Fukuyama City HallCity view from Fukuyama CastlePanorama of Fukuyama
Fukuyama (福山市, Fukuyama-shi) is a city in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. As of 31 March 2023[update], the city had an estimated population of 459,160 in 214259 households and a population density of 890 persons per km2.[1] The total area of the city is 518.14 square kilometres (200.05 sq mi). After Hiroshima, it is the largest city in Hiroshima Prefecture. The city's symbol is the rose and it holds an annual Rose Festival in the month of May. The official mascot of Fukuyama is an anthropomorphic rose child by the name of Rola.
Geography
Fukuyama City is located in southeastern Hiroshima Prefecture. The center of the city is located in the Fukuyama Plain, which has been built by land reclamation projects since the Edo period, and the delta area that spreads out at the mouth of the Ashida River, which flows north and south through the city. The southern end of the city faces the Seto Inland Sea, and the northern mountainous area, which is the southern end of the so-called 'Jinseki Plateau', at the southwestern end of the Kibi Plateau with an elevation of 400 to 500 meters in connected to the Chugoku Mountains. The highest peak in the city is Mt. Kyonoue at 611 meters above sea level. This is the basin of the Oda River, a tributary of the Takahashi River that flows into Kurashiki, Okayama. The urban area is roughly divided into the former Fukuyama city, the eastern (Zao, Kasuga) district, the southern (Tomo, Numakuma) district, the Matsunaga (former Matsunaga City) district, and the northern (Kannabe, Ekiya, Kamo) districts. Fukuyama expanded by incorporated neighboring municipalities one after another, but because the eastern part was blocked by the prefectural border and the southern part by the sea, the city limits expanded to the north and west.
The Fukuyama area is part of ancient Bingo Province, but until large-scale land reclamation projects in the Edo Period, it was largely tidal flats or part of the sea. An exception was the Ekiya neighborhood of northern Fukuyama, which was a post station on the old Sanyōdō highway. In the Edo Period, Fukuyama Castle and its surrounding castle town was founded as a castle town in 1619 by Mizuno Katsunari,[6] a cousin of ShōgunTokugawa Ieyasu. Mizuno was given command of a territory consisting of southern Bingo Province and southwestern Bitchū Province. The Mizuno were later replaced by the Abe clan. Following the Meiji restoration, the town of Fukuyama was established on April 1,1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system.
Fukuyama Town became Fukuyama City on July 1, 1916. The population of the city at that time was 32,356. In 1933, ten villages from surrounding Fukayasu District were merged into Fukuyama. Two additional villages from Numakuma District were similarly merged in 1942. On August 8, 1945 (two days after the atomic-bombing of Hiroshima), 91 AmericanB-29 bombers made an air raid on Fukuyama, destroying much of the city.
On March 31, 1954, several towns and villages in Kōrimatsu District merged to found the city of Matsunaga. Matsunaga City would eventually merge with Fukuyama City on May 1, 1966. Several towns and villages from the Fukayasu District merged into Fukuyama in 1956, and Fukayasu Town merged in 1962. On April 1, 1974, Ashida Town in Ashina District merged with Fukuyama, followed by Kamo Town, Fukayasu District and Ekiya Town, Ashina District on February 1, 1975,.
Fukuyama was promoted to core city status on April 1, 1998 with greater local autonomy.
Several other surrounding towns and districts subsequently merged with Fukuyama:
February 3, 2003, Utsumi Town in Numakuma District and Shin'ichi Town in Ashina District, thereby dissolving Ashina District
February 1, 2005 Numakuma Town, dissolving Numakuma District
March 1, 2006 Kannabe Town in Fukayasu District, dissolving the district
Government
Fukuyama has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 38 members. Fukuyama contributes ten members to the Hiroshima Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Hiroshima 7th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.
Economy
Fukuyama is a major center for heavy industry, notably steel. JFE Steel West Japan Works Fukuyama Area (former Nippon Kokan Fukuyama Works), which was completed in 1961, is not only the company's largest manufacturing base, but also the world's largest steelworks. Fukuyama is also a major manufacturing base for textiles, processed food, electronic equipment, pumps, cranes, machine inspection equipment, food trays, and rubber.
Fukuyama has 74 public elementary schools, 34 public junior high schools and one public high school operated by the city government. The city has 13 public high schools operated by the Hiroshima Prefectural Board of Education and one by the national government. There are also the private elementary schools, five private junior high schools and seven private high schools. The prefecture also operates three special education schools for the disabled.
Other
The Holocaust Education Center in Fukuyama, inaugurated on June 17, 1995, is dedicated to the memory of 1.5 million children who were murdered in the Holocaust. It has the distinction of being the first institution in Japan devoted to Holocaust education.
Kusado Sengen, a medieval town excavated in the Ashida River
Myōōin - Buddhist temple with two national treasures.
Taichōrō - temple hall on the hill behind the ferry terminal was built at the end of the 17th century to house a Korean delegation, which would at times pay its respects.
Tomonoura - fishing port of numerous temples and shrines; approximately 30 minutes south of Fukuyama by bus (14 km from Fukuyama).
Uono-sato - snack-food factory that processes most of the locally-caught fish. One can observe workers make chikuwa (ground-fish snacks) and senbei (rice crackers).
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