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 on the north-eastern tip of the
Shimabara Peninsula, facing
Ariake Bay
The is a body of salt water surrounded by Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, and Kumamoto Prefectures, all of which lie on the island of Kyūshū in Japan. It is the largest bay in Kyūshū. Its deepest point is only about 50 meters (165 ft) deep, and ext ...
in the east and
Mount Unzen (including
Fugendake) in the west, in
Nagasaki Prefecture
is a 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 km2 (1,594 sq mi). Nagasaki Prefecture borders Saga Prefecture to the northeast.
N ...
,
Kyushu
is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...
,
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 October 1, 2016, 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 44,936 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 540 per km². The total area is 82.77 km².
Economy
Shimabara is a popular tourist destination, due to its historical associations, location in
Unzen-Amakusa National Park
is a national park in Nagasaki, Kumamoto, and Kagoshima Prefectures, Japan. Established in 1934, the park derives its name from Mount Unzen, an active volcano at the middle of the Shimabara Peninsula, and the Amakusa islands in the Yatsushiro ...
, and numerous ''
onsen
In Japan, are the country's hot springs and the bathing facilities and traditional inns around them. As a volcanically active country, Japan has many onsens scattered throughout all of its major islands. There are approximately 25,000 hot ...
''. The most popular tourist destination within the urban area is
Shimabara Castle
, also known as and , is a Japanese castle located in Shimabara, Hizen Province (present day Nagasaki prefecture). This five-story white building stands in stark contrast to the black Kumamoto Castle in neighboring Kumamoto Prefecture.
Descript ...
and the nearby "''Samurai'' Street". The city has so much natural spring water, both hot and cold, that it runs through the streets. On Carp Street,
koi swim in the canals.
Principal agricultural products include
mandarin orange
The mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), also known as the mandarin or mandarine, is a small citrus tree fruit. Treated as a distinct species of orange, it is usually eaten plain or in fruit salads. Tangerines are a group of orange-colou ...
s,
tea, and
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
.
History
Shimabara is a
castle town
A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, a ...
, which was the capital of
Shimabara Domain
The was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It is associated with Hizen Province in modern-day Saga Prefecture.DF_...,_who_were_''Kirishitan">DF_6-7_of_80/nowiki>">DF_...,_who_were_''Kirishitan_daimyō.html" ;"title="Kirishitan.html" ;"title ...
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 ...
. It was the site of considerable foreign trade and missionary activity during the late
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 ...
, and in the early Edo period, a large percentage of the population were ''
Kirishitan
The Japanese term , from Portuguese ''cristão'' (cf. Kristang), meaning "Christian", referred to Catholic Christians in Japanese and is used in Japanese texts as a historiographic term for Catholics in Japan in the 16th and 17th centuries. ...
''. Due to misgovernment, high taxes and persecution of Christianity, the population rose up during the
Shimabara Rebellion
The , also known as the or , was an uprising that occurred in the Shimabara Domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan from 17 December 1637 to 15 April 1638.
Matsukura Katsuie, the '' daimyō'' of the Shimabara Domain, enforced unpopular p ...
of 1637, which was suppressed with extreme severity by the
Tokugawa Bakufu
The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encycloped ...
. Shimabara was ruled by a branch of the
Matsudaira clan
The was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan. It originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture). During the Sengoku period, the chieftain of the main line of t ...
from 1668 to 1774 and from 1774 to 1871.
Modern Shimabara City was founded on April 1, 1940 by the merger of former town of Shimabara with several surrounding villages.
On January 1, 2006, the town of
Ariake (from
Minamitakaki District) was merged into Shimabara.
Throughout its history, Shimabara has been dominated by the seismic activity of Mount Unzen. A major
volcanic eruption
Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra (ash, lapilli, volcanic bombs and volcanic blocks), and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are oft ...
in 1792 resulted in a
tsunami
A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...
that destroyed most of the town and killed over 15,000 people, in one of Japan's worst volcanic disasters. In more recent history, major eruptions in 1990–1991 resulted in
pyroclastic flow
A pyroclastic flow (also known as a pyroclastic density current or a pyroclastic cloud) is a fast-moving current of hot gas and volcanic matter (collectively known as tephra) that flows along the ground away from a volcano at average speeds of b ...
s, which killed 43 people and forced the temporary evacuation of hundreds of others. The 5th International Conference of Cities on Volcanoes was held in Shimabara on November 19–23, 2007.
Geography
Climate
Shimabara 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:''Cfa'') with hot summers and cool winters. The average annual temperature in Shimabara is . The average annual rainfall is with June 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 11 August 2016, and its record low is , reached on 25 January 2016.
Demographics
Per Japanese census data, the population of Shimabara in 2020 is 43,338 people.
[ Shimabara has been conducting censuses since 1920. The city's population peaked in the 1950s with more than 60,000 people. In 2020, Shimabara's population is only about 75% of what it was in the 1950s.
]
Culture
Festivals
Shimabara is host of the Shimbara Water Festival on the first weekend of August. There are also festivals in Minamishimabara, like the Marine Festival in Kuchinotsu and the Minamishimabara Sakura Festivals.
Notable people
* Koumei Nakamura, celebrity chef
A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...
* Évelyne Sunatori, celebrity ALT of the JET programme
References
External links
*
Shimabara City official website
Shimabara City official website
Shimabara Peninsula
Visit Nagasaki website
Cities in Nagasaki Prefecture
{{Nagasaki-geo-stub