is 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

Kagoshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,527,019 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 9,187 Square kilometre, km2 (3,547 Square m ...

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 ...

. , 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 90,918 in 46610 households, and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...

of 130 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

History

Satsumasendai is part of ancient

Satsuma Province was an old province of Japan that is now the western half of Kagoshima Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Satsuma" in . Its abbreviation was . History Satsuma's provincial capital was Satsumasendai. Dur ...

and is the location of the

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 ...

Satsuma Kokubun-ji and the

provincial capital A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational division, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encomp ...

of Satsuma Province. It was part of the holdings of

Satsuma Domain The , briefly known as the , was a Han system, domain (''han'') of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Satsuma Domain was based at Kagoshima Castle in Satsuma Province, the core of the modern city of ...

in 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 ...

From 1889 to 2004

* April 1, 1889 - Creation of the modern municipalities system ** Satsuma District : the villages of Kumanojō, Takae, Nagatoshi, Hirasa, Kami-Tōgō, Shimo-Tōgō, Hiwaki and Iriki. ** Taki District : the villages of Taki and Mizuhiki. ** Minami-Isa District : the villages of Ōmura, Kuroki and Imuta. ** Koshikijima District : the villages of Kami-Koshiki Shimo-Koshiki. * March 29, 1896 - The districts of Taki, Minami-Isa and Koshikijima were merged into Satsuma District. * May 20, 1929 - The villages of Kumanojō, Hirasa and Higashi-Mizuhiki were merged to become town of Sendai. * July 1, 1933 - The village of Nishimizuhiki was renamed to Mizuhiki. * February 11, 1940 - the town of Sendai was elevated city status to become the city of Sendai. * November 10, 1940 - The village of Hiwaki was elevated to town status to become the town of Hiwaki. * October 1, 1948 - The village of Iriki was elevated to town status to become the town of Iriki. * April 1, 1951 - The village of Mizuhiki was merged into the city of Sendai. * December 1, 1952 - The village of Kami-Tōgō was elevated to town status to become the town of Tōgō. * April 1, 1955 - The villages of Ōmura, Kuroki and Imuta were merged to become the town of Kedōin. * September 30, 1956 - The villages of Takae and Nagatoshi were merged into the city of Sendai. * April 1, 1957 ** Part of Shimo-Tōgō was merged into the town of Tōgō and the village of Taki (respectively). ** Remainder of Shimo-Tōgō was merged into the city of Sendai. * January 1, 1960 - The village of Taki was elevated to town status to become the town of Taki. * April 15, 1965 - The town of Taki was merged into city of Sendai. * October 12, 2004 - the city of Satsumasendai was created from the merger of the city of Sendai, Kagoshima, the towns of Hiwaki, Iriki, Kedōin and Tōgō, and the

Koshikijima Islands The in the East China Sea are an island chain located west of the port city of Ichikikushikino, Kagoshima. Major islands Minor islands All minor islands are currently (as of 2017) uninhabited. #seems to undergo significant erosion and m ...

(which consisted of the villages of Kamikoshiki, Kashima, Sato and Shimokoshiki) (all from Satsuma District).

Geography

Satsumasendai is located in northwest Kagoshima Prefecture, about 40 kilometers northwest of Kagoshima City, and covers almost the entire area of the Sendai Plain, facing the

East China Sea The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...

to the west. The urban center is located in the western part of the city about 10 kilometers inland from the coast. The Sendai River, which flows east to west through the city area, has the second largest drainage area in Kyushu. In the eastern part of the city area is Imuta Pond, which was designated designated a

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

, in the East China Sea about 40 kilometers west of the mainland, is also included in the boundaries of Satsumasendai. The islands are also part of the Koshikijima Quasi-National Park.

Neighboring municipalities

Kagoshima Prefecture *

Aira ''Aira'' is a genus of Old World plants in the grass family, native to western and southern Europe, central and southwest Asia, plus Africa. The common name, shared with the similar related genera '' Deschampsia'' and ''Koeleria'', is hair-gras ...

* Akune * Hioki * Ichikikushikino * Izumi *

Kagoshima , is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 583,966 in 285,992 households, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Etymology While the ...

* Kirishima *

Satsuma Satsuma may refer to: * Satsuma (fruit), a citrus fruit * ''Satsuma'' (gastropod), a genus of land snails Places Japan * Satsuma, Kagoshima, a Japanese town * Satsuma District, Kagoshima, a district in Kagoshima Prefecture * Satsuma Domain, a ...

Climate

Satsumasendai has a

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'') with hot summers and mild winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year, and is heavier in summer, especially the months of June and July. The average annual temperature in Satsumasendai 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 19 August 2013, and its record low is , reached on 24 January 2016.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Satsumasendai in 2020 is 92,403 people. Satsumasendai's population has been declining slowly since the census began in 1950, although there was a brief recovery in the 1980s.

Government

Satsumasendai 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 26 members. Satsumasendai contributes three members to the Kagoshima Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Kagoshima 3rd district 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 ...

Economy

The city has a mixed economy and is a regional commercial and industrial center. A major employer is Kyushu Electric's Sendai Nuclear Power Plant.

Education

Satsumasendai has 26 public elementary schools, 13 public junior high schools and one public high school by the city government, and three public high schools operated by the Kagoshima Prefectural Board of Education. There is also one private combined middle/high school. The city is also home to

Kagoshima Immaculate Heart University file:Kagoshima Immaculate Heart University.JPG, Kagoshima Immaculate Heart University is a private university, private women's university in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1933, and it was chartered as ...

, founded in 1994, which has a small population of foreign students.

Transportation

Railways

JR Kyushu The , also referred to as , is one of the seven constituent companies of Japan Railways Group (JR Group). It operates intercity rail services within Kyushu, Japan. It formerly operated the Beetle hydrofoil service across the Tsushima Strait be ...

Kyushu Shinkansen The is a Japanese Shinkansen high-speed railway network. It is an extension of the San'yō Shinkansen from Honshu connecting the city of Fukuoka (Hakata Station) in the north of Japan's Kyushu Island to the city of Kagoshima (Kagoshima-Chuo Sta ...

Kagoshima Main Line The is a major railway line operated by the Kyushu Railway Company (JR Kyushu) between Mojiko Station, Mojikō in Kitakyushu, and Kagoshima Station in Kagoshima, Kagoshima, Kagoshima City, at the southern end of Kyushu. Until March 13, 2004, it ...

: - -

Hisatsu Orange Railway is a third-sector railway company which operates Hisatsu Orange Railway Line in Kumamoto and Kagoshima prefectures. The line follows the former part of the JR Kyushu Kagoshima Main Line that connected Yatsushiro and Sendai in Kumamoto and K ...

* - - - -

Highways

Minamikyushu Expressway * * * *

Sister cities

Changshu Changshu (; Suzhounese: /d͡ʐan¹³ ʐoʔ²³/) is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, and is part of the Yangtze River Delta. It borders the prefecture-level city of Nantong to the northeast across the Yangt ...

, China, friendship city since 1991友好都市
- Satsumasendai City * Malu Town,

Jiading District Jiading is a suburban district of Shanghai. As of the 2020 Chinese census, it had a population of 1,834,258. History Jiading was historically a separate polity from Shanghai until it came under the administration of Shanghai in 1958. In 1993, ...

, China, friendship city since 1995 * Changnyeong County,

South Gyeongsang South Gyeongsang Province (, ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, province in the southeast of South Korea. The provincial capital is at Changwon. It is adjacent to the major metropolitan center and port of Busan. The UNESCO World Heri ...

, Korea, friendship city since 2012

Notable people from Satsumasendai

Manami Konishi , also known as KONI-TAN, is a Japanese actress, singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Career Konishi appeared in Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2006 film '' Retribution'', which was screened at the 63rd Venice Film Festival. She also appeared i ...

, actress, singer *

Tadahiro Matsushita was a Japanese politician and five-time member of the House of Representatives of Japan. He served in government from 1962 when he joined the Ministry of Construction to 2012. At the time of his death, he was the Minister of State for Financia ...

, politician * Rina Yamashita - professional wrestler

References

External links

Satsumasendai City official website

Kagoshima Prefectural Visitors Bureau official website

Sendai Giant Tug-of-war
The Asahi Shimbun, 2012/09/23 {{Authority control Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Cities in Kagoshima Prefecture Port settlements in Japan Populated coastal places in Japan