was a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

located in

Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan. It consists of three main island groups—the Okinawa Islands, the Sakishima Islands, and the Daitō Islands—spread across a maritime zone approximately 1,000 kilometers east to west an ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. Agena Castle was built here, and the city was founded in the 17th century as . After the

Ryūkyū Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom was a kingdom in the Ryukyu Islands from 1429 to 1879. It was ruled as a Tributary system of China, tributary state of Ming dynasty, imperial Ming China by the King of Ryukyu, Ryukyuan monarchy, who unified Okinawa Island t ...

was annexed by Japan and the Magiri system abolished, the area was renamed Gushikawa village in 1908. Gushikawa was elevated to city status on July 1, 1968. As of 2003, the city had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 62,814 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

of 1,963.55 persons per km². The total area was 31.99 km². On April 1, 2005, Gushikawa, along with the city of Ishikawa, and the towns of Katsuren and Yonashiro (both from Nakagami District), was merged to create the city of Uruma.

Notable people from Gushikawa, Okinawa

* Tatsuo Shimabuku, Japanese karateka and founder of the

Isshin-ryū is a style of Okinawan karate created by Tatsuo Shimabuku (島袋龍夫) in approximately 1947/1948 (and named its present name on January 15, 1956). Isshin-Ryū karate is largely a synthesis of Shorin-ryū karate, Gojū-ryū karate, and k ...

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

style * Kikuyo Ishikawa, Japanese former

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

References

External links

City of Gushikawa website
(archives)
Uruma official website
Dissolved municipalities of Okinawa Prefecture {{Okinawa-geo-stub