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Shimonoseki 下関市
Core city
Central Shimonoseki and Kanmon Strait
FlagEmblem
Location of Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture
ShimonosekiLocation in JapanShow map of Yamaguchi PrefectureShimonosekiShimonoseki (Japan)Show map of Japan
Coordinates: 33°57′28″N 130°56′29″E / 33.95778°N 130.94139°E / 33.95778; 130.94139
Country	Japan
Region	Chūgoku (San'yō)
Prefecture	Yamaguchi
As Akamagaseki	April 1, 1889
As Shimonoseki	June 1, 1902
Government
• Mayor	Shintaro Maeda (since 2017)
Area
• Total	716.18 km (276.52 sq mi)
Population
• Total	248,193
• Density	350/km (900/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+09:00 (JST)
City hall address	1-1 Nanbu, Shimonoseki-shi, Yamaguchi-ken 750-8521
Climate	Cfa
Website	Official website
Symbols
Bird	Penguin
Fish	Fugu
Flower	Rhododendron
Insect	Firefly
Tree	Sakura

Shimonoseki (Japanese: 下関市, Hepburn: Shimonoseki-shi) is a city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. As of 30 June 2023, the city had an estimated population of 248,193 in 128,762 households and a population density of 350 persons per km. The total area of the city is 716.18 square kilometres (276.52 sq mi). It is the largest city in Yamaguchi Prefecture and the fifth-largest city in the Chūgoku region in terms of population. It is nicknamed the "Fugu Capital" for the locally caught pufferfish, and is the largest harvester of the pufferfish in Japan.

History

Shimonoseki is part of ancient Nagato Province. It has prospered since ancient times as the gateway to Honshu island from the Asian continent, including Kyushu, China, and the Korean peninsula. According to the Nihon Shoki, the semi-legendary Emperor Chuai constructed a palace at the location of what is now the Shimonoseki city hall during the Kofun period. The name of "Shimonoseki" appears in Heian period documents from 869 AD as the location of a checkpoint controlling maritime access to the Seto Inland Sea; however, by the Kamakura period, the name of "Akamanoseki" was in more common use. During the Genpei War, the Heike and Genji fought at the Battle of Dan-no-ura near the present Kanmon Bridge. During the Muromachi period, the powerful Ōuchi clan was shugo of both Nagato and Buzen Province in Kyushu and thus controlled trade and diplomatic missions from Ming China and Joseon Korea. In the Edo period, the area was part of Chōfu Domain controlled by the Mōri clan. In February 1691, German explorer Engelbert Kaempfer visited the town as part of his two-year stay in Japan, and described it as having around 400 to 500 houses, and as a major port in the region for supplying ship provisions. During the Bakumatsu period, the Bombardment of Shimonoseki occurred in 1864, and in the early Meiji period, the Treaty of Shimonoseki was signed in 1895, seeing a defeated China hand over Taiwan, Penghu, and Port Arthur to the victorious Japanese at the end of the First Sino-Japanese War. An Imperial decree in July 1899 established Shimonoseki as an open port for trading with the United States and the United Kingdom.

Akamagaseki city was established on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. The city was renamed Shimonoseki on June 1, 1902.

On February 13, 2005, Shimonoseki absorbed the towns of Hōhoku, Kikugawa, Toyota and Toyoura (all from Toyoura District) to create the new and expanded city of Shimonseki. Since October 1, 2005, the city has been designated as a core city by the Japanese government with increased local autonomy.

Geography

Shimonoseki is located at the westernmost point of Yamaguchi Prefecture and the westernmost point of Honshu. It borders the Sea of Japan to the west and the Seto Inland Sea to the south across the Kanmon Straits. It is long in the north-south direction and has a fan shape that opens to the Seto Inland Sea. The Asa River flows from the north to the central area, and the Ariho River flows from the northeast to the east, flowing southward into the Seto Inland Sea. The city hall is located on the west bank of the Ariho River mouth.

Neighbouring municipalities

Yamaguchi Prefecture

• Mine
• Nagato
• San'yō-Onoda

Climate

Shimonoseki has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa) with hot summers and cool winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year, but is heavier in summer.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Shimonoseki in 2020 is 255,051 people. Shimonoseki has been conducting censuses since 1920.

Government

Shimonoseki has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 34 members. Shimonoseki contributes ten members to the Yamaguchi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Yamaguchi 4th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Economy

Having prospered as a port city, Shimonoseki has long had a thriving industry related to shipping, trade, and finance. It is still the center of the prefecture in terms of economy.

Education

Universities and colleges

• Baiko Gakuin University
• Baiko Gakuin University Women's Junior College
• National Fisheries University
• Shimonoseki City University
• Shimonoseki Junior College
• University of East Asia

Primary and secondary schools

Shimonoseki has 41 public elementary school and 21 public junior high schools and one public high school operated by the city government. The city has nine public high schools operated by the Yamaguchi Prefectural Board of Education. There are also one private junior high school and five private high schools. The prefecture also operates four special education schools for the handicapped.

The city has a North Korean school, Yamaguchi Korean Elementary and Junior High School (山口朝鮮初中級学校). It formerly housed two other North Korean schools, Yamaguchi Korean High School and Shimonoseki Korean Elementary and Junior High School (下関朝鮮初中級学校).

Transportation

Railway

JR West – San'yō Shinkansen

• Shin-Shimonoseki

JR West (JR West) - San'yō Main Line

• Ozuki - Chōfu - Shin-Shimonoseki - Hatabu - Shimonoseki

JR West (JR West) - San'in Main Line

• Nagato-Awano - Agawa - Kottoi - Takibe - Nagato-Futami - Ukahongō - Yutama - Kogushi - Kawatana-Onsen - Kuroimura - Umegatō - Yoshimi - Fukue - Yasuoka - Kajikuri-Gōdaichi - Ayaragi - Hatabu - Shimonoseki

Highways

• Chugoku Expressway
• National Route 2
• National Route 9
• National Route 191
• National Route 435
• National Route 491

Ferries from Shimonoseki Port International Terminal

• The Kanpu ferry to Busan, South Korea regularly.
• The Gwangyang Beech to Gwangyang, South Korea regularly.
• The Orient ferry to Shanghai, China regularly.
• The Orient ferry to Qingdao, China was suspended in November 2015.

Sister cities

Shimonoseki is twinned with:

• Santos, Brazil (1971)
• Istanbul, Turkey (1972)
• Busan, South Korea (1976)
• Qingdao, China (1979)
• Pittsburg (California), United States (1998)

Local attractions

Festivals

Shimonoseki is home to many festivals, held throughout the year. Of these, the most famous are the Shimonoseki Kaikyo Festival and Shimonoseki Bakan Festival.

• Shimonoseki Fugu Festival (February): Haedomari Market
• Kawatana Onsen Festival (April)
• Shimonoseki Kaikyo Festival (May): Karato, Ganryujima Island
• Suhouteisai Festival (August): Castle town Chofu
• Kanmon Kaikyo Fireworks Festival (August): Karato(Aruka Port area)
• Shimonoseki Bakan Festival (August): Along the street from Karato-cho to Shimonoseki Station
• TOUR de Shimonoseki (October/November)
• Shimonoseki Kaikyo Marathon (November)
• Shimonoseki Fish Festival (November): Shimonoseki Fishing Port
• Little Busan Fest (November): Green Mall

Architecture

• Akama Shrine
• Kaikyō Yume Tower
• Kōzan-ji - The butsuden completed in 1320 is a National Treasure of Japan.

Museums

• Doigahama Site Anthropological Museum
• The Firefly Museum of Toyota Town
• Shimonoseki City Archaeological Museum
• Shimonoseki City Art Museum
• Shimonoseki City Museum of History
• Shimonoseki Marine Science Museum (Shimonoseki City Aquarium) (Kaikyo Kan)
• The Yamagin Archive (やまぎん史料館) of the Yamaguchi Bank

Parks and monuments

• The Mimosusogawa Park (みもすそ川公園) in Shimonoseki commemorates the final stage of the Genpei war between the feudal Taira clan and Minamoto clan (1180–1185). There is a historical monument with cannons.

Sports

Professional teams

• FC Baleine Shimonoseki (Football)

Sporting venues

• Nogihama General Park (Football stadium)
• Shimonoseki Baseball Stadium
• Shimonoseki Boat Race Stadium (Shimonoseki Kyōtei)
• Shimonoseki City Gymnasium
• Shimonoseki city swimming pool
• Shimonoseki Track and field stadium

Crime and safety

The Goda-ikka yakuza syndicate is headquartered in Shimonoseki. A designated yakuza group, the Goda-ikka is the largest yakuza syndicate in Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Notable people from Shimonoseki

• Arata Izumi (Indian footballer)
• Yūsaku Matsuda
• Toshihiro Nagoshi (video game director, game designer and producer)
• Atsushi Tamura (Comedian, actor and singer)
• Kinuyo Tanaka, actress

References

1. "Shimonoseki City official statistics" (in Japanese). Japan.
2. Kaempfer, Engelbert (1729). Histoire naturelle, civile et ecclésiastique de l'Empire du Japon. Tome 2 (translated by François Naudé) (in French). The Hague. p. 176.
3. US Department of State. (1906). A digest of international law as embodied in diplomatic discussions, treaties and other international agreements (John Bassett Moore, ed.), Vol. 5, p. 759.
4. 観測史上1～10位の値（年間を通じての値）. JMA. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
5. 気象庁 / 平年値（年・月ごとの値）. JMA. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
6. 気象庁 / 平年値（年・月ごとの値）. JMA. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
7. 観測史上1～10位の値（年間を通じての値）. JMA. Retrieved May 25, 2022.
8. ^ Shimonoseki population statistics
9. ウリハッキョ一覧. Chongryon. Archived from the original on December 19, 2015. Retrieved October 14, 2015.().
10. ウリハッキョ一覧. Chongryon. November 6, 2005. Archived from the original on November 6, 2005. Retrieved October 15, 2015.
11. "European Inbound tour operator - OsaTravel" オリエントフェリー運航一時休止について（お知らせ） (PDF). Archived from the original on 2016-02-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
12. "姉妹友好都市". city.shimonoseki.lg.jp (in Japanese). Shimonoseki. Archived from the original on 2020-02-19. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
13. "The 7th President announces the succession, The Goda-ikka, The Prefectural Police on red alert" Archived 2011-10-08 at the Wayback Machine, 21 October 2009, Yamaguchi Shimbun (in Japanese)

External links

• Shimonoseki City official website (in Japanese)
• Shimonoseki City official website in other languages
• Shimonoseki travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Geographic data related to Shimonoseki at OpenStreetMap
• "Shimonoseki" . The American Cyclopædia. 1879.
• Shimonoseki City Tourism Promotion Film Shimonoseki City Official Channel

v t e Yamaguchi Prefecture
Yamaguchi (capital)
Core city	Shimonoseki
Cities	Hagi Hikari Hōfu Iwakuni Kudamatsu Mine Nagato San'yō-Onoda Shūnan Ube Yamaguchi (capital) Yanai
Districts	Abu District Abu Kuga District Waki Kumage District Hirao Kaminoseki Tabuse Ōshima District Suō-Ōshima
List of mergers in Yamaguchi Prefecture

v t e Cities in Japan with a population of 200,000+
2,000,000 and more	Tokyo (capital) Yokohama Osaka Nagoya
1,000,000–1,999,999	Sapporo Fukuoka Kobe Kyoto Kawasaki Saitama Hiroshima Sendai
500,000–999,999	Kitakyushu Chiba Setagaya Sakai Niigata Hamamatsu Shizuoka Sagamihara Nerima Okayama Ōta Kumamoto Edogawa Adachi Kagoshima Funabashi Hachiōji Kawaguchi Himeji Suginami Itabashi Matsuyama Higashiōsaka Utsunomiya
200,000–499,999	Matsudo Nishinomiya Kurashiki Ichikawa, Chiba Oita Fukuyama Amagasaki Kanazawa Nagasaki Kōtō Katsushika Yokosuka Toyama Toyota Takamatsu Machida Gifu Hirakata Fujisawa Kashiwa Toyonaka Nagano Toyohashi Ichinomiya Wakayama Okazaki Miyazaki Nara Suita Takatsuki Shinagawa Asahikawa Iwaki Kochi Takasaki Kōriyama Tokorozawa Kawagoe Kita Akita Ōtsu Koshigaya Maebashi Naha Nakano, Tokyo Shinjuku Yokkaichi Aomori Kurume Kasugai Morioka Akashi Fukushima Tsu Shimonoseki Nagaoka Ichihara Hakodate Yao Ibaraki, Osaka Fukui Meguro Kakogawa Tokushima Mito Hiratsuka Toshima Yamagata Sasebo Fuchū, Tokyo Kure, Hiroshima Hachinohe Saga Neyagawa Sōka Sumida Fuji Kasukabe Chigasaki Matsumoto Atsugi Yamato Ageo Takarazuka Chōfu Ōta, Gunma Tsukuba Numazu Joetsu Shibuya Minato Kumagaya Isesaki Nishitokyo Kishiwada Tottori

• Shimonoseki
• Cities in Yamaguchi Prefecture
• Port settlements in Japan
• Populated coastal places in Japan