Ako, Hyogo
Encyclopedia
Cities of Japan
||A is a local administrative unit in Japan. Cities are ranked on the same level as and , with the difference that they are not a component of...
located in the south west of Hyōgo Prefecture
Hyogo Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region on Honshū island. The capital is Kobe.The prefecture's name was previously alternately spelled as Hiogo.- History :...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
As of April 30, 2011, the city has an estimated population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...
of 50,902, with a household
Household
The household is "the basic residential unit in which economic production, consumption, inheritance, child rearing, and shelter are organized and carried out"; [the household] "may or may not be synonymous with family"....
number of 19,841 and a density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
of 401.18 persons per km². The total area is 126.88 km². The city was officially founded on September 1, 1951. The city faces the Inland Sea and salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
production was its main industry during the feudal period. Other industries are fishery
Fishery
Generally, a fishery is an entity engaged in raising or harvesting fish which is determined by some authority to be a fishery. According to the FAO, a fishery is typically defined in terms of the "people involved, species or type of fish, area of water or seabed, method of fishing, class of boats,...
and tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
thanks to a famous act of vengeance by the Forty-seven Ronin
Forty-seven Ronin
The revenge of the , also known as the Forty-seven Samurai, the Akō vendetta, or the took place in Japan at the start of the 18th century...
in 1703, featured in the Chushingura
Chushingura
is the name for fictionalized accounts of the historical revenge by the Forty-seven Ronin of the death of their master, Asano Naganori. Including the early , the story has been told in kabuki, bunraku, stage plays, films, novels, television shows and other media...
.
History
During the Edo periodEdo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
, Akō was a capital of Akō han
Ako Domain
The was a domain in feudal Japan. It was located in Harima Province and coincided with the present-day cities of Akō and Aioi and the town of Kamigōri in Hyōgo Prefecture. The domain had its headquarters at Akō Castle....
. Akō was a small han
Han
-China:* China , an abbreviation or adjectival modifier for things Chinese* Han Chinese , the dominant majority ethnic group of China and overseas Chinese...
of 50,000 koku
Koku
The is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...
but rich thanks to salt production. Akō salt is famous for its high quality. Among the former daimyo
Daimyo
is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
of Akō was Asano Naganori
Asano Naganori
was the daimyo of the Akō Domain in Japan . His title was Takumi no Kami . He is known as the person who triggered a series of incidents retold in a story known as Chushingura, one of the favourite themes of kabuki, joruri and Japanese books and films.He was born in Edo as the eldest son of Asano...
, the master of the Forty-seven Rōnin
Forty-seven Ronin
The revenge of the , also known as the Forty-seven Samurai, the Akō vendetta, or the took place in Japan at the start of the 18th century...
. In memory of the forty-seven ronin, who finally accomplished the vengeance against Kira Yoshihisa for their master after hardship on January 30, 1703 (December 14, Genroku
Genroku
was a after Jōkyō and before Hōei. This period spanned the years from September 1688 through March 1704. The reigning emperor was .The years of Genroku are generally considered to be the Golden Age of the Edo Period. The previous hundred years of peace and seclusion in Japan had created relative...
15), the city has held a festival (gishi sai) on December 14 every year in the last hundred years. On the day of the festival, all the elementary and middle schools in the city are off, and the students and pupils are encouraged to participate in one of sports and art competitions including those in kendo
Kendo
, meaning "Way of The Sword", is a modern Japanese martial art of sword-fighting based on traditional Japanese swordsmanship, or kenjutsu.Kendo is a physically and mentally challenging activity that combines strong martial arts values with sport-like physical elements.-Practitioners:Practitioners...
, judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
, and shodo
Shodo
"Shōdō" is the fortieth single by B'z, released on January 25, 2006. This song is one of B'z many number-one singles in Oricon charts. This song was the opening theme of Case Closed.- External links :*...
, or one of parades including the one re-enacting the victory of forty-seven ronin and another one exhibiting the culture in the Edo period such as sankin kotai
Sankin kotai
was a policy of the shogunate during most of the Edo period of Japanese history. The purpose was to control the daimyo. In adopting the policy, the shogunate was continuing and refining similar policies of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In 1635, a law required sankin kōtai, which was already an established...
.
Akō's castle
Ako Castle
is a flatland castle located in Akō, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The castle now is a national historic site.- History :This Akō castle is not to be confused with an earlier fortification located to the north. When the present castle was constructed, it took 13 years to complete the 12 gates and 10...
built by the grand father of Asano Naganori, Naganao, still stands in the center of city today.
Geography
The city is bordered with the following cities and towns:- AioiAioi, Hyogois a city located between Himeji and Okayama, in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. As of 2008, the city had an estimated population of 32,584 and the density of 369.14 persons per km². The total area is 90.43 km².- History :...
city - Kamigori town
- BizenBizen, Okayamais a city located in Okayama, Japan. The city is particularly famous for its Bizen-yaki pottery. It is also home to literary critic Hakuchō Masamune's birthplace, which is now a museum....
city, Okayama prefectureOkayama Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Okayama.- History :During the Meiji Restoration, the area of Okayama Prefecture was known as Bitchū Province, Bizen Province and Mimasaka Province.- Geography :... - Himeji city (sea border)
Chikusa river goes through the center of the city, providing the moat of Ako Castle with water through a branch, Kariya river.
The central part of the city around the castle has been built on the alluvial plain
Alluvial plain
An alluvial plain is a relatively flat landform created by the deposition of sediment over a long period of time by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms...
of Chikusa river.
The city is on the border of the Hyogo and Okayama prefectures, which also divides the Kinki and Chugoku areas. On each side of the border, ancient Harima
Harima Province
or Banshu was a province of Japan in the part of Honshū that is the southwestern part of present-day Hyōgo Prefecture. Harima bordered on Tajima, Tamba, Settsu, Bizen, and Mimasaka Provinces. Its capital was Himeji....
and Bizen
Bizen Province
was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of Honshū, in what is today the southeastern part of Okayama Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bitchu and Bingo Provinces. Bizen borders Mimasaka, Harima, and Bitchū Provinces....
provinces, which are now Ako and Bizen cities, respectively, have cultivated their own cultures. Therefore, even at the present days, dialects are vastly different on the sides of the border. If one travel by the JR
JR
Jr. is the abbreviation for Junior.For articles named Junior;, see Junior JR may also stand for:-People:* Jackie Robinson , an American Major League Baseball player...
San'yō Main Line
San'yō Main Line
The is the JR main railway line in western Japan, connecting Kobe Station and Moji Station, largely running parallel the coast of the Inland Sea, in other words the southern edge of western Honshu. The Sanyō Shinkansen line runs largely parallel to its route since 1972...
from west to east, he or she will notice that the dialect of passengers suddenly changes between Kamigori station in Hyogo prefecture and Mitsuishi station in Okayama prefecture. In Ako, people speak a type of the Kansai dialect whose intonation is however of Tokyo type. The superset of the dialect spoken in Ako, called Banshu-ben, is known as one of the most harsh-sounding dialect.
Education
- The Akō Board of EducationBoard of educationA board of education or a school board or school committee is the title of the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or higher administrative level....
operates public elementary and middle schools.
- Akō High School is operated by Hyōgo Prefectural Board of Education.
- Kansai University of Social WelfareKansai University of Social Welfareis a private university in Ako, Hyōgo, Japan, established in 1997.-External links:*...
was founded in 1997 and has been operated by Kansai Konko Educational foundation.
Museums
- Akō Tabuchi Memorial Museum of Art (赤穂市立 田淵記念館) has on display a remarkable "ChaTeaTea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...
no yu (茶の湯)" exhibit. - Ako city museum of history (赤穂市立歴史博物館) built at the site of former rice granary collects, investigates, and exhibits historical materials related to the city of Ako, especially through the forty-seven samurais and salt production.
Parks
- Ako Kaihin Koen (赤穂海浜公園) located on the east bank of the Chikusa river at its junction with Setonaikai is a complex of a facility which offers an experience of old-style salt production, camping sites, tennis courts, play grounds, ponds where rental boats are available, and a small zoo.
Things to buy
- Shiomi ManjūManjuManju is a Sanskrit word with following associated meanings - pleasant, sweet, snow, beautiful, Lord Shiva's name, clouds, morning dew and is predominantly an Indian male/female/given name.Manju, means a language of clouds.That is Rain...
is a Japanese sweet. The outside shell is a little salty while the inside made of azuki paste is very sweet. It goes very well with (strong/bitter) green tea or coffee.