is the capital

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 ...

Kōchi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Kōchi Prefecture has a population of 669,516 (1 April 2023) and has a geographic area of 7,103 km2 (2,742 sq mi). Kōchi Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the northwest and Tok ...

located on the island of

Shikoku is the smallest of the List of islands of Japan#Main islands, four main islands of Japan. It is long and between at its widest. It has a population of 3.8 million, the least populated of Japan's four main islands. It is south of Honshu ...

in Japan. With over 40% of the prefectural population, Kōchi is the main commercial and industrial centre and the "

primate city A primate city is a city that is the largest in its country, province, state, or region, and disproportionately larger than any others in the urban hierarchy. A ''primate city distribution'' is a rank-size distribution that has one very large ...

" of the prefecture. , the city had an estimated population of 311,224 in 163,479 households, and a population density of 1,000 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Overview

A symbol of the city is its most famous dish,

katsuo Katsuo (written: , , or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese basketball player *, Japanese boxer *, Japanese boxer *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese sumo wrestler *, Japanese actor *, Japanese l ...

tataki Two methods of preparing fish or meat in Japanese cuisine are called or . In Japanese language, Japanese, means "pounded" or "hit into pieces". Cooked food In the first method, the meat or fish is seared very briefly over a hot flame or i ...

'', made by lightly

searing Searing or pan searing is a technique used in grilling, baking, braising, roasting, sautéing, and the like, in which the surface of the food (usually meat such as beef, poultry, pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the ...

and seasoning bonito.

Cityscape

File:Kochi Japan.jpg,

Skyline A skyline is the wikt:outline, outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city's overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural area, rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the ...

of Kōchi City（2006） File:080229 Obiyamachi Street Kochi Kochi pref Japan01s.jpg, Obiyamachi in Downtown Kōchi City（2008） File:Nichiyoichi.jpg, Sunday street markets（2009） File:Kochi-City.jpg, CBD of Kōchi City（2010） File:高知城天守からの景色3 Kochi Castle - panoramio.jpg, Views from Kōchi Castle Keep Tower（2013） File:Kochi Castle, enkei.jpg, Kōchi Castle（2020）

Geography

Kōchi is located on the southern coast of Kōchi Prefecture, facing the Pacific Ocean to the south. The city area can be divided into three distinct geographic sections. The urban centre lies at the head of Urado Bay, in a narrow

alluvial plain An alluvial plain is a plain (an essentially flat landform) created by the deposition of sediment over a long period by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A ''floodplain'' is part of the process, bei ...

crossed by several rivers, notably the Kagami River and Kokubu River. The plain is bounded by mountains to the north and a range of hills to the south and west. The northern mountains form the least densely populated part of the city, with the only settlement being along narrow river valleys. The highest point in Kōchi is Kuishi-yama at . To the south of the city centre, Urado Bay cuts through the hills to its outlet into the Pacific Ocean. The land surrounding the bay and a small strip of the coastline form the third part of the city. This area, although hillier and less dense than the plain, is nevertheless a major location of housing and port-related

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

Neighbouring municipalities

Kōchi Prefecture * Ino * Nankoku * Tosa City * Tosa Town

Climate

Kōchi has a very wet

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Cfa''), receiving twice as much rainfall as Shikoku's other chief cities

Matsuyama 270px, Matsuyama City Hall 270px, Ehime Prefectural Capital Building is the capital city of Ehime Prefecture, on the island of Shikoku, in Japan and is also Shikoku's largest city. , the city had an estimated population of 505,948 in 243,541 h ...

and

Takamatsu file:Takamatsu City Hall.jpg, 270px, Takamatsu City Hall file:Takamatsu city center area Aerial photograph.2007.jpg, 270px, Aerial view of Takamatsu city center file:Takamatsu200910cut.JPG, 270px, View from Yashima to Takashima port is a capital ...

. It is also the most

typhoon A typhoon is a tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere and which produces sustained hurricane-force winds of at least . This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, accounting for a ...

-prone of Japan's major cities owing to its location directly exposed to the open Pacific Ocean from which the storms enter the country, and has twice received over of rainfall in a day from a typhoon.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kōchi increased rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s before peaking around the year 2000 and going into decline.

History

Feudal period

As with all of Kōchi Prefecture, the area of Nahari was part of ancient

Tosa Province was a province of Japan in the area of southern Shikoku. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Tosa''" in . Tosa bordered on Awa to the northeast, and Iyo to the northwest. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichidō syst ...

. The river plain now containing the city centre was originally settled as 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, ...

around Kōchi Castle, the seat of the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

'' of

Tosa Domain The was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, controlling all of Tosa Province in what is now Kōchi Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. It was centered around Kōchi Castle, and was ruled throughout its ...

. The castle site was chosen by Yamauchi Kazutoyo in 1601 to replace the earlier seats of the Chōsokabe clan who had previously ruled in province. The city takes its name from that of the castle. As the centre of administration for the province, and the prefecture which succeeded it, the town rapidly grew to become the largest settlement of the region. File:Chosokabe.jpg,

Chōsokabe Motochika was a prominent ''daimyō'' in Japanese Sengoku period, Sengoku-period. He was the 21st chief of the Chōsokabe clan of Tosa Province (present-day Kōchi Prefecture), the ruler of Shikoku, Shikoku region. Early life and rise He was the son and ...

File:Yamauchi Katsutoyo01s3872.jpg, Yamauchi Kazutoyo File:Kochi Castle08s3872.jpg, Kōchi Castle

Meiji period

During the time of 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, Kōchi became famous as a centre of pro-imperial ideology, and later for incubating democratic and

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

movements. The city was incorporated on April 1, 1889, with the establishment of the modern municipalities system.. Tram service began in the city on May 2, 1904, and the city was connected to the national rail network on November 12, 1951. File:Statue Sakamoto Ryouma.JPG, Sakamoto Ryouma File:Itagaki Taisuke01.JPG,

Itagaki Taisuke Kazoku, Count Itagaki Taisuke (板垣退助, 21 May 1837 – 16 July 1919) was a Japanese samurai, politician, and leader of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement (自由民権運動, ''Jiyū Minken Undō''), which evolved into Japan's firs ...

WWII air raid

Kōchi was selected as a target by the United States'

XXI Bomber Command The XXI Bomber Command was a unit of the Twentieth Air Force in the Mariana Islands for strategic bombing during World War II. The command was established at Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas on 1 March 1944. After a period of organization and ...

because of the city's status as a prefectural capital, and the fact that it was a centre for industry and commercial trade. On July 3, 1945, at 6:22 pm (JST) 129 aircraft took off to bomb Kōchi. 1060 tons of incendiary bombs were dropped on Kōchi, destroying 48% of the built up areas of the city, killing 401 civilians and rendering over 40,000 homeless.

Modern period

On April 1, 1998, the city was designated as the first

core city In urban planning, a historic core city or central city is the municipality with the largest 1940 population in the present metropolitan area (metropolitan statistical area). This term was retired by the US census bureau and replaced by the term ...

on Shikoku. On January 1, 2005, the villages of Kagami and Tosayama, both from Tosa District were merged into Kōchi. On January 1, 2008, the town of Haruno (from Agawa District) was also merged into Kōchi.

Government

Kōchi 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 consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

city council of 42 members. The current mayor (since 2023) is Ryugo Kuwana. Kōchi contributes 15 members to the Kōchi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between the Kōchi 1st district and Kōchi 2nd districts of the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

International relations

International

;Sister cities ;Friendship cities ;Sister ports

National

;Sister cities

Education

Universities

Kōchi is home to two universities,

Kōchi University is List of national universities in Japan, one of the 86 national universities of Japan located in Kōchi, Kōchi, Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture. The predecessors Toya-gakusha (later Kochi Normal School) was founded in 1874, Kochi Higher School in 19 ...

(national) and University of Kochi (prefectural), and four

junior college A junior college is a type of post-secondary institution that offers vocational and academic training that is designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations or support roles in professions such as engineering, a ...

s including Kochi Junior College. ;National university *

;Public university * University of Kochi（ Kōchi Prefectural University） ;Private university *Kochi Gakuen University * The Open University of Japan *University of Kochi Health Sciences

Schools

;Elementary and secondary education Kōchi has 39 public elementary schools, 17 public middle schools and one public high school operated by the city government, one private and one national elementary school, and five private combined middle/high schools. The city has eight public high schools administered by the Kōchi Prefectural Department of Education. The prefecture also operates one middle school and one combined middle/high school.

Transport

Airport

* Kōchi Ryōma Airport, located in nearby Nankoku

Railways

Kōchi is located on the

JR Shikoku The , commonly known as , is the smallest of the seven constituent companies of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates of intercity and local rail services in the four Prefectures of Japan, prefectures on the island of Shikoku in Jap ...

's Dosan Line connecting it to northern Shikoku, and via interchanges with the

Tosa Kuroshio Railway The is a third-sector railway company in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan. The name comes from the former Tosa Province and the Kuroshio Current. The company was founded in 1986, and operates three lines: a former Japanese National Railways (JNR) line ...

to the eastern and western parts of Kōchi Prefecture. JR's central station in Kōchi is Kōchi Station.

Conventional lines

Shikoku Railway Company

Dosan Line *

Tramways

The most visible form of transport within Kōchi is the tram service run by Tosaden Kōtsū. Its three lines with historic cars service the major north–south and east–west axes of the city. ; Tosaden Kōtsū * Gomen Line * Ino Line * Sanbashi Line

Busways

The city also has an extensive bus network.

Highways

Kōchi is also serviced by the Kōchi interchange of the Kōchi Expressway which connects to the national expressway system.

Expressway

Kōchi Expressway * JP Expressway E55

Kōchi-Tōbu Expressway

Japan National Route

* * * * * *

Seaways

*Port of Kōchi

Tourism

Kōchi Castle still exists in its pre- restoration form, and is one of the main tourist attractions. Other places of interest in the city centre are the shopping arcade, the regular Sunday street markets which are close to a kilometre in length, and , a bridge that featured in a famous Kōchi song about the forbidden love of a Buddhist priest.

Local attractions

The mountain holds a public park with views of the city, and is home to stop 31 on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, Chikurin-ji, as well as the Makino Botanical Garden. Off Museum Road (Kenritsu Bijutsukandori) is The Museum of Art, Kōchi, where the main collection is composed of expressionistic works related to Kōchi. The

Former Yamauchi Residence The in Kōchi, Kōchi, Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan belonged to the Yamauchi clan, Yamauchi ''daimyō'' of Tosa Domain. The nagaya (architecture), ''nagaya'' of 1864, 33.4m x 5.7m, twin storey, with a Irimoya, hip-and-gable tiled roof, is an ...

and Tosa Yamauchi Family Treasury and Archives are also to be found in the city. File:Katsurahama Aquarium 01.jpg, Katsurahama Aquarium File:200104 Kochi Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden01s5.jpg, Makino Botanical Garden File:Sakamoto Ryoma Memorial Museum.jpg, Sakamoto Ryōma Memorial Museum File:Kochi City Sawada Mansion Aug. 12, 2016.jpg, Sawada Mansion

Historic spots

;Castle * Kōchi Castle *Urado Castle ruins ;Shrine The

Shinto Shrine A Stuart D. B. Picken, 1994. p. xxiii is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more kami, , the deities of the Shinto religion. The Also called the . is where a shrine's patron is or are enshrined.Iwanami Japanese dic ...

'' Tosa jinja'' is located to the west. ;Temples Temples No.30 ( Zenrakuji, No.31( Chikurin-ji) and No.33 ( Sekkei-ji) on the Shikoku Pilgrimage are located in the city. At the mouth of Urado Bay, the remnants of Urado Castle (an earlier provincial seat) stand above Katsurahama, a famous beach with an aquarium and statue of the Kōchi hero Sakamoto Ryōma. Nearby on the grounds is the Sakamoto Ryōma Memorial Museum. File:Tosa-jinja haiden-1.JPG, Tosa jinja File:Chikurin-ji Temple - panoramio (1).jpg, Chikurin-ji

Culture

Yosakoi Performers at Kochi Yosakoi Matsuri 2008 40

Festival・Events

;Festival Kōchi's most famous festival is the Yosakoi which is held in August. Teams of dancers dance to traditional and modern songs at various places around Kōchi. The total number of dancers is in the thousands. * Yosakoi ;Events *Sunday street markets

Gourmet

* Katsuo-no-tataki *

Katsuobushi is simmered, smoked and fermented skipjack tuna (''Katsuwonus pelamis'', sometimes referred to as bonito). It is also known as bonito flakes or broadly as . Shaved ''katsuobushi'' and dried kelp—''kombu''—are the main ingredients of ...

*Sawachi Sushi *Tosa-maki

Museums

* Kōchi Castle Museum of History * Kōchi Literary Museum * Ryōma's Birthplace Memorial Museum * Sakamoto Ryōma Memorial Museum * The Museum of Art, Kōchi

Sports

File:Haruno baseball park.JPG, Kōchi Fighting Dogs
（Kochi Prefectural Haruno Baseball Stadium） File:Harunokyu20090213a.jpg, Kochi United SC
（ Kochi Haruno Athletic Stadium） File:Kochi Racecouse 20080720.jpg, Kochi Racecourse

Horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

File:Ryouma st1.JPG, Kōchi

Velodrome A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement ...

（Ryoma Stadium）

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 ...

File:Kochi Prefectural Gymnasium01ss3200.jpg, Kochi Prefectural Gymnasium

Notable people from Kōchi

* Ryōko Hirosue (born 1980), actress and singer *

Okada Izō was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period, feared as one of the four most notable assassins of the Bakumatsu period. He was a member of (Tosa Imperialism party, a loyalist clique of Tosa) in his hometown, Tosa Domain. Izō and Tanaka Sh ...

(1832–1865), samurai * Kusunose Kita (1836–1920), advocate for women's rights * Akihiro Kitamura (born 1979), actor and director *

Tomitaro Makino was a pioneer Japanese botanist noted for his taxonomic work. He has been called "Father of Japanese Botany", having been one of the first Japanese botanists to work extensively on classifying Japanese plants using the system developed by Carl ...

(1862–1957), botanist *

Nakahama Manjirō , also known as John Manjirō (or John Mung), was a Japanese samurai and translator who was one of the first Japanese people to visit the United States and an important translator during the Bakumatsu, opening of Japan.* He was a fisherman bef ...

(1827–1898), samurai and translator * Hideshi Matsuda (born 1954), car racer and TV reporter *

Tetsuya Nomura is a Japanese video game artist, designer, producer, and director working for Square Enix. He was hired by Square initially as a monster designer for ''Final Fantasy V'' (1992), before being shifted towards secondary Character design of Final F ...

(born 1970), video game designer * Fumio Nutahara (born 1963), rally driver * Toshiko Okanoue (born 1928), avant-garde artist * Sakamoto Ryōma (1836–1867), samurai and politician * Tsutomu Seki (born 1930), astronomer *

Sumi Shimamoto , known professionally as , is a Japanese actress, voice actress and narrator of film, anime and video games. She has voice acted in Hayao Miyazaki's movies '' Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind'', '' The Castle of Cagliostro'', '' My Neighbor ...

(born 1954), voice actress *

(1837–1919), politician * Baba Tatsui (1850–1888), legislative reformer *

Noa Tsurushima Noa Tsurushima (鶴嶋乃愛 ''Tsurushima Noa''; born 24 May 2001) is a Japanese actress and model represented by Oscar Promotion. Early life Tsurushima was born in Kōchi Prefecture, Japan on 24 May 2001. Filmography Television series Fil ...

(born 2001), actress and model *

Nobuo Uematsu is a Japanese composer and keyboardist best known for his contributions to the ''Final Fantasy'' video game series by Square Enix. A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve, with English singer-songwriter Elton Joh ...

(born 1959), composer and keyboardist

References

External links

Kōchi City official website

Kōchi City official website

Yosakoi Festival in Kōchi City

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kochi, Kochi Cities in Kōchi Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan