Wakayama
(2002 est. pop. 1.2 million). Japan's Wakayama Prefecture is situated in the central part of the island of Honshu. Its 4,723 square kilometers encompass the almost completely mountainous terrain of the western Kii Peninsula. Wakayama is bordered by the Pacific Ocean, Kumano Sea, and Kii Channel,and by Osaka, Nara, and Mie prefectures. Once known as Kii Province, it assumed its present name and borders in 1871.
The prefecture's capital is Wakayama, which grew up around a castle erected in 1585 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536–1598), one of Japan's three national unifiers. The prefecture has long been the home of the Koyasan Buddhist monastic complex and the Shinto Kumano Sanzan shrines. It was ruled through the Edo period (1600/1603–1868) by a branch of the Tokugawa family. The prefecture's other important cities are Tanabe, Kainan, and Singu.
The prefecture produces rice and mandarin oranges, and supports fishing and forestry. When the Hanshin Industrial Zone was extended southward from Osaka, it brought chemical, steel, and electrical equipment plants to supplement Wakayama's traditional spinning, and furniture-making and papermaking industries. Visitors are drawn to the area's coastal scenic attractions and to sacred Nachi Falls, one of the nation's highest.
Further Reading
"Wakayama Prefecture." (1993) Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Tokyo: Kodansha.
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