Shizuoka History, Japan

Shizuoka is one of the most important cities of Japan. It is the capital of the Prefecture of Japan which happens to be the group of 47 jurisdictions. This proves the importance of Shizuoka as a city in Japan. Japan is amongst those countries which have a rich past and which have still maintained their culture even though they are touching the heights of modernization with every passing year.

Around 130 km south of the capital of Japan (Tokyo) lays an archeological site that is named Toro. It dates back to the Yayoi period which is considered to be the historical period of Japan between the years of 500 BC and 300 AD. The very initial remains of artifacts and history of Japan were found in the city of Tokyo and the Yayoi period received its name from these historical remains itself. Toro is said to be the first archeological site within the complete Japan.

The Toro archeological site leaves a proof that people used to live in this area in those olden days. Suruga happens to be the Province of Japan during the Heian Era which was the final division of the History of Japan and it dates from 794 to 1185. Later, for Imagawa Yoshimot Sunpu (modified name of Suruga) became an important place during the Sengoku era (which was the period when Japan faced constant military conflicts).

Imagawa raised Tokugawa Ieyasu since he was a small kid. Tokugawa later returned to his home province Mikawa. He returned back in 1575 and defeated Takeda Shingen who was ruling Suruga in those days. Tokugawa Ieyasu stepped down as the ruler of Suruga for his beloved son Hidetada in the year 1605. After some time it was another son of Tokugawa Ieyasu named Tokugawa Tadanaga who ruled Suruga.

Domains were abolished in the year 1870 but before that some 700000 koku (unit of volume used in Japan) of land was granted to the rule of Tokugawa Iesato. It was April 1st, 1889 when Shizuoka finally came into existence. Shimizu (another city which is now called as Shimizu - Ku) was merged with Shizuoka in 2003. This resulted in the larger area of Shizuoka. Kanbara was also merged with Shizuoka on 31st March 2006 and it was named as one of the wards under Shizuoka.

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