Fukui (city)

Map of Fukui

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Fukui City (or Fukui-shi; 福井市,) is the capital city of Fukui Prefecture in Japan. It became a core city of Japan in 2019. ^[1] As of July 2021, there are 260,254 people living there. The land area is 275,381,842 square kilometers (1 October 2018).^[2]^[3]

From the Meiji period, the silk fabrics industry was a big business in Fukui City, but it has decreased after World WarⅡ. Today the main industries of Fukui-shi are for fabrics and chemicals.^[4]

Emblem of Fukui

Because Fukui prefecture is famous for dinosaurs, there are monuments of dinosaurs in front of the JR Fukui station in the downtown of Fukui City. In addition, the building that is called "happiring" was built as part of city planning near the station. There are 186 cultural properties which include historical material, architectures, works of art, ethnic sites, scenic beauties, and cultural landscape.^[5]

History

Fukui Castle

Fukui City (Fukui-jo) was built by Shibata Katsuie as a castle town in 1575.^[6] It was destroyed by far because of the war with Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Yuki (Matsudaira) Hideyasu later rebuilt the castle.^[6]

Fukui City was called Fukui-han from 1600 to 1871.^[7] In the late Edo period, before the Meiji Restoration (1868), the historical figures were active; The representative names are Matsudaira Shungaku, Hashimoto Sanai, Kusakabe Taro, and W.E.Griffis.^[8] They have contributed to Fukui City and Japan.

From the 1890s, silk cloth business became the main business in Fukui City. On 19 July 1945, during World War Ⅱ, Fukui City was attacked by the United States, then the town was destroyed.^[9]The air raid lasted for about two hours, with a casualty rate of 93.2%, a burnout rate of 96%, and a death toll of 1,576.

People in Fukui City have rebuilt the town. However, an earthquake (Fukui-jishin) destroyed the city on 8 July 1948.^[10] The earthquake had a magnitude of 7.1 and a seismic intensity of 6. The number of victims was 3,858 people, and the death toll was 3,579.^[10] With the support from the Japanese government and other prefectures, Fukui City was rebuilt within one year.^[10]

In 2018, Fukui city was hit by heavy snow (Fukui-gosetsu). The city overcame this disaster by asking many groups such as self-defense forces for help. In the same year, Fukui city was chosen as a core city because of changes in the law. Thanks to it, Fukui city has been able to provide high quality service to citizens.

Notable people

Matsudaira Shungaku (1828~1890) was 16th Lord in Fukui-han. He reformed Fukui-han actively, for example, he made local industry in Fukui-han became famous then he cut the money which Fukui-han borrowed from other place . He built 明道館 (meido-kan) as a school which students can learn studies in Europe. He worked in Japanese government on a high position. He is known as the first man who bring a tree of apple to Japan. ^[11]　
Hashimoto Sanai (1834~1859) was born as a son of doctor in Fukui-han. He learned medical studies and Dutch studies. He wrote 啓発録 (keihatsu-roku) when he was 15. It is still read by children in Fukui city. He had advanced way of thinking future. In 1859, he criticized the Tokugawa shogunate, then he was killed by it.　
Yuri Kimimasa (1829~1909) was born as first son of samurai in Fukui-han. He worked hard to rebuilt financial problem of Fukui-han. He made the original idea of the restoration of imperial rule (大政奉還, taiseihokan). Because he was good at working out financial problem, he got a high position of Japanese government. After that, he became a governor of Tokyo.　
William Elliot Griffith (1843~1928) was a pastor and teacher from Philadelphia in the US. He was invited as a teacher in Fukui-han and worked there for about a year. He made a basis of education in Fukui. In his book, Mikado's Empire which he introduced Japanese history and culture, he wrote about Fukui in chapter 2, and introduced it to people in the world.^[12]
Kusakabe Taro (1845~1870) was the first student of Fukui-han who studied in the US. When he was 23, he has started to study in Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey and had a help from W.E.Griffith who was the student of the university to study in there. While he was studying in Rutgers university, he got a disease. Then he died before he graduated. Because he had high scores in the university, he was given a gold key.