Sukagawa, Fukushima

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Sukagawa City

Sukagawa (須賀川市, Sukagawa-shi) is a city located in the center of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. It is famous for both its peony garden (Botan En), a national scenic beauty, and its torch festival which has been hereditary for over 400 years.

Sukagawa is also known for Eiji Tsuburaya and Kokichi Tsuburaya, Denzen Aōdō, a painter, and Yuki Kadokura, a singer.

History

During the Edo period, Sukagawa belonged to the Shirakawa Domain. It was prospering as a major lodging place on Ōshū Kaidō, which is one of the Edo Five Routes, and was the commercial center in the region. But after mid-Meiji period, Koriyama, which had succeeded in inviting the junction of West Ban'etsu Line, took its presence. After the earthquake of 2011, the Fujinuma Dam failed and a part of the city was destroyed. See also Radiation effects from Fukushima I nuclear accidents.

Mergers

• The modern city of Sukagawa was founded on March 31, 1954, by the consolidation of Sukagawa Town, Hamada Town, Nishibukuro Village and Inada Village (all from Iwase District), and Oshioe Village (from Ishikawa District).
• Later, Sukagawa absorbed Niida Village (from Iwase District) on March 10, 1955, and then absorbed Ohigashi Village (from Ishikawa District) on February 1, 1967.
• On April 1, 2005, Sukagawa recently absorbed Naganuma Town and Iwase Village (both from Iwase District).

Demographics

As of January 1, 2005.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

Name of Area	Population(persons)	Surface(km²)	Population density(persons/km²)
Sukagawa	22,523	8.55	2634.27
Hamada	5,570	12.06	461.86
Nishibukuro	17,424	23.60	738.31
Inada	4,463	16.16	276.18
Oshioe	4,386	34.43	127.39
Niida	7,557	18.79	402.18
Ohigashi	6,049	41.39	146.15
Naganuma	6,639	60.34	106.98
Iwase	6,146	64.23	93.31
Total	80,757	279.55	288.88

Events

Sukagawa city holds a well-known fireworks display every summer in August. About three hundred thousand spectators view this display each year. Approximately one hundred thousand separate fireworks of various kinds are fired off.

Transportation

Sukagawa is connected to Japan through Sukagawa Station (須賀川駅 sukagawa-eki) a railway station served by Tōhoku Main Line.

It is also the only city in the Fukushima prefecture that boasts an airport; Fukushima Airport was opened on May 20, 1993 with regular domestic flights to Sapporo, Osaka, Fukuoka and Naha and international flights to Shanghai and Seoul.

External links

Media related to Sukagawa, Fukushima at Wikimedia Commons

• Sukagawa City official website Template:Ja icon
• Eiji Tsuburaya official website Template:Ja icon
• Sukagawa Peony Garden official website Template:Ja icon