Kagawa Prefecture

History

Kagawa was formerly known as Sanuki Province.

For a brief period between August 1876 and December 1888, Kagawa was made a part of Ehime Prefecture.

Battle of Yashima

Located in Kagawa's capital city, Takamatsu, the mountain of Yashima was the battlefield for one of the best-known struggles between the Heike and Genji clans.

Geography

Kagawa comprises the northeast corner of Shikoku, bordering Ehime Prefecture on the west and Tokushima Prefecture on the south, with a coastline on the Seto Inland Sea facing Okayama Prefecture and the Kansai. The Sanuki Mountains run along the southern border.

Kagawa is currently the smallest prefecture, by area, in Japan. Kagawa is a relatively narrow prefecture located between the mountains of Shikoku and the sea.

As of April 1, 2012, 11% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks, namely Setonaikai National Park and Ōtaki-Ōkawa Prefectural Natural Park.

Cities

Eight cities are located in Kagawa Prefecture:

Towns

Kagawa has eight towns organized into five districts. Many were created after 1999 through mergers, as part of a national effort to reduce the number of small towns and villages.

Economy

Kagawa has a nominal GDP of approximately 3,802 billion yen. Kagawa's major export industries, in order of export value, include transportation equipment, electrical equipment, chemical products, general machinery, mineral fuels, manufactured goods, raw materials, and foodstuff.

Food

Sanuki udon (a type of udon noodle) is the most famous local food of Kagawa Prefecture. In 2008, there were over 700 udon restaurants in this prefecture alone.

Aside from udon, Kagawa is also famous for "hone-tsuki-dori", seasoned chicken thigh cooked on the bone. Originating from Marugame City, the dish has now become a popular dish in izakaya restaurants across the country.

Olives and olive-related products have also come to be recognized as Kagawa foods. As the first place in Japan to successfully cultivate olives, Kagawa has been producing olive-related products since 1908. As well as winning both domestic and international awards for the quality of its olive oil, Kagawa has also created two offshoot food brands from its olive industry - "olive beef" and "olive yellowtail". Waste organic matter from olive pressing is used as feed for cattle and yellowtail amberjack. Due to the high amount of polyphenols in the olive waste, the flesh of the respective meats does not oxidize or lose color easily.

Other local specialties include wasanbon sugar sweets, sōmen noodles and shōyu soy sauce.

Demographics

As of October 2020, Kagawa Prefecture had an estimated population of 950,244. This was 7.1% lower than the population in the 2000 census, being 1,022,890. The area of the prefecture is 1,877 km, and the population density is 506.3/km.

Education

Universities

Kagawa Prefectural College of Health Sciences

Kagawa University in Takamatsu

Shikoku Gakuin University in Zentsuji

Tokushima Bunri University in Sanuki

Takamatsu University

Sports

The sports teams listed below are based in Kagawa.

Baseball

Kagawa Olive Guyners

Basketball

Kagawa Five Arrows (Takamatsu)

Football (Soccer)

Kamatamare Sanuki (Takamatsu)

Volleyball

Shikoku Eighty 8 Queen

Ice Hockey

Kagawa Ice Fellows (see Japan Ice Hockey Federation)

Tourism

Kotohira

Kanamaruza Kabuki Theatre

Konpira Shrine

Manno

Manno Lake

Sanuki Manno National Park

Marugame

Marugame Castle

Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art

Sakaide

Kagawa Prefectural Higashiyama Kaii Setouchi Art Museum (Kaii Higashiyama`s Art Museum)

Mount Iino (Kagawa's Mount Fuji)

Kiyama (a castle ruins)

Shinto shrine (misasagi) (Emperor Sutoku's Tomb)

Fuchu Dam

Great Seto Bridge

Mitoyo

Chichibugahama Beach

Takaya Shrine

Higashi Kagawa

Hiketa Castle - A castle ruin, one of the Continued 100 Fine Castles of Japan in 2017.

Naoshima Island

Ando Museum

Benesse House

Chichu Art Museum

Transportation

Railroad

JR Shikoku

Dosan Line

Kotoku Line

Seto-Ōhashi Line

Yosan Line

Kotoden (Takamatsu Kotohira Electric Railroad)

Kotohira Line

Nagao Line

Shido Line

Bus

Fukuoka

Kokura Station

Hakata Station

Tenjin Station

Hachioji

Hiroshima

Kansai Int'l Airport

Kōchi

Kobe

Sannomiya

Maiko Bus Stop

Kyoto Station

Matsuyama

Nagoya

Osaka

Nanba

Umeda

Shinjuku

Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo Station

Tokushima

Yawatahama

Yokohama

Road

Seto-Chūō Expressway

Takamatsu Expressway

Matsuyama Expressway

National Route 11 (Tokushima-Takamatsu-Marugame-Niihama-Maysuyama)

National Route 30

National Route 32 (Takamatsu-Kotohira-Kochi)

National Route 193

National Route 318

National Route 319

National Route 377

National Route 436

National Route 438

Port

Port of Marugame

Port of Tadotsu

Port of Takamatsu – Ferry route to Uno, Tonoshō (Shōdoshima Island), Kobe, Naoshima

Port of Tonoshō – Ferry route to Okayama, Himeji, Kobe and Osaka.

Airport

Takamatsu Airport

In popular culture

Shōdoshima is the setting of the novel Twenty-Four Eyes by Sakae Tsuboi and its subsequent film adaptations.

In Pom Poko, the tanuki Tamasaburo Onigamori travels to Shikoku to ask the Transformation Masters to come to Tokyo to save Tama Hills from destruction, but he marries and settles there for three years.

The manga Teasing Master Takagi-san is also set on Shōdoshima, in Tonoshō the native place of the creator, Sōichirō Yamamoto

The novel Battle Royale by Koushun Takami was set in the fictional town of Shiroiwa ('Castle Rock') in Kagawa Prefecture. Okishima, the fictional island on which much of the novel takes place is placed in the Seto Inland Sea. The manga also places Shiroiwa in Kagawa, while the film moves Shiroiwa to Kanagawa Prefecture.

The city of Takamatsu is the main setting of the book Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami.

Kan'onji is the setting of the early parts of the manga My Bride Is a Mermaid as well as the anime series Yuki Yuna is a Hero.

Poco's Udon World is set here.