is one of five neighborhoods within the city of Date, Fukushima, along with the former towns of Date, Hobara, Ryōzen and Tsukidate (all from Date District). Until 2006, it was an independent

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

located in Date District,

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 ...

. As of 2003, the town 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 20,626 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

of 248.72 persons per km². The total area is 82.93 km².

History

Yanagawa was under the control of the Date Clan from 1189, when Date Tomomune received the land, until

Date Masamune was a Japanese ''daimyō'' during the Azuchi–Momoyama period through the early Edo period. Heir to a long line of powerful feudal lords in the Tōhoku region, he went on to found the modern-day city of Sendai. An outstanding tactician, he w ...

forfeited it to

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods and regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: ...

in 1590. In 1598, the entire Fukushima Basin (Shintatsu Plain) became the territory of

Uesugi Kagekatsu was a Japanese samurai ''daimyō'' during the Sengoku and Edo periods. He was the adopted son of Uesugi Kenshin and Uesugi Kagetora’s brother in law. Early life and rise Kagekatsu was the son of Nagao Masakage, the head of the Ueda Naga ...

and Suda Nagayoshi became the lord of Yanagawa Castle.http://www.date-shi.jp/wp-content/uploads/brochure/dateshi800nen_story.pdf (PDF). ''Date-shi.jp.'' Retrieved 30 January 2019. By 1960, the town of Yanagawa had merged with the villages of Awano, Sekimoto, Shirane, Ooeda, Isazawa, Tomino, and Yamafunyuu. The town's symbol was established in 1965, and in 1983, cherry blossoms, persimmon trees, and wagtails were designated as the town's official flower, tree, and bird, respectively. A whole body skeleton of

Paleoparadoxia ''Paleoparadoxia'' ("ancient paradox") is a genus of large, herbivorous aquatic mammals that inhabited the northern Pacific coastal region during the Miocene epoch (). It ranged from the waters of Japan (Tsuyama and Yanagawa), to Alaska in the no ...

was excavated in Yanagawa on August 21, 1984. The skeleton is named the “Yanagawa Specimen”. In 2006, Yanagawa merged with the towns of Date, Hobara, Ryōzen and Tsukidate, creating Date City.

Transportation

Railway

AbukumaExpress , sometimes referred to as Abukuma Express, is a third-sector railway transportation company headquartered in Date, Fukushima, Japan. Its sole line is the Abukuma Express Line. History Abukuma Kyuko was founded on April 5, 1984, as a third-secto ...

–

Abukuma Express Line The is a railway line in Japan, owned and operated by the third-sector operator Abukuma Kyuko. The line connects Fukushima Station in Fukushima Prefecture and Tsukinoki Station in Miyagi Prefecture. Both of these stations are also on the T ...

* Nitta -

Yanagawa Yanagawa may refer to: * Yanagawa, Fukuoka * Yanagawa, Fukushima * Yanagawa (surname) * Yanagawa (film) {{disambig ...

- Yanagawa Kibōnomori Kōen-mae - Tomino -

Kabuto ' (兜, 冑) is a type of helmet first used by ancient Japanese warriors that, in later periods, became an important part of the traditional Japanese armour worn by the samurai class and their retainers in History of Japan#Medieval Japan (118 ...

Highway

Local Events and Attractions

Yanagawa Castle

Yanagawa Castle was constructed in 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 ...

and used as the headquarters 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 ...

from the time of the 11th lord of the Date Clan, Date Mochimune, through to that of the 14th lord,

Date Tanemune was a Japanese samurai warrior and Date clan leader during the Sengoku period. Biography He was born as the eldest son of Date Hisamune. His childhood name was Jiro (次郎). At the death of his father, he became ''daimyō'' of Mutsu Provin ...

. Mochimune's son, the 12th lord, Date Shigemune was influenced by

Higashiyama Culture The Higashiyama culture (東山文化 ''Higashiyama bunka'') is a segment of Japanese culture that includes innovations in architecture, the visual arts and theatre during the late Muromachi period. It originated and was promoted in the 15th cen ...

and built the inner garden, including Shinji Pond, which is still visible at the site today. The 17th lord of the Date Clan,

stayed at Yanagawa Castle when the last member of the Date Clan to own the castle, Date Tessai Nyuudou resided there.

Summer Festival

Held in August, hundreds of people dress in

yukata A is an unlined cotton summer kimono, worn in casual settings such as summer festivals and to nearby bathhouses. The name is translated literally as "bathing cloth" and originally were worn as bathrobes; their modern use is much broader, and ar ...

and parade down the main street, performing the local

bon odori or just is a fusion of the ancient Japanese belief in ancestral spirits and a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ance ...

dance. This is followed by an address by the mayor, a series of performances, and a fireworks show.

Specialty Products

In 2019, a specialty product of Yanagawa, the "''Niku goro to onigiri''," was awarded first place among onigiri in the Bento and Prepared Meal Awards (お弁当・お惣菜大賞). It is prepared using local, "Date chicken" and only available at the Machi no Eki Yanagawa, a community center in the center of the town.

References

External links

Date official website
in Japanese Dissolved municipalities of Fukushima Prefecture Date, Fukushima {{Fukushima-geo-stub