo, Miyazaki Cities in Miyazaki Prefecture