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Prefectures of Japan

Category:Japanese prefectures Japan is divided into 47 local jurisdictions: one metropolitan district (都; To), Tokyo; one circuit (道; Dō), Hokkaido; two urban prefectures (府; Fu), Osaka and Kyoto); and 43 rural prefectures (県; Ken). In Japanese, they are commonly referred to as Todōfuken (都道府県). The current system was established by the Meiji government in 1871 and is known as the abolition of the Han system. Although there were initially over 300 prefectures, this number was reduced to 47 in 1888. The Local Autonomy Law of 1947 gave more political power to prefectures, and provided for locally-elected governors. In 2003, Prime Minister Koizumi proposed that the government consolidate the current prefectures into about 10 regional states. The plan called for each region to have greater autonomy than existing prefectures. Under the current Local Autonomy Law, each prefecture is further subdivided into cities (市 shi), towns (町 chō), and rural districts (郡 gun). Some prefectures also have branch offices (支庁 shichō), which carry out prefectural administrative functions outside the capital. In Hokkaido, these are often called "subprefectures."

Table of contents
1 List of prefectures
2 Types of prefectures
3 See also
4 External links

List of prefectures

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PrefectureJapaneseCapitalRegionIslandPopulation¹Area²Density³DistrMunicipISO 3166-2
Aichi愛知県NagoyaChubuHonshu7,043,2355,153.811,3661588JP-23
Akita秋田県AkitaTohokuHonshu1,189,21511,612.11102969JP-05
Aomori青森県AomoriTohokuHonshu1,475,6359,606.26154867JP-02
Chiba千葉県ChibaKantoHonshu5,926,3495,156.151,149980JP-12
Ehime愛媛県MatsuyamaShikokuShikoku1,493,1265,676.442631170JP-38
Fukui福井県FukuiChubuHonshu828,9604,188.761981035JP-18
Fukuoka福岡県FukuokaKyushuKyushu5,015,6664,971.011,0091797JP-40
Fukushima福島県FukushimaTohokuHonshu2,126,99813,782.541541590JP-07
Gifu岐阜県GifuChubuHonshu2,107,68710,598.181991799JP-21
Gunma群馬県MaebashiKantoHonshu2,024,8206,363.163181270JP-10
Hiroshima広島県HiroshimaChugokuHonshu2,878,9498,476.953401586JP-34
Hokkaido北海道SapporoHokkaidoHokkaido5,682,95083,452.476866212JP-01
Hyogo兵庫県KobeKinkiHonshu5,550,7428,392.426611988JP-28
Ibaraki茨城県MitoKantoHonshu2,985,4246,095.624901484JP-08
Ishikawa石川県KanazawaChubuHonshu1,180,9354,185.32282841JP-17
Iwate岩手県MoriokaTohokuHonshu1,416,19815,278.51931259JP-03
Kagawa香川県TakamatsuShikokuShikoku1,022,8431,861.70549743JP-37
Kagoshima鹿児島県KagoshimaKyushuKyushu1,786,2149,132.421961296JP-46
Kanagawa神奈川県YokohamaKantoHonshu8,489,9322,415.423,515737JP-14
Kochi高知県KochiShikokuShikoku813,9807,104.70115753JP-39
Kumamoto熊本県KumamotoKyushuKyushu1,859,4516,908.452691194JP-43
Kyoto京都府KyotoKinkiHonshu2,644,3314,612.935731244JP-26
Mie三重県TsuKinkiHonshu1,857,3655760.723221469JP-24
Miyagi宮城県SendaiTohokuHonshu2,365,2046,861.513251571JP-04
Miyazaki宮崎県MiyazakiKyushuKyushu1,170,0236,684.67175844JP-45
Nagano長野県NaganoChubuHonshu2,214,40912,598.4816316120JP-20
Nagasaki長崎県NagasakiKyushuKyushu1,516,5364,092.80371979JP-42
Nara奈良県NaraKinkiHonshu1,442,8623,691.09391847JP-29
Niigata新潟県NiigataChubuHonshu2,475,72412,582.3719716111JP-15
Oita大分県OitaKyushuKyushu1,221,1285,804.242101258JP-44
Okayama岡山県OkayamaChugokuHonshu1,950,6567,008.632781878JP-33
Okinawa沖縄県NahaKyushuOkinawa1,318,2812,271.30580553JP-47
Osaka大阪府OsakaKinkiHonshu8,804,8061,893.184,652544JP-27
Saga佐賀県SagaKyushuKyushu876,6642,439.23359849JP-41
Saitama埼玉県SaitamaKantoHonshu6,938,0043,767.091,827990JP-11
Shiga滋賀県OtsuKinkiHonshu1,342,8114,017.363341150JP-25
Shimane島根県MatsueChugokuHonshu761,4996,707.321141259JP-32
Shizuoka静岡県ShizuokaChubuHonshu3,767,4277,328.614841274JP-22
Tochigi栃木県UtsunomiyaKantoHonshu2,004,7876,408.28313749JP-09
Tokushima徳島県TokushimaShikokuShikoku823,9974,145.261991050JP-36
Tokyo東京都ShinjukuKantoHonshu12,059,2372,187.085,514139JP-13
Tottori鳥取県TottoriChugokuHonshu613,2293,507.19175639JP-31
Toyama富山県ToyamaChubuHonshu1,120,8434,247.22264735JP-16
Wakayama和歌山県WakayamaKinkiHonshu1,069,8394,725.55226750JP-30
Yamagata山形県YamagataTohokuHonshu1,244,0409,323.34133944JP-06
Yamaguchi山口県YamaguchiChugokuHonshu1,528,1076,110.762501156JP-35
Yamanashi山梨県KofuChubuHonshu888,1704,465.37199864JP-19
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\nNotes: ¹ as of 2000 — ² km² — ³ per km²\n

Types of prefectures

To, dō, fu, and ken differ mainly in name: their names differ for historical reasons.

Fu (Osaka/Kyoto) and Ken

During the Edo era, the bakufu established nine bugyō-ruled zones (奉行支配地) around the nine largest cities in Japan, and 302 township-ruled zones (郡代支配地) elsewhere. When the prefectural system was created in the early Meiji era, the township-ruled zones became ken, while the bugyō-ruled zones became fu: later, the government designated Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto as fu, and relegated the other fu to the status of ken. During World War II, Tokyo became a to, a new type of pseudo-prefecture (see below). Before World War II, different laws applied to fu and ken, but this distinction was abolished after the war, and the two types of prefecture are now functionally the same. As a result, the English language does not usually distinguish between fu and ken, calling both simply "prefectures."

Hokkaidō

The term dō (circuit) was originally used to refer to regions of Japan consisting of several han, such as Tokaidō and Saikaidō (see: Provinces of Japan). Hokkaidō, the only remaining dō today, was not one of the original seven dō (it was known as Ezo in the pre-modern era). Its current name is believed to originate from Matsuura Takeshiro, an early Japanese explorer of the island. Since Hokkaido did not fit into the existing dō classifications, a new dō was created to cover it. The Meiji government originally classified Hokkaido as a "Settlement Envoyship" (開拓使 kaitakushi), and later divided the island into three prefectures (Sapporo, Hakodate, and Nemuro). These were consolidated into a single Hokkaidō prefecture in 1886. The -ken suffix was never added to its name, so the -dō suffix became understood to mean "prefecture." When Hokkaido was incorporated, transportation on the island was still very underdeveloped, so the prefecture was split into several "sub-prefectures" (支庁 shichō) that could fulfill administrative duties of the prefectural government. These sub-prefectures are the main difference between Hokkaidō and the other ken, but they are only a consequence of Hokkaidō's enormous size, not its designation. "Hokkaido Prefecture" is, technically speaking, a redundant term, although it is occasionally used to differentiate the government from the island itself. The government of the prefecture calls itself the "Hokkaido Government" rather than the "Hokkaido Prefectural Government."

Tokyo-to

The only to in Japan is Tokyo, which was created by merging the city of Tokyo with the prefecture of Tokyo in 1943. The Tokyo government now administers the 23 special wards of the former Tokyo City alongside the various cities of the former Tokyo Prefecture. The implicit reason for this reorganization was to consolidate the administration of the area around the capital, although the postwar growth of Tokyo has caused its urban area to spill over into several other prefectures. There are some differences in terminology between Tokyo and other prefectures: police and fire departments are called chō (庁) instead of honbu (本部), for instance. However, the only functional difference between Tokyo-to and other prefectures is that Tokyo administers wards as well as cities. Today, since the special wards have almost the same degree of independence as Japanese cities, the difference in administration between Tokyo and other prefectures is fairly minor (see 23 special wards for details). The Japanese government still translates Tokyo-to as "Tokyo Metropolis" in almost all cases, and the government is officially called the "Tokyo Metropolitan Government." However, some people still call Tokyo-to "Tokyo Prefecture" in English.

See also

\n* Politics of Japan\n* List of Japanese prefectures by population\n* List of Japanese prefectures ranked by area\n* List of regions in Japan\n* ISO 3166-2 codes for Japan

External links

 zh-cn:都道府县 Japan, Prefectures of Category:Japan

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