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Shimada, Shizuoka

Shimada
島田市
City
Hōrai Bridge in Shimada
Hōrai Bridge in Shimada
Flag of Shimada
Flag
Official seal of Shimada
Seal
Location of Shimada in Shizuoka Prefecture
Location of Shimada in Shizuoka Prefecture
Shimada is located in Japan
Shimada
Shimada
 
Coordinates: 34°50′10.6″N 138°11′33.8″E / 34.836278°N 138.192722°E / 34.836278; 138.192722Coordinates: 34°50′10.6″N 138°11′33.8″E / 34.836278°N 138.192722°E / 34.836278; 138.192722
Country Japan
Region Chūbu (Tōkai)
Prefecture Shizuoka Prefecture
Government
 • Mayor Someya Kinuyo
Area
 • Total 315.70 km2 (121.89 sq mi)
Population (December 2016)
 • Total 97,540
 • Density 309/km2 (800/sq mi)
Time zone Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
Symbols  
• Tree Osmanthus
• Flowers Rose, azalea
• Bird Blue-and-white flycatcher
Phone number 0547-37-8200
Address 1-1 Chūō-chō, Shimada-shi, Shizuoka-ken 427-8501
Website www.city.shimada.shizuoka.jp/hisyokouhou/English.jsp

Shimada (島田市 Shimada-shi?) is a city located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.

The city, which covers an area of 315.7 square kilometres (121.9 sq mi), had an estimated population in December 2016 of 97,540, giving a population density of 309 persons per km2.

Shimada is located in the Shida Plains of west-central Shizuoka Prefecture. It is located on both banks of the Ōi River. The area enjoys a warm maritime climate with hot, humid summers and mild, cool winters.

Shizuoka Prefecture

Shimada (Kanaya) began as an outlying fortification to Kakegawa Castle erected by Yamauchi Kazutoyo in the Sengoku period to control the crossing of the Ōi River. In the Edo period, Kanaya-juku and Shimada-juku developed as post towns on the Tōkaidō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto. The area was mostly tenryō territory under direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate with a daikansho based at a Jinya located within Shimada-juku. As the Tokugawa shogunate forbade the construction of any bridge or establishment of a ferry service on the Ōi River for defensive purposes, travellers were often detained at either Shimada or Kanaya for days, sometimes weeks, waiting for the river levels to fall to fordable levels. The first bridge (the Hōrai Bridge) across the river connected these two towns in 1879, after the Meiji Restoration.


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