is one of nine

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

s of

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

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 ...

. It has an area of 14.68 km² and a population of 109,144 (as of 2020). The area's location with a natural harbour near the

Akashi Strait The is a strait between the Japanese islands of Honshu and Awaji. The strait connects Seto Inland Sea and Osaka Bay. The width of the Akashi Strait is approximately 4 kilometers, and maximum depth is about 110 meters. The fastest tidal curren ...

which links

Osaka Bay Osaka Bay (大阪湾 ''Ōsaka-wan'' ) is a bay in western Japan. As an eastern part of the Seto Inland Sea, it is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Kii Channel and from the neighbor western part of the Inland Sea by the Akashi Strait. I ...

and the

Seto inland sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka Ba ...

has been an important location throughout the history of Japan. The capital of Japan was located in the area for a short period in the 12th century. Today the area is an important manufacturing zone. The modern

of Hyogo was formed as Sōsai-ku () when Kobe adopted the system of wards in 1931. Its name was changed to Hyogo in 1933 and its current boundaries were settled in 1971. The floral emblem of the ward is the

pansy The garden pansy (''Viola'' × ''wittrockiana'') is a type of polychromatic large-flowered hybrid plant cultivated as a garden flower. It is derived by hybridization from several species in the section ''Melanium'' ("the pansies") of the ge ...

Etymology

The literal meaning of the two

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

that make up the name Hyogo is "weapons warehouse". From 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 Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

, the area was also known as .

History

Pre Edo period

The features of the natural harbour around Wadamisaki Peninsula has meant the port in Hyogo has been an important gateway to the

since the 8th-century

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from 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 capita ...

. In the 12th century, in the latter part of the

Taira no Kiyomori was a military leader and '' kugyō'' of the late Heian period of Japan. He established the first samurai-dominated administrative government in the history of Japan. Early life Kiyomori was born in Japan, in 1118 as the first son of Taira ...

recognized the strategic benefit of the location and developed the harbor, including the building of , a man-made island completed in 1173 and described as 37 hectares in size in

The Tale of the Heike is an epic account compiled prior to 1330 of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185). It has been translated into English at least five times. ...

. Kiyomori, the de facto ruler of Japan between 1160 and 1180, moved his official residence to Fukuhara, in what is modern-day Hyogo. Fukuhara became the capital of Japan for a brief period near the end of Kiyomori's rule. A monument erected shortly after his death, the ''Kiyomori-zuka'', stands in the gardens of a shrine opposite Kiyomori Bridge, also named in his honour.

Edo-Meiji periods

During the Edo period Hyogo was within the

Yatabe District Yatabe (written: or ) is a common Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese screenwriter, anime director and sound director *, Japanese rugby union player *, Japanese botanist See also *Yatabe Domain was a feudal ...

Settsu Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises the southeastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture and the northern part of Osaka Prefecture. It was also referred to as or . Osaka and Osaka Castle were the main center of the province. Most of Settsu's ...

. Although Japan was placed under isolation by the ruling

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

, Hyogo Port remained an important route for domestic trade. Given its importance, Hyogo Port was under the direct administration of the Shogunate via the

Osaka machi-bugyō were officials of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were usually '' fudai'' daimyō, but this was amongst the senior administrative posts open to those who were not daimyō.Beasley, William G. (195 ...

. In 1868, at the end of the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, Hyogo port was one of the first to be opened to foreign vessels, ending Japan's 250-year long isolation. As part of the Shogunate's efforts to protect Japan from Western colonial forces, the defence of Hyogo Port was upgraded with the construction of the Wadamisaki Battery, one of six land batteries built around Osaka Bay under the design of Count

Katsu Kaishū Count , born , best known by his nickname , was a Japanese statesman, naval engineer and military commander during the late Tokugawa shogunate and early Meiji period. Kaishū was a nickname which he took from a piece of calligraphy (Kaishū S ...

. It was completed in 1864 after 18 months of construction at a cost of 25,000 ''

ryō The was a gold currency unit in the shakkanhō system in pre- Meiji Japan. It was eventually replaced with a system based on the '' yen''. Origins The ''ryō'' was originally a unit of weight from China, the ''tael.'' It came into use in Ja ...

''. The outer

enceinte Enceinte (from Latin ''incinctus'' "girdled, surrounded") is a French term that refers to the "main defensive enclosure of a fortification". For a castle, this is the main defensive line of wall towers and curtain walls enclosing the positio ...

was built of

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

from the

Shiwaku Islands The or are an archipelago in the Seto Inland Sea, between the larger Japanese islands of Honshu and Shikoku. The group is part of Kagawa Prefecture and consists of 28 islands of various sizes. To the northwest, in Okayama Prefecture lie the K ...

and the inner two-storey structure was made of keyaki (Japanese elm) wood harvested from the Nunobiki and Tekkai Mountains in Kobe. In 1921 the battery was the first place in Hyogo Prefecture to be designated as a historic site by the prefectural government. Also, the Wadamisaki Lighthouse was completed in 1871 under the guidance of the "father of Japanese lighthouses", Englishman

Richard Henry Brunton Richard Henry Brunton FRGS MICE (26 December 1841 – 24 April 1901) was a British engineer known as the "Father of Japanese lighthouses". Brunton was born in Muchalls, Kincardineshire, Scotland. He was employed by the government of Meiji pe ...

, who was brought to Japan by the Shogunate under an 1867 agreement with the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

to build five western-style lighthouses around Osaka Bay. The original lighthouse, which was first illuminated in 1872, was a wooden octagonal structure. This was replaced with a 17m tall, three-story, steel hexagonal structure in 1884. The steel lighthouse was moved to the Suma Kaihin (Seaside) Park in Suma-ku in 1967 and in September 1998 it was registered as a national tangible cultural asset under the name .

Modern period

On 1 September 1931, the city of Kobe was the 6th city in Japan to adopt the system of dividing the city into wards. The area of the previous Hyogo town which lay west of the Minato River became Sōsai-ku (). The area of Hyogo town which lay east of the Minato River became part of Sōtō-ku (). On 1 January 1933, Sōsai's name was changed to Hyogo in recognition of the area's historic name.

Bombing during World War II

The concentration of military and industrial manufacturing facilities including

Kobe Steel Kobe Steel, Ltd. (株式会社神戸製鋼所, ''Kabushiki gaisha Kōbe Seikō-sho'') is a major Japanese steel manufacturer headquartered in Chūō-ku, Kobe. Kobelco is the unified brand name of the Kobe Steel Group. Kobe Steel has the low ...

Kawanishi Aircraft Company The was a Japanese aircraft manufacturer active during World War II. History The company was founded as Kawanishi Engineering Works in 1920 in Hyōgo Prefecture as an outgrowth of the Kawanishi conglomerate, which had been funding the Nakajima ...

Kawasaki Aircraft Industries and the Kawasaki and

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...

Shipyards made the city of Kobe a primary target of bombing by the United States during World War II. It suffered the highest fatality rate of the five major Japanese cities (the others being

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Yokohama,

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

and

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

). The first attack upon Kobe was by one

B-25 bomber The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served ...

as a part of the Dolittle Raid on 18 April 1942. With Japan's success in expanding its territory through south-east Asia at the time, an attack by foreign aircraft was not expected at the time and it was reported that some residents even waved flags at the plane as it flew overhead, thinking it was a Japanese aircraft. One resident of Hyogo ward was the only fatality of the bombing of Kobe on that day. In 1945, the United States changed tactics from strategic bombing of military sites to indiscriminate bombing of cities, including the use of incendiary cluster bombs. The first successful firebombing raid against Japan was an attack on Kobe on 4 February 1945. The bombing was centred upon Hyogo and Minato wards. With the final attack upon eastern Kobe in June 1945, the United States command determined that Kobe had been destroyed to the extent that further attacks upon the city were not required. By the end of the war, Kobe had suffered more than 7,400 deaths due to the air raids (Hyogo-ku had suffered 1250 deaths.). Hyogo suffered the highest toll in terms of both lives lost and buildings destroyed.

1995 Kobe earthquake

At 5:46 on 17 January 1995, the (also known as the Kobe earthquake) devastated Kobe and the surrounding cities of the Hanshin region. Along with buildings that collapsed due to the earthquake, large areas of wooden houses and buildings burnt uncontrolled for many days, particularly in Nagata and Hyogo wards. A total of 6,434 people died in the earthquake, of which the city of Kobe recorded fire as the cause of death of 528 people. Infrastructure in Hyogo was also significantly damaged by the earthquake. The underground Daikai Station collapsed and brought down National Route 28 that runs above it. The loss of lives and infrastructure saw Hyogo lose a significant portion of its population; the ward's population has failed to return to its 1994 level twenty years later.

Geography

Hyogo is bounded by

to the south, Kita Ward to the north, Nagata Ward to the west and Chūō Ward to the east. It features the eastern portion of a network of canals named the "Hyogo Canals" (''Hyogo Unga'') in the south, and its northern border is at the base of the Rokko mountains.

Hyogo Canals

The ''Hyogo Unga'' is the generic name for the network of five canals located along the southern coast of Hyogo and Nagata Wards, facing Osaka Bay. The canals have a total length of 6,470 metres and total area of almost 34 hectares, making it one of the largest canal networks in Japan. They were first planned in the 1870s and completed in December 1899. The five canals are: #Shinkawa Canal – The first canal to be completed, it was built between 1874 and 1876. #Hyogo Canal #Hyogo Feeder Canal #Karumojima Canal – The longest canal at 2,200m. #Shinminatogawa Canal – The shortest canal at 320m.

Boundary changes

Sōsai-ku was one of eight wards established when the system of wards was adopted by the city on 1 September 1931. Following the name change to Hyogo in 1933, the next change occurred on 1 May 1945 when the city restructured the wards, with Hyogo expanded to include Minato-ku, the western portion of Sōtō-ku, and the portion of Hayashida-ku that lay east of the Hyogo Canals.。 On 1 March 1947, the city of Kobe expanded due to the merger of the town of

Arima Arima, officially The Royal Chartered Borough of Arima is the easternmost and second largest in area of the three boroughs of Trinidad and Tobago. It is geographically adjacent to Sangre Grande and Arouca at the south central foothills of the ...

and nine other villages from the districts of Muko,

and Akashi. Of these, Arima town and the villages Yamada in Muko and Arino in Arima District became a part of Hyogo ward. On 1 July 1951 the villages of Hata,

Dōjō A is a hall or place for immersive learning, experiential learning, or meditation. This is traditionally in the field of martial arts. The term literally means "place of the Way" in Japanese. History The word ''dōjō'' originates fro ...

and Ōzō that were located in Arima District merged into Kobe and Hyogo ward. On 15 October 1955 Nagao village in Arima merged into Kobe and Hyogo ward. This was followed by the village Ōgo of Minō District on 1 February 1958. This expansion northwards made Hyogo the largest of Kobe's wards in size, encompassing 256.4 km² of Kobe's 557 km². On 1 August 1973, the area of Hyogo north of the Rokko mountains, consisting of all of the former villages from the districts of Arima, Minō and Muko, were split from Hyogo to create the new Kita-ku. This reduced Hyogo to its current size of 14.68 km².

Economy

Industry

Hyogo is one of the main industrial areas of Kobe.

Fujitsu Ten is a Japanese company developing and manufacturing car audio, video, navigation and control systems. The headquarters is located in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. As its name shows, Denso Ten belongs to the Denso group led by Denso Corp., whic ...

is headquartered within the ward, and other large corporations including

Kawasaki Heavy Industries is a Japanese Public company, public multinational corporation manufacturer of motorcycles, engines, Heavy equipment (construction), heavy equipment, aerospace and Military, defense equipment, rolling stock and ships, headquartered in Minato, To ...

Mitsubishi Electric is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational electronics and electrical equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company was established in 1921 as a spin-off from the electrical machinery manufacturing d ...

and

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the prede ...

have manufacturing facilities in Hyogo. In particular, railcars for the bullet train are manufactured in Hyogo by Kawasaki.In 2018 one of the renowned aerospace firms of USA established its subsidiary in Kobe called Swift Xi.

Arts and culture

Temples and shrines

Buddhist temples

As well as several monuments to Kiyomori, Hyogo is also the location of ''Nōfuku-ji'' temple, home of the ''Hyogo Daibutsu'', an 11-metre-tall statue of Buddha. This statue is the second generation, erected in 1991. The first one was erected in 1891 and was one of the three great Buddhist statues of Japan (), but was dismantled due to World War II.

Shinto shrines and festivals

Yanagihara Ebisu Shrine is in the centre of Hyogo, close to Hyogo Station. It hosts the , an annual festival held from 9 to 11 January in honour of Ebisu, the Shinto god of commerce. At the event people pray for success in their business, the health and safety of their family, and success in studies and obtaining employment. ''Tōka-Ebisu'' is the most important cultural event in Hyogo throughout the year. A is held annually from 18 to 19 January at two

Hachiman shrine A is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the ''kami'' Hachiman. It is the second most numerous type of Shinto shrine after those dedicated to Inari Ōkami (see Inari shrine). There are about 44,000 Hachiman shrines. Originally the name 八幡 was rea ...

s within Hyogo, the Minatogawa Hachiman Shrine and Misaki Hachiman Shrine. People who are approaching an "unlucky age" (

yakudoshi , or "calamitous years," are ages that in Japan are traditionally believed to be unlucky. Unlucky years The ages most often considered unlucky in Japan are 25, 42, and 61 for men, and 19, 33, and 37 for women, though there is much regional vari ...

) attend the shrine during the two days in order to undergo a yakuharai ritual to ward off unlucky spirits.

Other places of worship

Soka Gakkai is a Japanese new religions, Japanese new religion led by Minoru Harada since December 2023 based on the teachings of the 13th-century Buddhist priest Nichiren. It claims the largest membership among Nichiren Buddhism, Nichiren Buddhist group ...

church is located in the Misaki neighbourhood, close to the eastern end of the Hyogo canal. A

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a Christian denomination that is an outgrowth of the Bible Student movement founded by Charles Taze Russell in the nineteenth century. The denomination is nontrinitarian, millenarian, and restorationist. Russell co-fou ...

church is also located in the Misaki-Honmachi neighbourhood.

Entertainment

The Shinkaichi area in eastern Hyogo, with its numerous cinemas, theatres and restaurants, was known as the "Western

Asakusa is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known for Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as . History The development of Asaku ...

" in the period before World War II. File:Kobe-hirukojinjya19.JPG, Main hall of Yanagihara Ebisu Shrine File:Shinkaichi.jpg, Pre-war Shinkaichi

Demographics

Hyogo-ku's population is decreasing now. There is the second Vietnamese community in Kobe.

Sports

Misaki Park Stadium is the home of the

Vissel Kobe is a Japanese professional football club based in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. They are currently the J1 League champions. The club's home stadium is Noevir Stad ...

professional soccer and

Kobelco Steelers The Kobelco Kobe Steelers are a Japanese rugby union team owned by Kobe Steel, and based in Kobe. They were the first ever Top League champions when the League started in the 2003-2004 season. The team rebranded as Kobelco Kobe Steelers ahead of ...

professional rugby teams. The stadium hosted matches during the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

and will also be one of the hosts of the

2019 Rugby World Cup The 2019 Rugby World Cup () was the ninth edition of the Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's rugby union teams. It was hosted in Japan from 20 September to 2 November in 12 venues all across the country. The opening matc ...

. It was built on the site of the former Kobe Central Stadium, which occupied the location from 1970 until 1999. At the time of its construction, the Central Stadium was the first rectangular ball sports stadium built in Japan with lighting for night matches. It hosted one of the groups

1979 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship, the second staging of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA World Youth Championship, was held in Japan from 26 August to 7 September 1979. It was the first FIFA tournament played in Asia. The tournament took place i ...

as well as a quarter final and semi final of the tournament. The Kobe

Keirin – "racing track" – is a form of Motor-paced racing, motor-paced cycle racing in which track cycling, track cyclists sprint for victory following a speed-controlled start behind a motorized or non-motorized pacer. It was developed in Japan ...

Stadium previously occupied the site and was in use from 1949 until 1960.

Government

Hyogo is administered by the Hyogo ward office, which is located next to Minatogawa Station and Minatogawa Park. The Hyogo Police Station of the Hyogo Prefectural Police is located in the same vicinity and is responsible for policing the ward (excluding the marine areas that fall within the Kobe Water Police's jurisdiction). It maintains 14

kōban A is a small neighborhood police station found in Japan. The term also refers to the smallest organizational unit in a modern Law enforcement in Japan, Japanese prefectural police force. Small kōban buildings, staffed by uniformed officers at ...

("police boxes") within the ward and a substation near Hyogo Station. The ward is represented by 5 councilors in the 69-seat Kobe City council assembly. In the April 2015 unified local elections, two candidates from the

Liberal Democratic Party Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

and one each from the

Komeito , formerly New Komeito (NKP) and commonly referred to as simply Komei, is a political party in Japan founded by the leader of Soka Gakkai, Daisaku Ikeda, in 1964. It is generally considered centrist and socially conservative. Since 2012, i ...

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

and

Innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or service (economics), services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a n ...

/ Democratic (joint endorsement) were elected to the council. Takashi Moriya, an LDP member elected to his sixth term in the council, was subsequently elected by the council's members to serve as the council's chairman. Hyogo has two representatives on the 86-seat

Hyogo Prefectural Assembly The is the prefectural parliament of Hyōgo Prefecture. The assembly's 87 members are elected every four years in 40 districts by single non-transferable vote. Nine of the electoral districts correspond with the wards of Kobe city and the rema ...

. At the April 2015 election

Issei Matsuda are Japanese immigrants to countries in North America and South America. The term is used mostly by ethnic Japanese. are born in Japan; their children born in the new country are (, "two", plus , "generation"); and their grandchildren are ( ...

of the Komeito Party was elected to his fourth term and Shigetoshi Fukushima of the Liberal Democratic Party was elected to his first term. At the national level, the wards of Hyogo, Nagata and Kita form Hyogo No. 2 District in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

Kazuyoshi Akaba is a Japanese politician who served as the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism from September 2019 to October 2021. He is also a member of the House of Representatives, representing the Hyogo 2nd district since 2012. A member ...

of the

Party has represented the district from 1993 to 2009 and again from 2012 until present, most recently elected to his 7th term in the December 2014 general election. Upon his return to the Diet in 2012 Akaba served as a Senior Vice-Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry and Senior Vice-Minister for the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...

in Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe (21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (Liberal Democratic Party (Japan), LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. ...

's second cabinet from December 2012 until September 2014. Voter turnout at the December 2014 general election was 45.7% of Hyogo's 89,848 eligible voters, the second lowest percentage in Kobe and below the national turnout rate of 52.66%. Electors in Hyogo also vote to elect members to the House of Representatives as part of the

Kinki proportional representation block Kinki Proportional Representation Block is one of the 11 proportional representation blocks in the House of Representatives in Japan. Summary Kinki is usually defined as comprising the following regions: Osaka Prefecture, Hyōgo Prefecture, Kyo ...

. For the

House of Councillors The is the upper house of the National Diet of Japan. The House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives is the lower house. The House of Councillors is the successor to the pre-war House of Peers (Japan), House of Peers. If the t ...

, Hyogo is within the Hyogo at-large district, which covers the entire prefecture and elects a total of 4 councilors, while residents also vote for the national PR block.

Education

The following educational institutions are located in Hyogo:

High schools

references: * Kobe Technical High School (operated by the Hyogo Prefectural Government) * Hyogo Technical High School (operated by the Hyogo Prefectural Government) * Kobe Gakuin University High School (operated by

Kobe Gakuin University is a private, co-educational university located on the western edge of the city of Kobe, in Hyōgo Prefecture in Japan. It was founded in 1966 and overlooks the city of Akashi, the Akashi Straits and the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge - the longest su ...

) * Kusunoki Senior High School (operated by the City of Kobe) * Shinko Senior High School (operated by the City of Kobe)

Junior high schools

All junior high schools in Hyogo are operated by the City of Kobe: *Hyogo JHS **Hyogo JHS (Northern Campus) *Minatogawa JHS *Susano JHS *Yoshida JHS *Yumeno JHS

Elementary schools

All elementary schools in Hyogo are operated by the City of Kobe: *Arata ES *Egeyama ES *Hamayama ES *Hirano ES *Hyogo Daikai ES *Kobe Gion ES *Meishin ES *Minatoyama ES *Mizuki ES *Wadamisaki ES *Yumenono'oka ES

Special education

*Kobe Yuusei Special Education School: A school for physically and mentally handicapped children, it has classes for children from kindergarten to high school.

Infrastructure

Transportation

Rail

Hyogo is served by the

JR Kobe Line JR, J. R. or Jr. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' J R'', a 1975 novel by William Gaddis * J. R. Ewing, a ''Dallas'' television character * JR Chandler, an ''All My Children'' television character * '' Jornal da Record'', a Brazilian ne ...

and Wadamisaki spur line, the

Kaigan is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The current administrative place names are Kaigan 1-chome to Kaigan 3-chome. It is an area where the residential address has been displayed. Kaigan 1-chome belongs to the Shiba, Tokyo, Shiba district general ...

and Seishin-Yamate lines of the

Kobe Municipal Subway The is a rapid transit system in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Like other large Japanese cities, Kobe's subway system is heavily complemented by suburban rail. In addition, two people mover lines also serve the Kobe area: the Port Island Line ...

Shintetsu Arima Line The is a commuter railway line in Kobe, Japan operated by Kobe Electric Railway. It connects central Kobe with its northern suburbs in Kita-ku and Arima Onsen. The line is long, extending from in Hyogo-ku to in Kita-ku. Service is divided ...

of the

Kobe Electric Railway , often called , is a Japanese private railway company in Kobe and surrounding cities. It is a subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Lines * Arima Line ( Minatogawa - Arima Onsen) * Sanda Line ( Arimaguchi - Sanda) * Kōen-Toshi Line ( Yok ...

, and the Tozai Line (which carries

Hankyu , trading as , is a Japanese private railway company that provides commuter and interurban service to the northern Kansai region. It is one of the flagship properties of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., in turn part of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho G ...

Hanshin , derived from the second kanji from and the first kanji from (but in ''on''-reading instead of ''kun''-reading), refers generally to Osaka, Kobe, and the surrounding area in the Kansai region of Japan. In the context of a region of Hyōgo ...

and

Sanyo is a former Japanese electronics manufacturer founded in 1947 by Toshio Iue, the brother-in-law of Kōnosuke Matsushita, the founder of Matsushita Electric Industrial, now known as Panasonic. Iue left Matsushita Electric to start his own bu ...

services).

Road

Japan National Route 2 is a major highway on the islands of Honshū and Kyūshū in Japan. It follows the old Sanyōdo westward from the city of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture in the Kansai region to the city of Kitakyūshū in Fukuoka Prefecture, passing through the Sa ...

is the main arterial road through the area. Route 3 (Kobe Route) of the

Hanshin Expressway The is a network of expressways surrounding Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto, Japan. History Operated by , it opened in 1962. Portions of the Hanshin Expressway about east of Fukae Station collapsed during the Kobe earthquake on 17 January 1995 ...

runs above National Route 2 and the Yanagihara entrance/exit ramp provides a connection point. Other highways that run through the ward include National Routes 28 and 428.

Utilities

Water utilities in the ward are under the responsibility of the Kobe city water bureau. The Okuhirano Water Purification Plant, located in Kusudani-cho in the north of the ward, was opened in 1900 and was the 7th modern waterworks plant to be constructed in Japan. It occupies a 65,000m² site and is capable of processing 60,000m³ of water per day. The Kobe Water Science Museum is also located on the site. Hyogo Post Office is the main office of

Japan Post was a Japanese statutory corporation that existed from 2003 to 2007, offering postal and package delivery services, Retail banking, banking services, and life insurance. It is the nation's largest employer, with over 400,000 employees, and ru ...

within the ward. It is located in Daikaidōri, in the centre of the ward, and operates a further 19 offices within the ward.

Wholesale market

The Kobe City Central Wholesale Market ( :ja:神戸市中央卸売市場) is located on Nakanojima Island, in the southeastern corner of the ward. The market was first built in Hyogo port in 1932 and was the fifth such market to be opened in Japan. The market sells seafood, fruit and vegetables via wholesale and auction, and operates a further two markets in Nagata and Higashinada wards. There are restaurants and retail shops on site and an Aeon shopping mall opened opposite the market in September 2016. The Chūō-Ichibamae Station of the Kaigan subway line is located beneath the market.

Notable people

* (1878–unknown) – silent film actor * (born 1961) –

rakugo is a form of Japanese verbal comedy, traditionally performed in '' yose'' theatres. (Bibliographyvolume 38(1)article
T ...

musician * (1886-unknown) – sumo wrestler *

Hide Kawanishi was a Japanese painter. His work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics The 1932 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the X Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1932) were an international ...

(1894–1965) – printmaker and painter * (born 1963) – songwriter and producer * (born 1980) – baseball player *

Nobuo Okishio was a Japanese Marxian economist and emeritus professor of Kobe University. In 1979, he was elected President of the Japan Association of Economics and Econometrics, which is now called Japanese Economic Association. Okishio studied mathematic ...

(1927–2003) – economics professor * (1901–1961) – actor *

Takatōriki Tadashige is a former sumo wrestler and professional wrestler from Kobe, Japan. He made his professional debut in 1983, reaching the top division in 1990. His highest rank was '' sekiwake.'' Known for his great fighting spirit, he won 14 tournament prize ...

(born 1967) – sumo wrestler * (born 1969) – television presenter and Kobe city councillor * (born 1957) – singer *

Knock Yokoyama was a Japanese politician and comedian. Born Isamu Yamada (山田勇 ''Yamada Isamu'') in Asahikawa (Hokkaido), he adopted his current stage name while directing the ''Manga Trio'' manzai troupe from 1959 to 1968. Following his comedy years, he ...

(1932–2007) – comedian and politician *

Hishofuji Hiroki Hishofuji Hiroki (born July 14, 1989 as Hiroki Sumi) is a former sumo wrestler from Hyōgo-ku, Kobe, Japan. The highest rank he reached was Juryo 13, which he held for just a single basho. He wrestled for Nakamura stable until it closed down ...

(born 1989) – sumo wrestler and Professional wrestling, Professional wrestler

Notes

: Opened in 2009 as a result of a merger of Kikusui, Higashiyama, Hiyodorigoe and Yumeno Elementary Schools.

References

External links

Official website of Hyōgo-ku, Kobe
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hyogo-ku, Kobe Wards of Kobe