Kokura

Kokura-shi (incorporated) ; 小倉市
Geographical location in Japan
Region :	Kyushu
Prefecture :	Fukuoka
Coordinates :	33 ° 53 ' N , 130 ° 52' E Coordinates: 33 ° 52 '51 " N , 130 ° 52' 24" E
Basic data
Incorporated on:	Feb 10, 1963
Incorporated in:	Kitakyushu
Surface:	208.72 km²
Residents :	305,423 ; (October 1, 1962)
Population density :	1463 inhabitants per km² ;
town hall
Address :

Kokura ( Japanese 小倉市 , - shi ) was an old fortress town in Japan that has belonged to the city of Kitakyushu since 1963 .

geography

The city served to control the road between Honshū and Kyūshū . Kokura has been divided into the districts of Kokura-Kita ( 小倉北区 , - ku , dt. Kokura-Nord ) and Kokura-Minami ( 小倉南区 , -ku , Kokura-Süd ).

history

Kokura Castle , April 2002

Kokura was first called Katsuyama or Katsuno. The castle Kokura was built in 1442 by Reizei Takasuke, a vassal of Ōtomo . Toyotomi Hideyoshi gave the castle to Mōri Katsunaga in 1587. In the Edo period the castle town belonged to the Hosokawa from 1600 to 1632 , then to the Ogasawara until 1868 with an income of 150,000 koku .

On April 14, 1612, the famous sword fight between Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojirō took place on a small island between Shimonoseki and Kokura. The fight was fatal for Sasaki and cemented the aura of Miyamoto's invincibility.

The writer Mori Ōgai lived in Kokura for a time, where, among other things, he wrote the Kokura diaries . His house is open to the public today. The writer Matsumoto Seichō (1909-1992) was born in Kokura. The Matsumoto Seichō Memorial Museum was dedicated to him.

In 1935 the city had 110,000 inhabitants.

In 1945 Kokura was the actual target of the “ Fat Man ” atomic bomb , which was then dropped over Nagasaki due to the weather conditions . That is why Kokura in Japan now stands for the good fortune to be spared from an unexpected disaster.

In 1963, Kokura was merged with the cities of Moji , Tobata , Wakamatsu and Yahata to form the city of Kitakyushu .

sons and daughters of the town

Tsuruta Tomoya (1902–1988), writer

Remarks

↑ The Ogasawara archipelago was discovered in 1593 by Sadayori, a member of the Han.

literature

E. Papinot: Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan . 1910. (Reprint: Tuttle, 1977, ISBN 0-8048-0996-8 )

[1] The Ogasawara archipelago was discovered in 1593 by Sadayori, a member of the Han.