Ibaraki
(2002 est. pop. 3.1 million). Ibaraki Prefecture is situated in the central region of Japan's island of Honshu, where it occupies an area of 6,095 square kilometers. Ibaraki's main geographical features are the Abukuma and Yamizo mountains in the north and the broad plains of the Kanto in the south. The prefecture is bordered by the Pacific Ocean and by Chiba, Tochigi, Saitama, and Fukushima prefectures. Once known as Hitachi Province, Ibaraki assumed its present name and borders in 1875.
The prefecture's capital is Mito, which grew around a castle erected during the Kamakura period (1185–1333) by the Daijo family. After the Battle of Sekigahara (1600), it was taken over as castle town by a son of the first Tokugawa shogun. The Tokugawa, or Edo, period (1600/1603–1868) was an era of political and cultural predominance for the Mito domain, comprised of parts of Hitachi and Shimotsuke Provinces. Its rulers founded two schools of imperial learning, the Shokokan and later the Kodokan, together known as the Mito school. In 1864, at the outset of the Mito Civil War, pro-imperial rebels led a major uprising against the Tokugawa shogunate; they were crushed, but the shogunate itself soon crumbled. The focus of present-day Mito is commercial activity, including the production of natto (fermented soybeans). The prefecture's other important cities are Hitachi, Tsuchiura, and Koga.
Ibaraki Prefecture has large areas of arable land, producing great quantities of vegetables, fruit, rice, and other grain primarily for the Tokyo market. Fishing remains a leading activity as well. In recent decades heavy industries from the Keihin Industrial Zone have spread into the prefecture. Among them are facilities for the manufacture and processing of electrical equipment, steel, petrochemicals, and foodstuffs. This transformation has been accompanied by such mammoth projects as Tsukuba Academic New Town and the Kashima Coastal Industrial Region. There is also a city named Ibaraki in northern Osaka Prefecture.
Further Reading
"Ibaraki Prefecture." (1993) Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Tokyo: Kodansha.
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