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

Shimane Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamaguc ...

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 ...

. As of March 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 38,875 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 92 persons per km². The total area is .

History

The ruins of

Gassantoda Castle Gassantoda Castle (月山富田城, ''Gassantoda-jō'') was a Japanese castle located in Yasugi, Shimane Prefecture. History It is believed the castle was built in the Heian period but this is unclear. Later the castle served as the seat of the ...

are in Yasugi. According to legend, the goddess

Izanami , formally known as , is the creator deity of both creation and death in Japanese mythology, as well as the Shinto mother goddess. She and her brother-husband Izanagi are the last of the seven generations of primordial deities that manifest ...

was buried here. In

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

, both holy and negative concept exists. The city was an ancient steel-making (tatara) center. The Yasugi Steel brand name bears the name of the city, and was established by Hitachi Metals, Ltd. Yasugi was elevated to

city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose. Historically, city status ...

on April 4, 1954. On October 1, 2004, the towns of Hakuta and Hirose (both from Nogi District) were merged into Yasugi.

Sightseeing

The

Adachi Museum of Art The opened in Yasugi, Shimane Prefecture, Japan in 1970. It houses a collection of modern Japanese art, including paintings by Taikan Yokoyama, and has a celebrated garden. Its six gardens and around 1,500 exhibits of Japanese paintings, p ...

has a widely known

Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desig ...

and a collection of contemporary

Japanese painting is one of the oldest and most highly refined of the Japanese visual arts, encompassing a wide variety of genres and styles. As with the history of Japanese arts in general, the long history of Japanese painting exhibits synthesis and competitio ...

s, comprising approximately 1,300 of the country's most highly regarded paintings produced after the

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 ...

and centering on the works of

Yokoyama Taikan was the art-name of a major figure in pre-World War II Japanese painting. He is notable for helping create the Japanese painting technique of ''Nihonga''. Early life Yokoyama was born in Mito city, Ibaraki Prefecture, as the eldest son of S ...

. In 2021, the gardens of the Adachi Museum were ranked as the best in Japan for the 19th year in a row. There is a free shuttle between JR Yasugi Station and the museum (20 minutes). Other sightseeing spots include: * Soil scoop experience dojo place * Yasugi Bushi Art Center

Culture

The city is known for Yasugibushi, a well-known folk song (Minyo) in Japan.

Infrastructure

In June 2022, Shimane prefecture's governor

Tatsuya Maruyama is a Japanese politician and current governor of Shimane Prefecture. Political career He ran for office as an independent during the Shimane gubernatorial election in 2019, winning 43.58% of the vote. In February 2020, he criticized South ...

approved the restart of Unit 2 of the Chugoku Electric Power Company's nuclear power plant. Based in Matsue, Yasugi, along with

Izumo Izumo (出雲) may refer to: Locations * Izumo Province, an old province of Japan * Izumo, Shimane, a city located in Shimane Prefecture ** Izumo Airport * Izumo-taisha, one of Japan's most ancient and important Shinto shrines Ships * ''Izumo ...

and

Unnan is a city located in Shimane Prefecture, Japan. The city belonged to Ohara District, which dissolved in 2004 after Unnan was established. The modern city of Unnan was established on November 1, 2004, from the merger of the towns of Daitō, ...

, all within 30 kilometers, approved the plan to restart of the

boiling water reactor A boiling water reactor (BWR) is a type of light water nuclear reactor used for the generation of electrical power. It is a design different from a Soviet graphite-moderated RBMK. It is the second most common type of electricity-generating nu ...

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Yasugi is twinned with: *

Miryang Miryang (perhaps pronounced as Milbeol using Idu script), formerly also spelled as 推火郡 (probably pronounced as Milbeol or Miribeol using Idu script), Milbeol (密伐) and Milseong (密城), is a city in Gyeongsangnam-do Province, South Ko ...

Gyeongsangnam-do South Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상남도, translit=Gyeongsangnam-do, ) is a province in the southeast of South Korea. The provincial capital is at Changwon. It is adjacent to the major metropolitan center and port of Busan. The UNESCO World H ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

References

External links

Yasugi City official website

Adachi Museum of Art
Cities in Shimane Prefecture {{Shimane-geo-stub