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

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 ...

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 34,631, 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 180 persons per km² in 14,358 households. The total area of the city is .

Geography

Sōma is located in northeastern Fukushima Prefecture, bordered by the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

to the east and the Abukuma Plateau to the west. Sōma is closer to

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the List of cities in Japan, twelfth most populated city in Japan. ...

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 ...

than it is to the prefectural capital of Fukushima. *Mountains **

Mount Ryōzen View from the mountain trail is a mountain on the border of Sōma and the former town of Ryōzen, in Date, Fukushima. It is in height. Along the hiking trail are the sites of what were Ryōzen Temple and Ryōzen Castle. The mountain is liste ...

(825m) *Rivers **Uda River *Coastal features ** Matsukawa Lagoon

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 ...

** Iitate **

Minamisōma is a city located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 53,462 in 26,355 households, and a population density of 130 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Minamisōma is located in northea ...

** Shinchi *Miyagi Prefecture ** Marumori

Climate

Sōma 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 with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Sōma is 12.6 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1260 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.8 °C, and lowest in January, at around 1.8 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Sōma has remained the same over the past 40 years.

History

The area of present-day Sōma was part of ancient Mutsu Province, and has been settled since at least the

Jōmon period In Japanese history, the is the time between , during which Japan was inhabited by the Jōmon people, a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united by a common culture, which reached a considerable degree of sedentism an ...

. 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 ...

, the area developed as the

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, ...

of Sōma Domain, home of the

Sōma clan The was a Japanese clan, Japanese samurai clan that ruled the northern Hamadōri region of southern Mutsu Province in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan for over 700 years, from the Kamakura period through the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The S ...

from the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

until 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 ...

. After 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 ...

, it was organized as part of Iwaki Province. With the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1896, the area was organized into a number of towns and villages within the districts of Namekata and Uda. In 1896, Namekata and Uda were merged to create Sōma District. The town of Nakamura was established on April 1, 1889. Nakamura was merged with seven neighbouring villages and raised to city status on March 31, 1954, becoming the city of Sōma.

2011 earthquake and tsunami

The eastern, coastal portion of Sōma was inundated by

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

floodwaters following the magnitude 9.1

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami On 11 March 2011, at 14:46:24 Japan Standard Time, JST (05:46:24 UTC), a 9.0–9.1 Submarine earthquake, undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region. It lasted approx ...

off its coastline on March 11, 2011. The tsunami reached up to approximately 4 km inland in Sōma; flooded areas included Sōma Port and the Matsukawa-ura Bay area, up to the elevated Route 6 Sōma Bypass. The tsunami was measured to have been 9.3 meters or higher in Sōma. Sōma is about north of

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant The is a disabled nuclear power plant located on a site in the towns of Ōkuma, Fukushima, Ōkuma and Futaba, Fukushima, Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The plant Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, suffered major damage from the 201 ...

, the site of the

nuclear accident A nuclear and radiation accident is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "an event that has led to significant consequences to people, the environment or the facility." Examples include radiation poisoning, lethal effect ...

that followed the tsunami, and was thus not subject to mandatory evacuation.

Government

Sōma 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 20 members. Sōma, together with the town of Shinchi contributes one member to the Fukushima Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Fukushima 1st 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

Sōma has a mixed economy, based on agriculture, commercial fishing and light manufacturing. The area is noted for its

strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown Hybrid (biology), hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit ...

cultivation. The Shinchi Thermal Power Station, a coal-fired

thermal power station A thermal power station, also known as a thermal power plant, is a type of power station in which the heat energy generated from various fuel sources (e.g., coal, natural gas, nuclear fuel, etc.) is converted to electrical energy. The heat ...

is located in Sōma.

Education

Sōma has nine public elementary schools and four public junior high schools operated by the city and two public high schools operated by the Fukushima Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates one special education school.

Hospital

Soma General Hospital is a public hospital in Soma, Fukushima, Japan. Founded in 1970, the hospital is one of the largest health care institution in northeast Fukushima. It serves the cities of Soma, Shinchi, and surrounding municipalities, with a combined populatio ...

, a public hospital with 240 beds, is located in Sōma.

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) -

Jōban Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The line officially begins at Nippori Station in Arakawa, Tokyo before the line officially ends at Iwanuma Station in Iwanuma, Miyagi. However, following ...

* -

Highway

* – Sōma Interchange * – Sōma Interchange – Sōma Yamakami Interchange – Sōma Tamano Interchange * * *

Seaports

* Port of Soma

Local attractions

Matsukawaura Prefectural Natural Park is a Prefectural Natural Park in Sōma, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The park was established in 1951. is celebrated for its nori and saltwater clams and in 1927 was selected as one of the 100 Famous Views of Japan. See also * National Park ...

, National Place of Scenic Beauty and a National Historic Site *The Sōma horse-chasing Festival held on July 23 to 25 every year is a designated an

Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property A is administered by the Japanese government's Agency for Cultural Affairs (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology), and includes tangible properties (structures and works of art or craft); intangible properties (perform ...

Agency for Cultural Affairs The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. The agency's budget for FY 2018 rose to ¥107.7 billion. Overview The age ...

* Sōma Nakamura Castle ruins *Sōma Nakamura Shrine

Noted people from Sōma

* Tikashi Fukushima, artist. * Takahiro Suzuki, professional baseball player * Tochiazuma Tomoyori, sumo wrestler

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soma, Fukushima Cities in Fukushima Prefecture Populated coastal places in Japan Port settlements in Japan