Date, Fukushima

Date, Fukushima
For the city in Hokkaido Prefecture, see Date, Hokkaidō.
Date
伊達市
—  City  —
Location of Date in Fukushima
Date is located in Japan
Date
 
Coordinates: 37°49′N 140°30′E / 37.817°N 140.5°E / 37.817; 140.5Coordinates: 37°49′N 140°30′E / 37.817°N 140.5°E / 37.817; 140.5
Country Japan
Region Tōhoku
Prefecture Fukushima
Area
 - Total 265.10 km2 (102.4 sq mi)
Population (October 1, 2008)
 - Total 65,409
 - Density 246.7/km2 (639/sq mi)
Time zone Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
Phone number 024-575-2570
Address 180 Hobaramachi aza Funabashi, Date-shi, Fukushima-ken
960-0692
Website City of Date

Date (伊達市 Date-shi?) is a city located in northern Fukushima, Japan.

As of May 2011, the town has an estimated population of 65,409[1] and the total area is 265 km².

There were nine towns in Date District, Fukushima. On January 1, 2006, five towns in Date District merged to form the city of Date. Merged towns were Hobara, Yanagawa, Date, Ryōzen, and Tsukidate. The central town is Hobara.

A whole body skeleton of Paleoparadoxia was excavated in Yanagawa on August 21, 1984. The skeleton is named the Yanagawa Specimen.

Contents

History of two Date Cities

In the Edo period, the Date clan ruled the whole Miyagi and the South of Iwate. The Date clan was one of the most influential daimyos, samurai. In the Meiji period, many samurai lost their territories because of the Meiji Restoration. This was also true for the Date clan. A party led by Watari-Date, a branch family of the Date clan, settled in uncultivated Hokkaido. This is the origin of Date in Hokkaido. On the other hand, the name of Date clan originated from the name of Date District in Fukushima.

The Date clan rose in Date District in 12th Century. Date in Fukushima is the ancestral ground of Date clan. Date in Hokkaido is the ground of a descendant of Date clan. The two cities have an indirect relation.

The Date family, descendants of Fujiwara no Uona (721-783) received the Date District in 1189 from the Shôgun Minamoto no Yoritomo.

Before the Edo period, the home castle of Date clan was Yanagawa castle in Yanagawa in Date District. In the Edo period, the home castle was Sendai castle in Sendai, Miyagi.

Economy

Taiyo Yuden operates a CD and DVD production plant in the Yanagawa Industrial Zone in Date, Fukushima.

2011 earthquake and tsunami

Date is about 60 kilometres (37 miles) north-west of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, the site of the nuclear accident that followed the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Although outside the nuclear accident exclusion zone, the levels of radiation in the city caused residents, and especially schoolchildren, to remain indoors more.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Estimated population May 1, 2011". Official Fukushima Prefecture website. http://www.pref.fukushima.jp/toukei/html/01/m-jinko/22_23_3_4doutai.xls. Retrieved 29 July 2011. (Japanese)
  2. ^ Takahiko Hyuga and Shigeru Sato (11 May 2011). "Fukushima Students Wear Masks as Radiation Looms". Bloomberg. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-11/fukushima-students-wear-masks-as-radiation-looms.html. Retrieved 11 May 2011. 

External links

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See also: Towns and villages by district
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