Takamatsu is the capital and largest city of Kagawa Prefecture,[5] with other major cities including Marugame, Mitoyo, and Kan'onji. Kagawa Prefecture is located on the Seto Inland Sea across from Okayama Prefecture on the island of Honshu, which is connected by the Great Seto Bridge. Kagawa Prefecture includes Shōdoshima, the second-largest island in the Seto Inland Sea, and the prefecture's southern land border with Tokushima Prefecture is formed by the Sanuki Mountains.
For a brief period between August 1876 and December 1888, Kagawa was made a part of Ehime Prefecture.[7]
Battle of Yashima
Located in Kagawa's capital city, Takamatsu, the mountain of Yashima was the battlefield for one of the best-known struggles between the Heike and Genji clans.
Kagawa is currently the smallest prefecture, by area, in Japan. Kagawa is a relatively narrow prefecture located between the mountains of Shikoku and the sea.
Kagawa has eight towns organized into five districts. Many were created after 1999 through mergers, as part of a national effort to reduce the number of small towns and villages.[9]
Kagawa has a nominal GDP of approximately 3,802 billion yen.[11] Kagawa's major export industries, in order of export value, include transportation equipment, electrical equipment, chemical products, general machinery, mineral fuels, manufactured goods, raw materials, and foodstuff.[12]
Foods
People queuing for udon in Kagawa
Sanuki udon (a type of udon noodle) is the most famous local food of Kagawa Prefecture. In 2008, there were over 700 udon restaurants in this prefecture alone.[13]
Aside from udon, Kagawa is also famous for "hone-tsuki-dori", seasoned chicken thigh cooked on the bone. Originating from Marugame City, the dish has now become a popular dish in izakaya restaurants across the country.
Olives and olive-related products have also come to be recognized as Kagawa foods. As the first place in Japan to successfully cultivate olives, Kagawa has been producing olive-related products since 1908. As well as winning both domestic and international awards for the quality of its olive oil, Kagawa has also created two offshoot food brands from its olive industry - "olive beef" and "olive yellowtail". Waste organic matter from olive pressing is used as feed for cattle and the Yellowtail Amberjack. Due to the high amount of polyphenols in the olive waste, the flesh of the respective meats does not oxidize or lose color easily.
Other local specialties include wasanbon sugar sweets, sōmen noodles and shōyu soy sauce.
Rare sugar researches are thriving and have discovered mass production culture enzymes. D-tagatose 3-epimerase is an enzyme that catalyzes the reversible epimerization reaction of the 3rd carbon of ketose.
Demographics
Kagawa prefecture population pyramid 2020
As of October 2020, Kagawa Prefecture had an estimated population of 950,244. This was .54% lower than the population in the 2000 census, being 1,022,890. The area of the prefecture is 1,877 km, and the population density is 506.3/km.[14]
Based on its ancient name, Sanuki, Kagawa is famous for its Sanuki udon (wheat noodles). Recent years have seen an interest in Sanuki udon across Japan[citation needed], and many Japanese now take day-trips to taste the many Sanuki udon restaurants in Kagawa.
In Pom Poko, the tanuki Tamasaburo Onigamori travels to Shikoku to ask the Transformation Masters to come to Tokyo to save Tama Hills from destruction, but he marries and settles there for three years.
The novel Battle Royale by Koushun Takami was set in the fictional town of Shiroiwa ('Castle Rock') in Kagawa Prefecture. Okishima, the fictional island on which much of the novel takes place is placed in the Seto Inland Sea. The manga also places Shiroiwa in Kagawa, while the film moves Shiroiwa to Kanagawa Prefecture.
^Ikatachōshi Editing Committee, ed. (March 31, 1987). Ikatachōshi 伊方町誌 [Ikata Town History] (in Japanese). Town of Ikata, printed by DAI-ICHI HOKI Publishing.
Japan
