Fukui Prefecture

Fukui-ken ; 福井県
Basic data
Administrative headquarters :	Fukui
Region :	Chūbu
Main island :	Honshu
Area :	4,190.52 km²
Water content:	0.2 %
Residents :	767,742 ; (October 1, 2019)
Population density :	183 inhabitants per km²
Counties :	7th
Municipalities :	17th
ISO 3166-2 :	JP-18
Governor :	Tatsuji Sugimoto
Website:	www.pref.fukui.jp
Symbols
Prefecture flag :
Prefecture tree :	jaw
Prefecture flower :	Narcissus tazetta var. Chinensis
Vogel prefecture :	Turdus naumanni
Fish prefecture :	Chionoecetes opilio
Prefecture song :	Fukui-kenminka; ("Song of the Citizens of Fukui")
Furusato no hi; ("Homeland Day"):	February 7th

The Fukui Prefecture ( Jap. 福井県 , Fukui-ken ) is a prefecture of Japan and is located on the Sea of Japan in the middle of the Japanese main island of Honshu . It borders the prefectures of Ishikawa (north), Gifu (east), Shiga and Kyōto (south). Fukui extends between 35 ° 20 '36 "and 36 ° 17' 44" north latitude and 135 ° 26 '58 "and 136 ° 49' 56" east longitude.

The prefecture is mountainous (up to 2095 m) and climatically characterized by rainfall, high humidity and heavy snowfall.

history

As archaeological traces prove, there were already settlements in Fukui in prehistoric times . The seat of the prefecture administration, the city of the same name, Fukui , was not founded until the 16th century. The two Ritsuryō provinces of Echizen and Wakasa have been in the area of today's prefecture since ancient times . The two provinces were mostly owned by large temples. The most famous temple and probably the most important attraction of the prefecture is the temple Eihei-ji , the main temple of the Sōtō-shū , one of the three most important Japanese schools of Zen Buddhism.

In the Edo period in the provinces of Echizen and Wakasa, the principalities / grand fiefs (-han) Fukui (under the Matsudaira ), Maruoka (under the Hizen-Arima ), Katsuyama (under the Ogasawara ), Ōno (under the Doi ), Sabae (under the Manabe ) and Obama (under the Sakai ), in addition, shogunate / Hatamoto goods and exclaves of principalities based in other provinces were located here , which in the Meiji Restoration initially in Honbo prefecture (yes : 本保県) have been summarized. In 1871, the first Fukui prefecture emerged from the principality of Fukui, which soon merged with other principalities / prefectures in Echizen and was renamed Asuwa (yes: 足羽県) . In Wakasa and the south of Echizen, the Tsuruga Prefecture (yes: 敦賀県) was established in 1871, and Asuwa absorbed it in 1873. In 1876, Tsuruga was split between Ishikawa and Shiga .

Today's Fukui Prefecture was established on February 7, 1881, when the territory of the provinces of Echizen (ja: 越前国) and Wakasa (ja: 若狭国) were again separated from the Ishikawa and Shiga prefectures. In a prefectural statute from 1982, February 7th in Fukui was set as "Home Day" (furusato no hi) .

politics

In the 2019 gubernatorial election (part of the unified elections in April ), the former lieutenant governor Tatsuji Sugmimoto was elected governor of Fukui with the support of the national LDP and Ishin no Kai and almost 60% of the votes against incumbent Issei Nishikawa . In the simultaneous election to the prefectural parliament, the LDP won a two-thirds majority with 25 of 37 seats, the only other parties represented by formally nominated candidates are KDP , Kōmeitō and KPJ , each of which won a seat in the twelve-mandate constituency of Fukui city. 35 MPs are men, including all party affiliates.

For the Shūgiin , the lower house of the national parliament , Fukui has only been divided into two constituencies since 2014 , while the prefecture elects one member per partial election to the Sangiin (upper house). After the 2016 , 2017 and 2019 elections , the Fukuis delegation to the national parliament consists of:

in the Shūgiin
- For constituency 2, former Minister of Reconstruction Tsuyoshi Takagi (LDP, 7th term),

in the Sangiin

until 2022 former Sangiin President Masaaki Yamazaki (LDP, 5th term) as well
until 2025 Hirofumi Takinami (LDP, 2nd term), 2018 parliamentary secretary in the METI for the Abe cabinet.

Political groups in the prefecture parliament
(as of April 30, 2019)

A total of 37 seats

LDP : 28
Minshu ・ Mirai ("Democrat [ie / en] - Future"; incl. KDP ): 5
KPY : 1
Kōmeitō : 1
Non-attached: 2

Fukui Prefectural Administration
Fukui Parliament Building

Administrative division

With the introduction of today's community forms in 1889, Fukui was divided into 178 communities, including the first and initially only independent city (- shi ) the city of Fukui. The number of municipalities fell in almost 100 years from 179 (1920), over 54 (1955) and 36 (1970) to currently (since 2006) 17. The current breakdown shows nine independent and eight urban districts. With the incorporation of the village ( - mura ) Natasho in the district town ( - chō ) Ōi disappeared in March 2006, the last village in the prefecture. The number of counties ( - gun ) has fallen from eleven to seven since 1889. Of these, six currently consist of just one municipality each.

In the table below, the districts are shown in italics, below each (indented) the small towns within them. The first two digits of the authority code are, like everywhere else, the prefecture key of Fukui, the third digit indicates the type of authority as everywhere. Although the districts have not been administrative units since the 1920s, they are still used as a geographical division; They were therefore assigned round keys (divisible by 20), the municipalities belonging to the district received consecutive keys; however, due to mergers / incorporations / upgrading to -shi, gaps have arisen in many places. The independent cities are at the beginning of the table. Since 2019, the capital Fukui has been a “core city” .

List of parishes in Fukui Prefecture
code	Surname		Area (in km²)	population	Population density (inh / km²) ³
code	Rōmaji	Kanji	October 1, 2017 ¹	October 1, 2018 ²	October 1, 2015 ³
18201	Fukui- shi	福井市	536.41	263,529	265.904	495.71
18202	Tsuruga- shi	敦賀市	251.41	64,930	66,165	263.18
18204	Obama -shi	小浜市	233.11	28,672	29,670	127.28
18205	Ōno -shi	大野市	872.43	31,827	33,109	37.95
18206	Katsuyama- shi	勝山市	253.88	22,969	24,125	95.03
18207	Sabae- shi	鯖江市	84.59	68,669	68.284	807.23
18208	Awara- shi	あわら市	116.98	27,880	28,729	245.59
18209	Echizen- shi	越前市	230.7	80,938	81,524	353.38
18210	Sakai- shi	坂井市	209.67	89,303	90,280	430.58
18320	Yoshida-gun	吉田郡	94.43	19,310	19,883	210.56
18322	Eiheiji- cho	永平寺町	94.43	19,310	19,883	210.56
18380	Imadate-gun	今立郡	194.65	2431	2638	13.55
18382	Ikeda -chō	池田町	194.65	2431	2638	13.55
18400	Nanjō-gun	南条郡	343.69	10,300	10,799	31.42
18404	Minamiechizen -chō	南越前町	343.69	10,300	10,799	31.42
18420	Nyu-gun	丹生郡	153.15	20,540	2,538	140.63
18423	Echizen -chō	越前町	153.15	20,540	21,538	140.63
18440	Mikata gun	三方郡	152.35	9472	9914	65.07
18442	Mihama- chō	美浜町	152.35	9472	9914	65.07
18480	Ōi-gun	大飯郡	284.59	18,465	18,921	66.49
18481	Takahama- chō	高浜町	72.4	10,361	10,596	146.35
18483	Ōi -chō	おおい町	212.19	8104	8325	39.23
18500	Mikatakaminaka-gun	三方上中郡	178.49	14,496	15,257	85.48
18501	Wakasa- chō	若狭町	178.49	14,496	15,257	85.48

Shi-bu ( All Shi , proportion of urban districts)	市部	2789.16	678.717	687.790	246.59
Gun-bu ( All Gun , percentage of counties)	郡部	1401.35	95.014	98,950	70.61

18000	Fukui-Ken (Fukui Prefecture)	福井県	4190.51	773.731	786.740	187.74

Sources
¹ Area data from 2017
² Estimated population 2018
³ Results of the 2015 census

Biggest places

Former and Existing Cities (-shi)
October 1st census results
VZ year	Residents
VZ year	2015	2010	2005	2000
Fukui	265.904	266,796	252.220	252.274
Sakai	90,280	91,900	——	——
Echizen	81,524	85.614	87,742	——
Sabae	68.284	67,450	66,831	64,898
Tsuruga	66,165	67,760	68,402	68,145
Ōno	33,109	35.291	37.174	38,880
Obama	29,670	31,340	32,182	33,295
Awara	28,729	29,989	31,081	——
Katsuyama	24,125	25,466	26,961	28,143
Takefu	——	——	——	73,792

March 1, 2004 - The district city of Awara integrates another municipality and is raised to the status of an independent city .
October 1, 2005 - The independent city of Echizen is formed from the independent city of Takefu and another municipality.
March 20, 2006 - The county-level city of Sakai is formed from three parishes.

Population development in the prefecture

Census population
Census year	Total population	male population	female population	Gender ratio men to 1000 women	Area in km²	Population density per km ²
1920	599.155	293.181	305.974	958	4017.97	149.1
1925	597,899	293.039	304,860	961	4017.97	148.8
1930	618.144	304,525	313,619	971	4017.97	153.8
1935	646.659	316.424	330.235	958	4264.48	151.6
1940	643.904	312.075	331,829	941	4264.48	151.0
1945	724.856	332,461	392.395	847	4264.48	170.0
1950	752.374	364,343	388.031	939	4253.87	176.9
1955	754.055	363.770	390.285	932	4264.70	176.8
1960	752.696	360.288	392,408	918	4187.38	179.8
1965	750.557	359,649	390.908	920	4187.46	179.2
1970	744.230	356,639	387,591	920	4188.13	177.7
1975	773,599	373.416	400.183	933	4188.34	184.7
1980	794.354	384.269	410.085	937	4189.38	189.6
1985	817,633	397.115	420,518	944	4191.49	195.1
1990	823,585	400.391	423.194	946	4187.59	196.7
1995	826.996	401.860	425.136	945	4188.43	197.5
2000	828.944	402,367	426,577	943	4188.75	197.9
2005	821,592	397.271	424,321	936	4189.25	196.1
2010	806.314	389.712	416,602	936	4189.83	192.5
2015	786.740	381.474	405.266	941	4190.49	187.7

economy

The Mihama , Monju , Ōi , Takahama and Tsuruga nuclear power plants are located on the coast of Fukui Prefecture . Until they were shut down after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, they made an important contribution to Japan's power supply and are often the largest taxpayers and employers locally.