Kanazawa

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kanazawa-shi
金 沢 市
Kanazawa
Geographical location in Japan
Kanazawa (Japan)
Red pog.svg
Region : Chūbu
Prefecture : Ishikawa
Coordinates : 36 ° 34 '  N , 136 ° 39'  E Coordinates: 36 ° 33 '41 "  N , 136 ° 39' 22"  E
Basic data
Surface: 467.77 km²
Residents : 463,873
(October 1, 2019)
Population density : 992 inhabitants per km²
Community key : 17201-4
Symbols
Flag / coat of arms:
Flag / coat of arms of Kanazawa
Tree : Ume
town hall
Address : Kanazawa City Hall
1 - 1 - 1 , Hirosaka
Kanazawa -shi
Ishikawa  920-8577
Website URL: http://www4.city.kanazawa.lg.jp/
Location of Kanazawas in Ishikawa Prefecture
Location of Kanazawas in the prefecture

Kanazawa ( Japanese 金 沢 市 , - shi ) is a city , seaport and administrative seat of Ishikawa Prefecture on Honshū , the main island of Japan . Kanazawa is located about 150 km north of Nagoya on the coast of the Sea of ​​Japan and is the largest city in the Hokuriku region with over 450,000 inhabitants .

history

restored Kanazawa Castle

Historically, Kanazawa was the center of the Ikkō-ikki (一向 一 揆; "Ikkō uprisings") in the province of Kaga . The so-called Buddhist Ikkō-shū (一向 宗) had overthrown the prince in the 15th century and ruled autonomously for almost a century. In 1580 Oda Nobunaga subjugated the Buddhist government of the so-called "peasant kingdom". In 1583, Maeda Toshiie finally moved in as a daimyo of the Kaga fiefdom in the province of Noto in Kanazawa. He received from Toyotomi Hideyoshi for his fief in addition parts of the provinces Kaga and Etchū (today's prefectures Ishikawa and Toyama ). It was the largest fief of the time.

The revenue of the daimyō was set in rice, measured in koku , by the rulers in the country, first by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, then after 1600 by the Tokugawa . Since the Maeda were among the opponents of the Tokugawa, they were integrated into the political system with large donations, with 1 million koku, in Japanese Hyakumangoku . This made them the richest daimyo in Japan. Even today, the name of a major street in Kanazawa reminds of this fact.

During the 300 years of the Maeda government, the region was spared war and serious natural disasters, so the princes promoted culture, literature, Sado , theater, garden art and so on. Under the Maeda government, the city experienced a cultural boom, which has earned it the name Sho-Kyōto (Little Kyōto ) to this day .

When after the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate the fiefdoms ( Han ) were abolished and the prefectures were established, Kanazawa became the capital of the new Ishikawa Prefecture.

The Seventh University of Japan was founded in what was then the castle of Kanazawa, which was named Kanazawa University after the Second World War .

Attractions

Higashiyama Chaya

Worth seeing is the Kenrokuen , a park that is counted among the three perfect gardens in Japan, the newly built Kanazawa Castle with the Ishikawa-mon , the only remnant of the original castle , and the Samurai quarter, where former samurai mansions have been preserved to this day .

Ninja-dera, Omicho Market, Teramachi and the Higashiyama Chaya (tea district) should also not be missed when visiting.

traffic

Kanazawa Railway Station

The Hokuriku Shinkansen line has been in operation to Kanazawa since March 2015. The continuation is under construction. In preparation for high-speed traffic, the main train station was completely rebuilt in 2005.

economy

In addition to mechanical engineering and the textile industry, the most important branches of the economy are handicrafts. The gold leaf from Kanazawa, pottery ( Kutani-yaki , Ohi-Yaki ), silk painting ( Kaga-Yuzen ) and lacquerware ( Wajima-nuri ) from nearby Wajima on the Noto Peninsula are particularly famous .

education

There are two public and four private universities in Kanazawa .

Town twinning

  • United StatesUnited States Buffalo , USA (since 1962)
  • BrazilBrazil Porto Alegre , Brazil (since 1967)
  • RussiaRussia Irkutsk , Russia (since 1967)
  • BelgiumBelgium Ghent , Belgium (since 1971)
  • FranceFrance Nancy , France (since 1973)
  • China People's RepublicPeople's Republic of China Suzhou , People's Republic of China (since 1981)
  • Korea SouthSouth Korea Jeonju , South Korea (since 2002)

German-Japanese partnerships

Since 2003, Century College Kanazawa and Völker-Schule eV Osnabrück have had a school partnership for training occupational therapists and physiotherapists.

The University of Kanazawa is connected to the University of Regensburg , the University of Siegen and the Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf in Germany. There is a partner university program, KUSEP ( Kanazawa University Short Term Exchange Program ).

The German-Japanese Society Regensburg and the Japanese-German Society Kanazawa also maintain a partnership.

sons and daughters of the town

Neighboring cities and communities

literature

  • James L. McClain: Bonshogatsu. Festivals and State Power in Kanazawa. In: Monumenta Nipponica , vol. 47, no. 2, 1992, pp. 163-202. ISSN  0027-0741

Web links

Commons : Kanazawa  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files