Prefecture of Japan
Prefecture in Japan
Ishikawa Prefecture
(
石川?
,
Ishikawa-ken
)
is a
prefecture
of
Japan
located in the
Ch?bu region
of
Honshu
island.
[2]
Ishikawa Prefecture has a population of 1,133,294 (1 October 2020) and has a geographic area of 4,186
km
2
(1,616
sq mi
). Ishikawa Prefecture borders
Toyama Prefecture
to the east,
Gifu Prefecture
to the southeast, and
Fukui Prefecture
to the south.
Kanazawa
is the capital and largest city of Ishikawa Prefecture, with other major cities including
Hakusan
,
Komatsu
, and
Kaga
.
[3]
Ishikawa is located on the
Sea of Japan
coast and features the most of the
Noto Peninsula
which forms
Toyama Bay
, one of the largest
bays
in Japan. Ishikawa Prefecture is part of the historic
Hokuriku region
and formerly an important populated center that contained some of the wealthiest
han
(domains) of the
Japanese feudal era
. Ishikawa Prefecture is home to
Kanazawa Castle
,
Kenroku-en
one of the
Three Great Gardens of Japan
,
Nyotaimori
("body sushi"), and
Kutani ware
.
History
[
edit
]
Ishikawa was formed in 1872 from the merger of
Kaga Province
and the smaller
Noto Province
.
[4]
Geography
[
edit
]
Ishikawa is on the
Sea of Japan
coast. The northern part of the prefecture consists of the narrow
Noto Peninsula
, while the southern part is wider and consists mostly of mountains with the prefecture's chief city,
Kanazawa
, located in the coastal plain. The prefecture also has some islands, including
Notojima
,
Mitsukejima
,
Hegurajima
.
As of 1 April 2012
[update]
, 13% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as
Natural Parks
, namely the
Hakusan National Park
;
Echizen-Kaga Kaigan
and
Noto Hant?
Quasi-national parks; and five prefectural natural parks.
[5]
Municipalities
[
edit
]
The cities of Ishikawa are:
Towns are grouped into five districts, which are geographical and not governmental:
Municipalities in Ishikawa Prefecture
City
Town
Mergers
[
edit
]
Economy
[
edit
]
Ishikawa's industry is dominated by the textile industry, particularly artificial fabrics, and the machine industry, particularly construction machinery.
Demographics
[
edit
]
Ishikawa prefecture population pyramid in 2020
Ishikawa Prefecture has an area of 4,186.09 km
2
and, as of 1 April 2011
[update]
, it has a population of 1,166,643 persons.
[
citation needed
]
Data
|
Unit
|
Statistics
|
Area
|
km
2
|
4,186.09
|
Population
|
Persons
|
1,166,643
|
Population density
|
Persons per km
2
|
278.72
|
Number of households
|
Households
|
441,980
|
Income per person
|
Thousand yen
|
2,707
|
Power consumed
|
Kwh per household
|
6,446
|
Number of doctors
|
Physicians per
100,000 people
|
249
|
List of governors of Ishikawa Prefecture
[
edit
]
- Wakio Shibano (柴野和喜夫) (12 April 1947 to 23 February 1955)
- J?jitsu Taya (田谷充?) (24 February 1955 to 19 February 1963)
- Y?ichi Nakanishi
(中西陽一) (23 February 1963 to 2 February 1994)
- Masanori Tanimoto
(谷本正憲) (29 March 1994 to 27 March 2022)
- Hiroshi Hase
(馳浩) (28 March 2022 to present)
[6]
2024 earthquake
[
edit
]
On the 1 January 2024, a
7.5 magnitude earthquake
struck Ishikawa Prefecture, specifically the
Noto Peninsula
. Ishikawa reported 232 fatalities and 22 missing people. Overall it is estimated that 1,200 people were injured across different prefectures.
Culture
[
edit
]
Kanazawa Castle
The area is noted for arts and crafts and other cultural traditions:
- The art of
Noh
was introduced to the area during the rule of the fifth Maeda lord Tsunanori and was refined into the style of
Kaga hosho
.
- The
tea ceremony
was introduced in 1666 when
Maeda Toshitsune
invited
Senbiki Soshitsu
of
Urasenke
to Kanazawa.
- Kutani ware
(
Kutani yaki
) is a bright colored glaze like Chinese porcelain.
- Ohi teaware (
?hi yaki
) is a pottery with a style unique to Kanazawa.
- Nyotaimori
or naked sushi is said to have originated in Ishikawa Prefecture.
- Kaga silk (
Kaga y?zen
) is made with complicated silk print technique with an intentional rough look (
wabi-sabi
).
- Kanazawa
lacquerware
(
Kanazawa shikki
) is high quality lacquerware traditionally decorated with gold dust.
- Kanazawa gold leaf (
Kanazawa haku
) is produced with a technique of beating gold into wafer-thin sheets.
- Kaga mizuhiki
is ribbon-like decoration made from glued Japanese paper (
washi
).
- Kaga inlay crafts (
Kaga z?gan
) are made with a combination of thin flat and thread metal inlays.
- Gojinjo Daiko
is a Japanese drum, a Wajima city cultural heritage (since 1961) as well as an Ishikawa Prefecture intangible cultural heritage (since 1963).
- Abare Festival
is reputed the most 'fierce' festivals of
Noto, Ishikawa
.
- Japan Tent
, an international exchange event.
Tourism
[
edit
]
Winter in Kenrokuen
Shirayone Senmaida, designated as a World Agricultural Heritage site in
Wajima
The most popular destination in Ishikawa is Kanazawa. Tourists can get to Ishikawa by plane via either the Komatsu or Noto airports. Popular sites include:
Prefectural symbols
[
edit
]
Notable people
[
edit
]
- Enh? Akira
, a professional
Sumo
wrestler at the J?ry? division.
- Minami Hamabe
, an actress.
- Kodai Iida
, a professional footballer for
OKC Energy FC
.
- Ky?ka Izumi
, author of novels, short stories, and kabuki plays, from
Kanazawa
.
- Takeshi Kaga
, an actor in Japan who is probably best known internationally for his portrayal of Chairman Kaga in the Japanese television show
Iron Chef
produced by
Fuji TV
, is from Ishikawa.
- Hideki Matsui
, a former
Yomiuri Giants
and
New York Yankees
, was born and raised in Neagari Town (now Nomi City), Ishikawa. He gained fame as a baseball player while attending high school in Kanazawa.
- Daisuke Nakata
, a trampolinist who has competed in the Olympics in the past, is from Ishikawa.
- Kitaro Nishida
,
philosopher
, founder of the
Kyoto School
of philosophy, from
Kahoku
.
- Mur? Saisei
, poet and novelist in modern Japanese literature from Kanazawa.
- Daisuke Sat?
, a board game designer, novelist, and
manga
writer. His
Highschool of the Dead
anime
/manga series is known for being left unfinished due to his unfortunate death in 2017.
- D.T. Suzuki
, Buddhist philosopher and popularizer of Buddhism in the West was born in Kanazawa.
- Yusuke Suzuki
, (no relation to D.T.) born in 1988, is a racewalker born in
Nomi, Ishikawa
prefecture.
- Yoshir? Taniguchi
, modernist architect and father of architect
Yoshio Taniguchi
, who designed the D.T. Suzuki Museum in Kanazawa.
- Sh?sei Tokuda
, author from Kanazawa. (Izumi, Muro, and Tokuda are known as the Three Famous Literary Persons in Ishikawa
[7]
)
Universities
[
edit
]
Ishikawa has a number of universities:
Transport
[
edit
]
Rail
[
edit
]
Kanazawa Station
Road
[
edit
]
Expressways and toll roads
[
edit
]
National highways
[
edit
]
Ports
[
edit
]
- Kanazawa Port (International container hub port)
- Nanao Port
Airports
[
edit
]
Regional policies
[
edit
]
Politics
[
edit
]
The prefectural assembly building in the prefectural government building complex in Kanazawa
The current governor of Ishikawa is
Hiroshi Hase
who was first elected in 2022. He defeated six time incumbent
Masanori Tanimoto
.
[8]
Prior to his defeat, Tanimoto was one of two governors who were in their sixth term nationwide, the other being
Masaru Hashimoto
of Ibaraki. Hase is only the fifth governor of Ishikawa since 1947 when prefectural governors became elected offices, as Tanimoto had held the governorship for twenty eight years, first coming to office in 1994, succeeding
Y?ichi Nakanishi
, who had served from 1963 until his death in 1994.
The
Ishikawa Prefectural Assembly
[
ja
]
has 43 members and is elected in unified local elections (last round: 2011) in 15
SNTV
electoral districts ? six single-member, five two-member, one three-member, two four-member districts and the Kanazawa City district that elects 16 members. As of February 26, 2014, the
LDP
prefectural assembly caucus has 25 members and no other group has more than four members.
[9]
In the
National Diet
, Ishikawa is represented by three directly elected members of the
House of Representatives
and two (one per election) of the
House of Councillors
. Additional members from the prefecture may be elected in the proportional representation segments of both houses: the
Hokuriku-Shin'etsu proportional representation block
in the lower house, the proportional election to the upper house is nationwide. After the Diet elections of 2010, 2012 and 2013, the five directly elected members from Ishikawa districts are all Liberal Democrats, namely:
- in the House of Representatives
- in the House of Councillors
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
"2020年度?民??計算(2015年基準?2008SNA) : ??社??合?究所 ? ?閣府"
.
?閣府ホ?ムペ?ジ
(in Japanese).
Archived
from the original on September 24, 2023
. Retrieved
May 18,
2023
.
- ^
Nussbaum, Louis-Frederic. (2005). "Ch?bu" in
Japan Encyclopedia
, p. 126
, p. 126, at
Google Books
.
- ^
Nussbaum, "Kanazawa" in
p. 467
, p. 467, at
Google Books
.
- ^
Nussbaum, "Provinces and prefectures" in
p. 780
, p. 780, at
Google Books
.
- ^
"General overview of area figures for Natural Parks by prefecture"
(PDF)
.
Ministry of the Environment
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on April 21, 2012
. Retrieved
July 2,
2012
.
- ^
"Hase wins governor's race in Ishikawa after LDP split, grudge"
. Asahi Shimbun. Archived from
the original
on April 3, 2022
. Retrieved
May 21,
2022
.
- ^
"The Fourth High School Memorial Museum of Cultural Exchange, Ishikawa"
(PDF)
.
pref.ishikawa.jp
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on April 24, 2018
. Retrieved
February 6,
2018
.
- ^
"Hase wins governor's race in Ishikawa after LDP split, grudge | the Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis"
. Archived from
the original
on April 3, 2022.
- ^
Ishikawa Prefectural Assembly:
members by caucus
Archived
March 16, 2014, at the
Wayback Machine
(in Japanese)
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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