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 ...

Miyagi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,265,724 (1 August 2023) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akit ...

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 33,330 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 120 persons per km² in 14,242 households. The total area of the city is .

Geography

Shiroishi is in southern Miyagi Prefecture, in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

of northern

, bordered by

Fukushima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,771,100 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture ...

to the south. The southern peak of

Mount Zaō The , commonly called Mount Zaō, are a complex cluster of stratovolcanoes on the border between Yamagata Prefecture and Miyagi Prefecture in Japan. The central volcano of the group includes several lava domes and a tuff cone, Goshiki-dake, which ...

is within the city borders. Shiroishi City

Neighboring municipalities

Fukushima Prefecture *

Date Date or dates may refer to: * Date, the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'') * Jujube, also known as red date or Chinese date, the fruit of ''Ziziphus jujuba'' Social activity *Dating, a form of courtship involving social activi ...

* Fukushima *

Koori Koori (also spelt koorie, goori or goorie) is a demonym for Aboriginal Australians from a region that approximately corresponds to southern New South Wales and Victoria. The word derives from the Indigenous language Awabakal. For some people ...

* Kunimi Miyagi Prefecture * Kakuda * Marumori * Ōgawara *

Shichikashuku is a towns of Japan, town located in Katta District, Miyagi, Katta District, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 1,323, and a population density of 5.0 persons per km2 in 626 households. The total area of the tow ...

* Zaō

Climate

Shiroishi has a humid climate (

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'') characterized by mild summers and cold winters. The average annual temperature in Shiroishi is . The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Shiroishi peaked around the year 1990 and has declined since.

History

The area of present-day Shiroishi was part of ancient Mutsu Province and was under control of the

Date clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group.Edmond Papinot, Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Date", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 5 retrieved 2013-5-5. History The Date fam ...

Sendai Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Sendai Domain was based at Aoba Castle in Mutsu Province, in the modern city of Sendai, located in the Tōhoku region of ...

during 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 ...

, under the

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 ...

. During the

Boshin War The , sometimes known as the Japanese Revolution or Japanese Civil War, was a civil war in Japan fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and a coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Impe ...

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 ...

Shiroishi Castle is a flatland-style Japanese castle in what is now the city of Shiroishi, Miyagi. During the Edo period, it was the castle of the Katakura clan, who were hereditary retainers of the Date clan of Sendai Domain. During the Boshin War, it was als ...

was the site of a battle between the pro-imperial and pro-Tokugawa forces of the

Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei The was a Japanese military-political coalition established and disestablished over the course of several months in early to mid-1868 during the Boshin War. Its flag was either a white interwoven five-pointed star on a black field, or a black ...

. After the end of the Boshin War, the

Nambu clan The was a Japanese samurai clan who ruled most of northeastern Honshū in the Tōhoku region of Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The Nanbu claimed descent from the Seiwa Genji of Kai Pr ...

Morioka Domain 300px, Ruins of Morioka Castle was a '' tozama'' feudal domain of Edo period Japan. It was ruled throughout its history by the Nanbu clan. It was called during the early part of its history. It was located in northern Mutsu Province, Honshū ...

was briefly relocated to a reduced domain centered on Shiroishi by the

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...

. The town of Shiroishi was established on June 1, 1889 with the establishment of the post-

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 ...

modern municipalities system. The villages of Odaira, Otakasawa, Kosugo, Saikawa, Shirakawa and Fukuoka merged with Shiroishi on April 1, 1954, which was then raised to city status. The village of Obara was annexed to Shiroishi on March 31, 1957.

Government

Shiroishi 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 legislature of 18 members. Shiroishi, collectively with the towns of Zaō and Shichikashuku, contributes two seats to the Miyagi Prefectural legislature. In terms of national politics, the city is part of

Miyagi 3rd district , the House of Representatives of Japan is elected from a combination of multi-member districts and single-member districts, a method called parallel voting. Currently, 176 members are elected from 11 multi-member districts (called proportional re ...

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

Shiroishi has a mixed economy, dominated by light manufacturing of electronics, automotive components and food processing. Agriculture is dominated by rice cultivation on the flatlands and horticulture in more hilly areas.

Education

Shiroishi has nine public elementary schools and five public junior high schools operated by the city government and two public high schools operated by the Miyagi Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates two special education schools.

Transportation

Railway

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

(JR East) -

Tōhoku Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed Shinkansen rail line that runs through the more sparsely populated Tōhoku region of Japan's main island, Honshu. Operated by the East Japan Railway Company, it links Tokyo in the south to Aomori in the north, with ...

(JR East) -

Tōhoku Main Line The Tōhoku Main Line () is a railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The line starts from Tokyo Station in Chiyoda, Tokyo and passes through such cities as Saitama, Saitama, Saitama, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Uts ...

* - - -

Highways

* - Shiroishi IC * * *

Local attractions

* Miyagi Zao Fox Village: Filled with real wild foxes *

: restored in 1995 after its destruction in 1875. The castle has also become a tourist spot for "contents tourism" related to the video game Sengoku BASARA2.

Sister cities

Ebina, Kanagawa is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan., the city had an estimated population of 141,276 and a population density of 5300 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Ebina is located approximately 50 kilometers from centr ...

, Japan * Noboribetsu, Hokkaido, Japan Shiroishi home page

Former

Hurstville Hurstville is a suburb in Southern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is south of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD and is part of the St George, New South Wales, St George area. Hurstville is the administrative centre of ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. The sister city relationship has been discontinued following the council amalgamations of Hurstville and Kogarah to form the merged Georges River Council.

Noted people from Shiroishi

* Tetsuya Endo, Japanese professional wrestler *

Ōzutsu Man'emon was a Japanese professional sumo wrestler from Shiroishi, Miyagi Prefecture. He was the sport's 18th ''yokozuna''. Early life and career His real name was , before changing his given name to . He was born in Misawa, Otakazawa in present-day Sh ...

– sumo wrestler

References

External links

Official Website

English Article on Shiroishi
{{Authority control Cities in Miyagi Prefecture