Demographics

The population of Matsusaka has been increasing slowly over the past 50 years.

History

Matsusaka developed as a commercial center during the Sengoku period, and Oda Nobukatsu, the younger son of Oda Nobunaga built a castle in the area in 1580. The area came under the control of Gamō Ujisato shortly thereafter, and the Gamō began construction of a castle in the and named the site "Matsusaka," meaning "slope (坂) covered with pines (松)" in 1588. Matsusaka Castle was the center of the short-lived Matsusaka Domain in the early Tokugawa shogunate, but for most of the Edo period, the castle was the eastern outpost of Kishu Domain based at Wakayama Castle.

Following the Meiji restoration, the area became part of Mie Prefecture. The town of Matsusaka was created on April 1, 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. The second kanji character of Matsusaka was changed to 阪 from 坂 in those days. On March 26, 1893, 1318 houses in the town were destroyed in a fire. Matsusaka was raised to city status on February 1, 1933. The city suffered only light damage in World War II, when an air raid killed four people on February 4, 1945. About 700 houses in the city were destroyed by a fire on December 16, 1951. On October 15, 1956, a major railway accident occurred at Rokken Station on the outskirts of the city, killing 42 people. On August 1, 1982, Typhoon Bess left nine people dead in its wake. The city officially celebrated its 500th anniversary in 1988.

On January 1, 2005, the city expanded to its present borders, with the absorption the towns of Mikumo and Ureshino (both from Ichishi District), and the towns of Iinan and Iitaka (both from Iinan District).

Government

Matsusaka has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 28 members. Matsusaka contributes four members to the Mie Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Mie 1st district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Education

Matsusaka has 36 public elementary schools and 12 public middle schools operated by the city government and four public high schools operated by the Mie Prefectural Board of Education. There are also one private middle school and two private high schools. The prefectural also operates two special education schools for the handicapped. Mie Chukyo University, formerly located in Matsusaka, closed in 2013.

Transportation

Railway

20px JR Tōkai – Kisei Main Line

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20px JR Tōkai – Meishō Line

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20px Kintetsu Railway - Osaka Line

20px Kintetsu Railway -Nagoya Line

20px Kintetsu Railway - Yamada Line

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Highway

  • 24px|link=|alt=E23 Ise Expressway

Seaports

  • Port of Matsusaka

Sister cities

  • Binhu District, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China

Local attractions

  • Azaka Castle ruins
  • Matsusaka Castle ruins
  • Takarazuka kofun ancient burial mound

Notable people

  • Yotsukasa Dai, sumo wrestler
  • Aki Deguchi, J-pop idol and singer
  • Keisuke Funatani, professional soccer player
  • Satoshi Hida, professional soccer player
  • Hiroki Mizumoto, professional soccer player
  • Tetsuo Morimoto, politician
  • Masaharu Nakagawa, politician
  • Kana Nishino, J-pop/R&B singer
  • Motoori Norinaga, Edo period scholar
  • Ikuzo Saito, Olympic wrestler
  • Matsuura Takeshirō, explorer, cartographer, writer, painter, priest, and antiquarian
  • Mitsui Takatoshi, founder of the Mitsui group.
  • Norihisa Tamura, politician
  • Mienoumi Tsuyoshi, sumo wrestler
  • Ben Wada, film director

References

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