Shizuoka

/shee"zoo aw"kah/, n.

a city on S Honshu, in central Japan, on Suruga Bay. 458,342.

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▪ prefecture, Japan

      city and ken (prefecture), central Honshu, Japan, facing the Pacific Ocean. It occupies an area of 3,001 square miles (7,773 square km). Cape Omae and the Izu Peninsula in the prefecture are separated by the deeply indented Suruga Bay. The eastern and western sections of the prefecture differ considerably from each other. Volcanoes and hot springs are major physical features in the east, while large river valleys such as those of the Fuji, Ōi, and Tenryū rivers predominate in the west. The prefecture's favourable climate supports a varied agriculture, of which mandarin oranges and tea are the chief products. Fishing is highly developed at the principal port, Shimizu, on Suruga Bay. Motor vehicles, ships, textiles, canned goods, and musical instruments are the principal goods manufactured at Hamamatsu and Shimizu.

      Much of the coastline of the prefecture is followed by the Shinkansen (New Trunk Line) railway service, which links Shizuoka to Nagoya and Fukuoka. The major cities in the prefecture lie along the railway. Shizuoka, the prefectural capital, is situated on the delta of the Abe River. Sumpu, as Shizuoka city was called until 1869, was a castle town as well as one of the 53 stage towns lying along the Tōkaidō road. Much of Japan's green tea is raised in the environs of Shizuoka, and the city is famous as a trade and processing centre for green tea. It is, in addition, the seat of Shizuoka University and houses a women's pharmaceutical college and agricultural experimental stations.

      The Izu Peninsula is a tourist centre, and Atami, Itō, and Shuzenji are popular spas with hot springs. The port of Shimoda, on the east coast of the peninsula, received the ships of Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the United States in 1854 and was one of the first Japanese ports that were opened to trade with the United States. Other historic sites in the prefecture include Tōro, an excavated prehistoric village that is about 2,000 years old, outside Shizuoka city. The shrine at Kunō Hill, near Tōro, was the first burial place of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616), the first Tokugawa shogun, whose remains were subsequently moved to Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, in 1617. Pop. (1990) city, 472,199; prefecture, 3,670,891.

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