Shimane Prefecture

History

Early history

The history of Shimane starts with Japanese mythology. The Shinto god Ōkuninushi was believed to live in Izumo, an old province in Shimane. Izumo Shrine, which is in the city of Izumo, honors the god. At that time, the current Shimane prefecture was divided into three parts: Iwami, Izumo, and Oki. That lasted until the abolition of the han system took place in 1871. During the Nara period, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro wrote a poem on Shimane's nature when he was sent as the Royal governor.

Later on in the Kamakura period (1185–1333), the Kamakura shogunate forced emperors Go-Toba and Godaigo into exile in Oki. Emperor Go-Daigo later escaped from Oki and began rallying supporters against the shogunate, which proved successful.

Middle Ages

During the Muromachi period (1336–1573), Izumo and Oki were controlled by the Kyōgoku clan. However, after the Ōnin War, the Amago clan expanded power based in Gassantoda Castle and the Masuda clan dominated Iwami Province. The Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine was located between Amago territory and Masuda territory, and there were many battles between the clans for the silver. In 1566 Mōri Motonari conquered Izumo, Iwami, and Oki. In 1600, after over 30 years of Mori control, Horio Yoshiharu entered Izumo and Oki as the result of Battle of Sekigahara, which Mori lost. Following the change, Horio Yoshiharu decided to move to build Matsue Castle instead of Gassan-Toda, and soon after Yoshiharu's death the castle was completed. In 1638, the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu became the ruler because the Horio clan had no heir, and his family ruled until the abolition of the han system.

The Iwami area was split into three regions: the mining district, under the direct control of the Shogunate, the Hamada clan region, and the Tsuwano clan region. The Iwami Ginzan, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, produced silver and was one of the nation's largest silver mines by the early 17th century. The Hamada clan was on the shogunate's side in the Meiji Restoration, and the castle was burned down. The Tsuwano clan, despite then being ruled by the Matsudaira, was on the emperor's side in the restoration.

Modern age

In 1871, the abolition of the han system placed the old Shimane and Hamada Provinces in the current area of Shimane Prefecture. Later that year, Oki became part of Tottori. In 1876, Hamada Prefecture was merged into Shimane Prefecture. Also, Tottori Prefecture was added in the same year. However, five years later, in 1881, the current portion of Tottori Prefecture was separated and the current border was formed.

Geography

Shimane Prefecture is situated on the Sea of Japan side of the Chūgoku region. Because of its mountainous landscape, rice farming is done mostly in the Izumo plain where the city of Izumo is located. Another major landform is the Shimane peninsula. The peninsula is located across the Sea of Japan from Izumo to Sakaiminato, which is located in Tottori prefecture. Also, the peninsula created two brackish lakes, Lake Shinji and Nakaumi. The island of Daikon is located in Nakaumi. Off the main island of Honshū, the island of Oki belongs to Shimane prefecture as well. The island itself is in the Daisen-Oki National Park. Shimane also claims the use of Liancourt Rocks, over which they are in dispute with South Korea.

As of 1 April 2012, 6% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks, namely Daisen-Oki National Park; Hiba-Dōgo-Taishaku and Nishi-Chūgoku Sanchi Quasi-National Parks; and eleven Prefectural Natural Parks.

Most major cities are located either on the seaside, or along a river.

Cities

Eight cities are located in Shimane Prefecture, the largest in population being Matsue, the capital, and the smallest being Gōtsu. The cities Masuda, Unnan, Yasugi, and Gōtsu had a slight population increase due to the mergers in the early 2000s.

Towns and villages

These are the towns and villages of each district. The number of towns and villages greatly decreased during the mergers. However, they hold about one-third of the prefecture's population.

Mergers

Main article: List of mergers in Shimane Prefecture

Climate

Shimane prefecture has a sub-tropical climate. Winter is cloudy with a little snow, and summer is humid. The average annual temperature is 14.6 C. It rains almost every day in the rainy season, from June to mid-July. The highest average monthly temperature occurs in August with 26.3 C. The average annual precipitation is 1799 mm, higher than Tokyo's 1467 mm and Obihiro with 920. mm.

Transportation

Airports

Three airports serve Shimane. The Izumo Airport located in Izumo is the largest airport in the prefecture in terms of passengers and has regular flights to Haneda Airport, Osaka Airport, Fukuoka Airport, and Oki Airport. The Iwami Airport has two flights each day to Haneda and Osaka and 2 arrivals. Oki Airport has scheduled flights to Osaka and Izumo Airports.

• Izumo Airport
• Iwami Airport
• Oki Airport

Rail

JR West and Ichibata Electric Railway serves the prefecture in terms of rail transportation. The Sanin Main Line goes through the prefecture on the Sea of Japan side into major cities such as Matsue and Izumo. and stations are the major stops in the prefecture. The Kisuki line, which forks from Shinji Station on the Sanin Line, connects with the Geibi Line in Hiroshima Prefecture, cutting into the Chūgoku Mountains. Ichibata Electric Railway serve the Shimane peninsula from Dentetsu-Izumoshi Station and Izumo Taisha-mae Station to Matsue Shinjiko-Onsen Station.

JR West has three Limited Express trains to Shimane, which are Super Matsukaze, Super Oki, and Yakumo. Additionally, the overnight limited express Sunrise Izumo operates daily between Tokyo and Izumoshi.

• West Japan Railway Company
  • Kisuki Line
  • Sanin Main Line
  • Sankō Line
  • Yamaguchi Line
• Ichibata Electric Railway
  • Kita-Matsue Line
  • Taisha Line

Roads

General roads

• Japan National Route 9
  • Izumo Bypass
  • Gōtsu Road
• Japan National Route 54
• Japan National Route 180
• Japan National Route 184
• Japan National Route 186
• Japan National Route 187
• Japan National Route 191
• Japan National Route 261
• Japan National Route 314
• Japan National Route 375
• Japan National Route 431
• Japan National Route 432
• Japan National Route 485
• Japan National Route 488

Highways

The four expressways in the prefecture connect major cities with other prefectures. The Matsue expressway connects Matsue with Unnan and Yonago in Tottori prefecture. Hamada Expressway forks from the Chūgoku Expressway at Kita-Hiroshima and stretches to Hamada.

• Sanin Expressway
• Matsue Expressway
• Hamada Expressway
• Chūgoku Expressway

Ferries

• Oki Kisen

Gallery

File:IzumoStationbuilding 2018-1-5.jpg|JR Izumo Station File:Kiha187-Sanin-Line.jpg|Super Oki express in Sanin Line File:Ichibata-Taisya-line Series7000.jpg|Ichibata Electric Railway File:Izumoenmusubi.jpg|Izumo Enmusubi Airport File:Terminal building in port of Saigo (Shimane).JPG|Oki Saigo Port

Economy

In Shimane, the largest employer is the retail industry, employing over 60,000 workers. The supermarket, Mishimaya, and the hardware store, Juntendo, are examples of companies based in Shimane. The manufacturing industry has the second highest number of employees with 49,000 workers.

Companies based in Shimane

Manufacturing

• Izumo Murata Manufacturing
• Mitsubishi Agricultural Machinery
• Shimane Fujitsu

Financial

• The San-in Godo Bank
• The Shimane Bank

Others

• Ichibata Electric Railway
• Juntendo
• Mishimaya
• Network Applied Communication Laboratory

Major factories

• Hitachi Metals

Demographics

One-third of the prefecture's population is concentrated in the Izumo-Matsue area. Otherwise, over two-thirds of the population is on the coastline. A reason for the population distribution is that the Chūgoku Mountains make the land inland harder to inhabit. The capital, Matsue, has the smallest population of all 47 prefectural capitals. Shimane has also the largest percentage of elderly people. The province had an estimated 743 centenarians per million inhabitants in September 2010, the highest ratio in Japan, overtaking Okinawa Prefecture (667 centenarians per million).

Population by age

Total Population in age groups

2007 Estimated Population

Unit: Thousands

Population in age groups by gender

2007 Estimated population

Unit: Thousands

• Source: Graph 10/Prefectures Age（In Age groups）, Gender divided population－Total Population (Ministry of Internal Affairs Statistics Bureau)

| 1920 | 715,000 | 1930 | 740,000 | 1940 | 741,000 | 1950 | 913,000 | 1960 | 889,000 | 1970 | 773,575 | 1980 | 784,795 | 1990 | 781,021 | 2000 | 761,503 | 2010 | 717,397 | 2020 | 679,626

Culture

Cultural assets

;World Cultural Heritage

• The Historic Remains of Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine and its Cultural Background (Ōda City)

;National Treasures

• Armour Laced with white thread (Hinomisaki Shrine)
• Bronze bells from the Kamo-Iwakura site Unearthed bronze bell-shaped vessel (Unnan City)
• Izumo-taisha Main Shrine (Izumo City)
• Kamosu Shrine Main Shrine (Matsue City)
• Kojindani Ruins Unearthed ruins (Izumo City)
• Toiletry case with autumn field and deer design (Izumo-taisha)

;Important Traditional Building Preservation Area

• Ōmori (Ōda City)
• Yunotsu (Ōda City)

Dialects

• Iwami dialect
• Unpaku dialect (Izumo dialect, Oki dialect, etc.)

Universities in Shimane Prefecture

• Shimane University, Matsue and Izumo (National university)
• The University of Shimane, Hamada (Prefectural university)

Tourism

• Adachi Museum of Art
• Aquas Aquarium
• Iwami Art Museum
• Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine
• Izumo-taisha
• Izumo Province
• Matsue Castle
• Mt. Sanbe
• Shimane Art Museum
• Shimane Vogel Park
• Shimane Winery
• Tamatsukuri Onsen

Prefectural symbols

The prefectural flower is the mountain peony. On the island of Daikonjima, they have been grown from at least the 18th century.

Notes

References

• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ; OCLC 58053128

References

1. "2020年度国民経済計算（2015年基準・2008SNA） : 経済社会総合研究所 - 内閣府".
2. NHK Publishing. (24 May 2016)
3. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Shimane Province" in {{Google books. p2QnPijAEmEC. ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 859. p2QnPijAEmEC. p. 127
4. Nussbaum, "Matsue" at {{Google books. p2QnPijAEmEC. p. 617
5. "Izumo Shrine website".
6. Nussbaum, "Provinces and prefectures" at {{Google books. p2QnPijAEmEC. p. 780
7. [http://www.pref.shimane.jp/profile/kisojoho/rekisi.html Shimane Prefecture introduction] {{webarchive. link. (March 3, 1997)
8. 古川清行 Furukawa Kiyoyuki. (2003). "スーパー日本史 Super Nihon-shi". 講談社 Kōdansha.
9. [http://www.pref.shimane.lg.jp/kochokoho/profile/aramasi.html History of Shimane Prefecture] {{webarchive. link. (November 18, 2007)
10. (2007). "新編 中学校社会科地図 Updated Social studies map for Junior High school". 帝国書院 Teikoku Shoin.
11. [[Liancourt Rocks]]
12. (1 April 2012). "General overview of area figures for Natural Parks by prefecture". [[Ministry of the Environment (Japan).
13. [http://www.town.okinoshima.shimane.jp/event/schedule.html Flight schedule of Oki Airport] {{webarchive. link. (August 30, 2007)
14. [http://www.jr-odekake.net/eki/pdf/index_all.pdf Route map for JR West]
15. [http://www.ichibata.co.jp/railway/ Route map of Ichibata Electric Railway]
16. [http://www.jr-odekake.net/train/category/ra.html JR West website on limited express trains]
17. (2005). "考える社会科地図 Kangaeru Shakaika Chizu". 四谷大塚出版 Yotsuya-Ōtsuka Shuppan.
18. Japan Times [http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100915a8.html “Centenarians to Hit Record 44,000”]. The Japan Times, Sept. 15, 2010. [[Okinawa Prefecture]] also had the largest loss of young and middle-aged population during the [[Pacific War]].
19. [http://www.citypopulation.de/Japan-Shimane.html Shimane 1995-2020 population statistics]
20. [http://www.demographia.com/db-japanpref.htm Shimane 1920-2000 population statistics]
21. [http://www.shimane-u.ac.jp/ Shimane University]
22. [http://www.u-shimane.ac.jp/ University of Shimane]
23. [http://www.pref.shimane.lg.jp/kochokoho/profile/kenshou.html Symbols of Shimane Prefecture: From Shimane Prefecture website] {{webarchive. link. (September 28, 2007)