Yamaguchi

(2002 est. pop. 1.5 million). Yamaguchi Prefecture is situated in the west of the Japanese island of Honshu. Occupying an area of 6,108 square kilometers, Yamaguchi is bordered by the Sea of Japan, the Inland Sea, and the Hibiki Sea and by Shimane and Hiroshima prefectures. The terrain is low but mountainous and is intersected by plateaus and by Japan's largest limestone tableland, Akiyoshidai, the site of one of the world's vastest limestone caverns. Yamaguchi's rugged coastline is frequently swept by typhoons. Once divided into Suo and Nagato provinces, then combined into the domain of Choshu, the prefecture assumed its present name and borders in 1871.

The prefecture's capital is Yamaguchi city, which was founded in the fourteenth century as a castle town by the territorial warlord Ouichi Hiroyo (d. 1380), who was awarded lands in western Honshu as payment for service to the Ashikaga shogunate (military government of Japan from 1333 to 1573). It developed into a splendid provincial capital made wealthy by trade with China. During the Onin War (1467–1477), many Kyoto imperial court aristocrats took refuge there. In 1550, the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier preached Christian doctrine in the streets of Yamaguchi. Soon after, the Ouchi overlords were overthrown, and the capital was moved to Hagi, but in 1863, Yamaguchi again became the capital. The prefecture's other important cities are Shimonoseki, Ube, Tokuyama, Iwakuni, and Hofu.

The prefecture is the site of numerous Yayoi-period (300 BCE–300 CE) burials and artifacts. In ancient times, it was among the first regions to develop, influenced by close trade ties to the Korean peninsula. The powerful Mori warrior clan ruled Choshu throughout the Edo period (1600/1603–1868). Rebeling against the Tokugawa shogunate, Choshu samurai led the movement to return power to the emperor in the Meiji Restoration (1868).

Economically, Yamaguchi relies on rice and fruit production and on heavy and chemical industries in the southern industrial zone. Visitors are drawn to the area's coastal scenery and to its hot spring resorts.

"Yamaguchi Prefecture." (1993) Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Tokyo: Kodansha.