Iwata, Shizuoka
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former Mitsuke School in Iwata 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
Shizuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northea ...
,
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 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 169,897 in 68,215 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 ...
was 1,000 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Iwata is widely known as the headquarters of the
Yamaha Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational manufacturer of motorcycles, marine products such as boats and outboard motors, and other motorized products. The company was established in 1955 upon separation from Yamaha Corporation (however, Yamaha Corporation ...
. Iwata is also home to
Júbilo Iwata is a professional Japanese association football team that currently play in the J2 League. The team name ''Júbilo'' means 'joy' in Spanish and Portuguese. The team's hometown is Iwata, Shizuoka prefecture and they play at Yamaha Stadium. For ...
, a
J. League The , officially is Japan's professional football league including the first division J1 League, second division J2 League and third division J3 League of the Japanese association football league system. J1 League is one of the most succe ...
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
team, as well as
Yamaha Jubilo Shizuoka Blue Revs (formerly the Yamaha Júbilo) are a rugby union team based in Iwata, Shizuoka, Japan. The team came second behind Toshiba Brave Lupus in the second season of Japanese rugby's Top League (2004–05). They were coached by former ...
, a rugby team.


Geography

Iwata is located in southwestern Shizuoka Prefecture, bordered by the
Tenryū River The is a river in central Honshū, Japan. With a length of , it is Japan's ninth longest river. Its source is Lake Suwa in the Kiso Mountains near Okaya, Nagano, Okaya in Nagano Prefecture. It then flows through Aichi Prefecture and western Shi ...
to the west and with a small coastline 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 continen ...
to the south.


Surrounding municipalities

*Shizuoka Prefecture **
Hamamatsu is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. the city had an estimated population of 791,707 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, and a population density of . The total area of the site was . Overview ...
**
Fukuroi 270px, Shizuoka Stadium is a city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 88,395 in 34,842 households, and a population density of 820 persons per km². The total area of the city was . Fukuroi is a me ...
**
Mori Mori is a Japanese and Italian surname, and also a Persian pet name for Morteza. It is also the name of two clans in Japan, and one clan in India. Italian surname *Barbara Mori, Uruguayan-Mexican actress * Camilo Mori, Chilean painter * Cesare ...


Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Iwata has been increasing over the past 60 years.


Climate

The city has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and relatively mild winters (
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''). The average annual temperature in Iwata is . The average annual rainfall is with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .


History

Iwata is an ancient settlement, and human habitation dates from 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
obsidian Obsidian () is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements s ...
tools and
shell middens A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofac ...
having been found. Numerous
kofun are megalithic tombs or tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century CE.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞典』 ...
burial mounds are also found in the area of the city, which came under the control of the
Yamato dynasty The , also referred to as the Imperial Family or the House of Yamato, comprises those members of the extended family of the reigning Emperor of Japan who undertake official and public duties. Under the present Constitution of Japan, the Emperor i ...
around the time of the semi-legendary
Emperor Seimu , also known as , was the 13th legendary Emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. Both the ''Kojiki'', and the ''Nihon Shoki'' (collectively known as the ''Kiki'') record events that took place during Seimu's alleged l ...
. 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 ...
provincial capital A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the g ...
and
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
Tōtōmi Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today western Shizuoka Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tōtōmi''" in . Tōtōmi bordered on Mikawa, Suruga and Shinano Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . The or ...
were located in Iwata. 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 ...
, it developed as a post station on the Tokaidō highway connecting Edo with
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 ci ...
and contained
Mitsuke-juku was the twenty-eighth of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō. It is located in what is now the central part of the city of Iwata, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The post station received its name, which means "with a view," because it was ...
, one of the 53 stations on the road. With the establishment of the modern municipalities system of 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 ...
on October 1, 1889, Mitsuke Town within
Iwata District, Shizuoka was a district located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the district had an estimated population of 109,260 and a density of 171.17 persons per km2. The total area before the dissolution was 638.31 km2. On July 1, 2005, the town ...
was established. Later that year, Nakaizumi Town and Ninomiya Village merged to form Nakaizumi Town. These two towns merged on November 1, 1940 with Saikai Village and Tenryū Village to form the new town of Iwata. Iwata was raised to city status on April 1, 1948. On April 1, 2005, the neighboring towns of Fukude, Ryūyō and Toyoda, and the village of Toyooka (all from Iwata District) were merged into Iwata.


Government

Iwata 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 26 members. The city contributes three members to the Shizuoka Prefectural Assembly.


Economy

The economy of Iwata is primarily agricultural and is known for
green tea Green tea is a type of tea that is made from '' Camellia sinensis'' leaves and buds that have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process which is used to make oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China, and since the ...
and
melon A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a "pepo". The ...
s grown in greenhouses, which are called "Iwata melon". The
Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...
Corporation was founded in Iwata and maintains a strong presence in the city. Yamaha Motor's headquarters is in Iwata.
Suzuki Motor Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal com ...
has a vehicle assembly plant in Iwata.


Education

Shizuoka Sangyo University is a private university in Iwata city, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, established in 1988. Location * Iwata Campus (1572-1 Ohara, Iwata City, Shizuoka Prefecture) * Fujieda Campus (4-1-1 Surugadai, Fujieda City, Shizuoka Prefecture) Organiza ...
, a private university, is located in Iwata. Shizuoka Professional University Junior College of Agriculture a public professional Junior college, is located in Iwata since 2020. Iwata has 23 public elementary schools and 11 public middle schools operated by the city government. The city has four public high schools operated by the Shizuoka Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates two special education schools for the disabled. Iwata also has two international schools, the CEP Brasil – Centro Educacional e Profissionalizante – Brazilian schoolEscolas Brasileiras Homologadas no Japão

Archive
. Embassy of Brazil in Tokyo. Retrieved on October 13, 2015.
and the Escola Objetivo de Iwata Tia Rosa, a Brazilian primary school Iwata formerly hosted another Brazilian school, a primary school called Escola Nipo-Brasileira de Iwata.Escolas Brasileiras Homologadas no Japão
(). Embassy of Brazil in Tokyo. February 7, 2008. Retrieved on October 13, 2015.


Transportation


Railway

*
Central Japan Railway Company is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and in Japanese as JR Tōkai ( ja, JR東海, links=no). ''Tōkai'' is a reference to the geographical ...
-
Tōkaidō Main Line The is a major Japanese railway line of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) network, connecting and stations. It is long, not counting its many freight feeder lines around the major cities. The high-speed Tōkaidō Shinkansen largely parallel ...
** – *
Tenryū Hamanako Railroad Tenryū Hamanako Line Tenryū may refer to: *Tenryū, Shizuoka, a city *Tenryū, Nagano, a village *Tenryū River *Tenryū-ji, a temple * , several ships People with the name *Tenryū Saburō (Saburo Wakuta, 1903-1989), Japanese sumo wrestler and martial arts fighter * ...
** – –


Highway

*
Tōmei Expressway The is a national expressway on the island of Honshū in Japan. It is operated by Central Nippon Expressway Company. The expressway is designated as E1 under the "2016 Proposal for Realization of Expressway Numbering", because it parallels Nati ...
*


Sister City relations

* –
Dagupan City Dagupan, officially the City of Dagupan ( pag, Siyudad na Dagupan, ilo, Siudad ti Dagupan, fil, Lungsod ng Dagupan), is a 2nd class independent component city in the Ilocos Region, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...
,
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
from February 19, 1975 * – Mountain View,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
from June 4, 1976


Local attractions


National Historic Sites

* Tōtōmi Kokubun-ji * Former Mitsuke School * Mikuriyama Kofun group * Shinpōinyama Kofun group * Chōshizuka Kofun


Other

Near the north exit of JR Iwata Station is the Great Camphor tree of Zendo-ji. Believed to be 700 years old, it was once within the grounds of a Buddhist temple called Zendo-ji. Its height is 18.3 meters and its diameter at chest height is 2.87 meters. The root structure bulges out of the ground creating a second level, and the circumference at the portion touching the surface is 32.9 meters.


Notable people from Iwata

*
Masami Nagasawa is a common Japanese given name and can be given to either sex. Possible writings *惟美, meaning "Considerate beauty" *真己, meaning "True self" or "Truth, Snake" *昌美, meaning "Prosperous beauty" *雅美, meaning "Gracious beauty" * ...
– actress *
Saori Atsumi is a Japanese singer-songwriter. As of August 2013, she has released nine singles and three albums. Her second major album, was released on September 25, 2013. Personal life Saori Atsumi was born and raised in Iwata, Shizuoka. When she was you ...
– singer-songwriter *
Ryosuke Sasagaki is a former Japanese football player. His brother is Takuya Sasagaki. Club statistics References External links * 1985 births Living people Osaka Gakuin University alumni Association football people from Shizuoka Prefecture Japane ...
– professional soccer player *
Jun Mizutani is a retired Japanese table tennis player. He became the youngest Japanese national champion at the age of 17. His consecutive singles titles at the national championships from 2007 to 2011 made him the first man to win the event five times in ...
– professional table-tennis player *
Noriko Mizoguchi is a retired judoka from Japan. Overviews Mizoguchi claimed the silver medal in the Women's Half-Lightweight (– 52 kg) division at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. In the final she was defeated by Spain's Almudena Mu ...
– judoka *
Mima Ito is a Japanese table tennis player. She won a bronze medal in the Women's Team event at the 2016 Summer Olympics when she was 15 years old. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, she won the gold medal with her partner Jun Mizutani in the Mixed Doubles ev ...
– professional table-tennis player *
Shuji Ishikawa is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is a former Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, World Tag Team Champion and the winner of the 2017 Champion Carnival. Ishikawa is also known f ...
- professional wrestler


References


External links

* * * {{Authority control Cities in Shizuoka Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan