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

Nagasaki Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Nagasaki Prefecture has a population of 1,314,078 (1 June 2020) and has a geographic area of 4,130 Square kilometre, km2 (1,594 sq mi). Nagasaki Prefecture borders ...

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 ...

. Matsuura City is bordered on three sides by mountains. Matsuura Bay, which leads to the

Genkai Sea The is a body of water that comprises the southwestern tip of the Sea of Japan and borders the northern coasts of Fukuoka and Saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game B ...

, makes up the fourth side. As of April 1, 2017, 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 23,566 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 180 persons per km². The total area is 130.37 km².

History

Mention of a "Matsuura County" appears in written records from 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. ...

, and this area was the home of the

Matsuura clan Matsuura (written: 松浦) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Akiko Matsuura, Japanese drummer *Atsushi Matsuura (footballer born 1982), former Japanese football player *Atsushi Matsuura (footballer born 1981), forme ...

, a local warrior clan. Takashima, within the borders of the modern town, is the location where the

Mongol invasions of Japan Major military efforts were taken by Kublai Khan of the Yuan dynasty in 1274 and 1281 to conquer the Japanese archipelago after the submission of the Korean kingdom of Goryeo to vassaldom. Ultimately a failure, the invasion attempts are of mac ...

, floundered due to the winds of

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

s in 1274 and 1281, giving rise to the legend of the ''

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

''. In 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 ...

, the area was largely under the control of the

Hirado Domain was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It is associated with Hizen Province in modern-day Nagasaki Prefecture.

. The discovery of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

seams 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 ...

led to the rapid economic development of the area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; however, the coal mines closed in the 1960s. The modern city was founded on March 31, 1955 through the merger of several towns and villages. On January 1, 2006, Matsuura absorbed the towns of

Fukushima may refer to: Japan * Fukushima Prefecture, Japanese prefecture ** Fukushima, Fukushima, capital city of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan ***Fukushima University, national university in Japan *** Fukushima Station (Fukushima) in Fukushima, Fukushim ...

and Takashima (both from Kitamatsuura District) to become the current and expanded city of Matsuura.

Geography

Climate

Matsuura 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 Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

:''Cfa'') with hot summers and cool winters. The average annual temperature in Matsuura is . The average annual rainfall is with August as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around . Its record high is , reached on 25 August 2020, and its record low is , reached on 24 January 2016.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Matsuura in 2020 is 21,271 people. Matsuura has been conducting censuses since 1920. Matsuura's population peaked in 1960, when the population exceeded 60,000, and has since declined slowly; in 2020, the city's population is only 50% of what it was in the 1950s.

Overview

Matsuura City is a grouping of small towns, outlying communities, and some islands. Former Shisa Town is the most populated area and makes up downtown and central Matsuura City. East from Shisa is Tsukinokawa, and further east is Imafuku Township, which were separate towns until a few years ago. Aoshima is a fairly small island in the bay.

and Takashima are the largest. Fukushima and Takashima can be accessed by bridge. Fukushima and Tsukinokawa are known for their cascading rice terraces.

Economy

Matsuura is located in a primarily rural area, with several industrial companies located near the city center including a steel works, a commercial fish market, and a regional power plant. The amount of catch at Matsuura fish market is about 89,294 tons. (8th place in Japan)

Sister cities

Mackay Mackay may refer to: *Clan Mackay, the Scottish clan from which the surname "MacKay" derives Mackay may also refer to: Places Australia * Mackay Region, a local government area ** Mackay, Queensland, a city in the above region *** Mackay Airpor ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

References

External links

* *
Matsuura City official website
Cities in Nagasaki Prefecture {{Nagasaki-geo-stub