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 Kanagawa 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 ...

. As of June 2012, 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 usi ...

of 58,087, 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 3,350 per km². The total area is .

Geography

Zushi is located at the head of Miura Peninsula, facing Sagami Bay on 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 ...

. The city is built on an alluvial plain formed by the and surrounded by low, steep hills.

Surrounding municipalities

* Kamakura * Yokosuka * Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama * Hayama

History

The area of Zushi has been inhabited since prehistoric times, and numerous Kofun period and Yayoi period remains have been discovered. 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 Japan ...

, it came under the control of the Miura clan, and during the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle b ...

formed part of the outer fortifications for Kamakura. The port of

Kotsubo Kotsubo (Red Bluff) is a small fishing village in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is half way between Zushi and the old Japanese capital of Kamakura. It is on Sagami Bay and just over one hour by train from Tokyo. Location and scenery Th ...

is mentioned frequently in the '' Azuma Kagami''. The name 'Zushi' has been written in many different ways, including . The term "zushi" itself means a street, an alley or an intersection and came to the Kantō region from

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the c ...

. One of its first appearances is in a Hōjō clan document as . 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 character ...

, along with most of eastern Sagami Province, the area was '' tenryō'' territory under direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate, and administered by various '' hatamoto''. In the April 1, 1889, cadastral reform 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 ...

, Tagoe Village within Miura District Kanagawa Prefecture was created through the merger of six local hamlets. Development of the area was encouraged by the opening of the Yokosuka Line railway on June 16, 1889. Tagoe Village changed its name to Zushi Village on April 1, 1924; however, on April 1, 1943 it was annexed by Yokusuka city. Zushi regained its status as an independent municipality on July 1, 1950, as Zushi Town. City status was gained on April 15, 1954. Zushi developed as a resort area in the 1960s, with the opening of Zushi Marina in 1967. In the mid-1990s, the city was the center of a political controversy involving the creation of a housing area for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

at Ikego, the site of a former

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

ammunition depot, to support the expansion of nearby Yokosuka Naval Base. When the citizens of Zushi first learned of these plans in the 1980s, they organized a movement to save the Ikego Forest. Led by the women of the town, the movement sought preservation of Ikego as a park and wildlife sanctuary. A decade of opposition by the citizens of Zushi had been effective in slowing the development. The construction was definitely forced through in 1994, when the Zushi Municipal Government finally accepted 854 housing units after winning a promise from the central government to Zushi and Kanagawa Prefecture that it would not build any more facilities in the Ikego area. However, a plan contravening this agreement was introduced in July 2003. To prevent the building of 800 additional U.S. military housing units a citizen's group called the Association to Stop the US Residential Construction and to Protect Ikego Forest launched an opposition movement in 2004.

Government and politics

2006 Zushi mayoral election The city of Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan held a mayoral election on December 10, 2006. The election was won by the Democratic Party of Japan The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * ...

Economy

Zushi is a popular beach resort, and has attracted many famous writers (e.g. Roka Tokutomi), media personalities (e.g. Yujiro Ishihara and

Mino Monta , born , is a Japanese television presenter. Mino is recognized by the ''Guinness World Records'' as being the TV host with the most hours of live TV appearances in a week (22 hours, 15 seconds), as of April 2008. This breaks his earlier 2006 rec ...

), musicians and politicians (e.g. Shintaro Ishihara) as either a residence or location for a second home. The city is largely a bedroom community for Tokyo and Yokohama. It is the home of Shonan Beach FM radio station ( FM and internet radio).

Transportation

Rail

* JR East – Yokosuka Line ** ・ * Keikyū Zushi Line ** ・・

Highways

* National Route 134

Local attractions

* Ganden-ji, number two of the

Bandō Sanjūsankasho The ("The Bandō 33 Kannon Pilgrimage") is a series of 33 Buddhist temples in Eastern Japan sacred to Goddess Kannon. Bandō is the old name for what is now the Kantō region,Donald Richie used in this case because the temples are all in the Pref ...

* Hosshō-ji, Nichiren-sect temple that is supposed to lie on the spot where Nichiren was rescued from a mob by three white monkeys.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Zushi is twinned with: * Ikaho, Gunma, Japan (1979) *

Nazaré, Portugal Nazaré () is a Portuguese town and municipality located in the Oeste region, in the historical province of Estremadura, and in the Leiria District. The municipality has a population of 14,889 in an area of 82.43 km2, while the town itself ...

(2004)

Notable people

* Takeshi Aikoh – professional baseball player * Nobuteru Ishihara – politician * Hirotaka Ishihara – politician * Risako Sugaya – singer * Kaori Yoneyama – professional wrestler * Tamio Kawachi – actor *

Rita Taketsuru , born Jessie Roberta Cowan, was a Scottish-Japanese businesswoman known as the wife of Masataka Taketsuru, the founder of Nikka Whisky Distilling, Nikka Whisky. Life She was born into a doctor's family

– wife of

Masataka Taketsuru was a Japanese chemist and businessman. He is known as the founder of Japan's whisky industry and Nikka Whisky Distilling. Born to a family that had owned a sake brewery since 1733, he traveled to Scotland in 1918 to study organic chemistry and ...

, founder of Nikka Whisky * Mutsuo Takahashi – writer

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Kanagawa Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Populated places established in 1950 1950 establishments in Japan