(熊本市; -shi) is the capital
City of
Kumamoto Prefecture on the
Island of
Kyushu ,
Japan .
As of
2003 , the city has an estimated
Population of 669,034 and a
Density of 2,507.91 persons per
Km² . The total area is 266.77 km².
Kato Kiyomasa , a contemporary of
Toyotomi Hideyoshi , was made daimyo of half of the (old) administrative region of
Higo in
1588 . After that, Kiyomasa built
Kumamoto Castle . Due to its many innovative defensive designs, Kumamoto Castle was considered impregnable, and Kiyomasa enjoyed a reputation as one of the finest castle-builders in Japanese history. After Kiyomasa died in
1611 , his son, Tadahiro, succeeded him, but Tadahiro was removed by
Tokugawa Ieyasu in
1633 , replacing him with the
Hosokawa Clan . Former
Prime Minister Of Japan Hosokawa Morihiro is a direct descendant of the Hosokawa clan of Kumamoto. Another famous politician, former president of Peru
Alberto Fujimori , also has roots in Kumamoto; Fujimori's ancestors emigrated from Kumamoto early in the 20th century.
The city's most famous landmark is
Kumamoto Castle , a large, and in its day, an extremely well fortified Japanese castle. The
Donjon (castle central keep) is a concrete reconstruction built in the 1970s, but several ancillary wooden buildings remain of the original castle. The castle was besieged during the
Satsuma Rebellion , and was sacked and burned after a 53-day
Siege . It was during this time that the tradition of eating raw
Horse meat was born, and ''
Basashi '' (raw horse meat) remains popular in Kumamoto and, to a lesser extent, elsewhere in Japan.
Within the outer walls of Kumamoto Castle is the Hosokawa Gyobu-tei, the former residence of the Higo
Daimyo . This traditional wooden mansion has a fine
Japanese Garden located in its grounds.
Miyamoto Musashi lived the last part of his life in Kumamoto.
Kumamoto city is home to
Suizenji-Joujuen , a formal garden neighbouring the Suizenji Temple approximately 3 kilometres southeast of Kumamoto Castle. Suizenji Koen is considered to be one of the most beautiful gardens in remaining Japan, together with
Kenroku-en in the city of
Kanazawa ,
Ishikawa Prefecture , and the gardens
Kairaku-en and
Koraku-en .
The current administrative body of the "City of Kumamoto" was founded on
April 1 ,
1889 .
- Akira Kurosawa was granted permission to use the castle at Kumamoto for one of the three castles in his 1985 epic film Ran .
| |
"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Kumamoto_Castle" class="copylinks">Kumamoto Castle
|
| |
"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Suizenji" class="copylinks">Suizenji Park
|
| |
"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Streetcar" class="copylinks">Streetcar
|
