Prefectures of Japan Kagawa

Kagawa Prefecture (香川県, Kagawa-ken) is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku.[3] Kagawa Prefecture has a population of 949,358 (as of 2020)[2] and is the smallest prefecture by geographic area at 1,877 square kilometres (725 sq mi).[1] Kagawa Prefecture borders Ehime Prefecture to the southwest and Tokushima Prefecture to the south.

Takamatsu is the capital and largest city of Kagawa Prefecture,[4] with other major cities including Marugame, Mitoyo, and Kan’onji. Kagawa Prefecture is located on the Seto Inland Sea across from Okayama Prefecture on the island of Honshu, which is connected by the Great Seto Bridge. Kagawa Prefecture includes Shōdoshima, the second-largest island in the Seto Inland Sea, and the prefecture’s southern land border with Tokushima Prefecture is formed by the Sanuki Mountains.

History

Kagawa was formerly known as Sanuki Province.[5]

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.[10] 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.

Foods

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.[12]

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 the Yellowtail Amberjack. Due to the high amount of polyphenol 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. Rare sugar researches are thriving and have discovered mass production culture enzymes. D-tagatose 3-epimerase is an enzyme that catalyzes the reversible epimerization reaction of the 3rd carbon of ketose.

Education

Universities

Kagawa University in Takamatsu
Kagawa Prefectural College of Health Sciences
Shikoku Gakuin University in Zentsuji
Takamatsu University
Tokushima Bunri University in Sanuki

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)
Mountain Iino (Kagawa’s Mount Fuji)
Kiyama (a castle ruins)
Shinto shrine (misasagi) (Emperor Sutoku’s Tomb)
Fuchu Dam
Great Seto Bridge
Higashi Kagawa
Hiketa Castle – A castle ruin, one of the Continued 100 Fine Castles of Japan in 2017.[13]

Naoshima Island
Ando Museum
Benesse House
Chichu Art Museum
Lee Ufan Museum
Setonaikai National Park
Shikoku Pilgrimage – Zentsū-ji, Motoyama-ji, Yashima-ji, etc.

Kankakei

Shodoshima
Kankakei Gorge
Shodoshima Olive Park
Takamatsu
Megijima and Ogijima
Ritsurin Garden
Takamatsu Castle
Yashima, the island on which the Battle of Yashima was fought

Ritsurin Garden

Teshima Island

Shima Kitchen
Teshima Art Museum

Zentsūji

Amagiri Castle

Based on its ancient name, Sanuki, Kagawa is famous for its Sanuki udon (wheat noodles). Recent years have seen an interest in Sanuki udon across Japan[citation needed], and many Japanese now take day-trips to taste the many Sanuki udon restaurants in Kagawa.

Transportation

Railroad

JR Shikoku
Seto-Ōhashi Line
Yosan Line
Dosan Line
Kotoku Line
Kotoden (Takamatsu Kotohira Electric Railroad)
Kotohira Line
Shido Line
Nagao Line

Bus

Departure from Takamatsu

Tokyo Station
Shinjuku of Tokyo
Tokyo Disneyland
Hachioji
Yokohama
Nagoya
Kyoto Station
Osaka
Umeda
Nanba
Kansai Int’l Airport
Kobe
Sannomiya
Maiko Bus Stop
Tokushima
Kōchi
Matsuyama
Yawatahama
Hiroshima
Fukuoka
Kokura Station
Hakata Station
Tenjin Station

Road

Expressway

Seto-Chūō Expressway
Takamatsu Expressway
Matsuyama Expressway

National Highway

Route 11 (Tokushima-Takamatsu-Marugame-Niihama-Maysuyama)
Route 30
Route 32 (Takamatsu-Kotohira-Kochi)
Route 193
Route 318
Route 319
Route 377
Route 436
Route 438

Port

Port of Takamatsu – Ferry route to Uno, Tonoshō (Shōdoshima Island), Kobe, Naoshima
Port of Marugame
Port of Tadotsu
Port of Tonoshō – Ferry route to Okayama, Himeji, Kobe and Osaka.

Airport

Takamatsu Airport

In popular culture

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 Prefecture, while the film moves Shiroiwa to Kanagawa Prefecture.

Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture is also the main setting of the book “Kafka on the Shore” by Haruki Murakami.

Kagawa Prefecture is also the setting of the anime Poco’s Udon World, My Bride is a Mermaid, and Yuki Yuna is a Hero.

In the asymmetrical horror video game, Dead by Daylight, The Spirit, also known as Rin Yamaoka, lives here.

Tonosho Town is the setting of the manga and anime Karakai Jōzu no Takagi-san (Teasing Master Takagi-san). Native creator Sōichirō Yamamoto was also raised in Tonosho Town.