Matsusaka

• Name — Matsusaka • Settlement Type — City • Blank Emblem Type — Emblem • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Name — Japan • Subdivision Type1 — Region • Subdivision Name1 — Kansai • Subdivision Type2 — Prefecture • Subdivision Name2 — Mie • Leader Title — Mayor • Leader Name — Masato Takegami • Area Total Km2 — 623.64 • Population Total — 157235 • Population As Of — August 2021 • Population Density Km2 — auto • Timezone1 — Japan Standard Time • Utc Offset1 — +9 • Blank Name Sec1 — Phone number • Blank Info Sec1 — 0598-53-4311 • Blank1 Name Sec1 — Address • Blank1 Info Sec1 — 1340-1 Tonomachi, Matsusaka-shi, Mie-ken 515-8515 • Blank Name Sec2 — Climate • Blank Info Sec2 — Cfa • Illustration — Matsusaka City Hall

Matsusaka is located in east-central Kii Peninsula, in central Mie Prefecture. It stretches the width of Mie Prefecture, and is bordered by Ise Bay on the Pacific Ocean to the east, and Nara Prefecture to the west. Parts of the city are within the limits of the Yoshino-Kumano National Park.

Matsusaka has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Matsusaka is. The average annual rainfall is with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around, and lowest in January, at around.

The population of Matsusaka has been increasing slowly over the past 50 years.

Matsusaka developed as a commercial center during the Sengoku period, and Oda Nobukatsu, the younger son of Oda Nobunaga built a castle in the area in 1580. The area came under the control of Gamō Ujisato shortly thereafter, and the Gamō began construction of a castle in the Yoiho no mori and named the site "Matsusaka," meaning "slope (坂) covered with pines (松)" in 1588. Matsusaka Castle was the center of the short-lived Matsusaka Domain in the early Tokugawa shogunate, but for most of the Edo period, the castle was the eastern outpost of Kishu Domain based at Wakayama Castle. Following the Meiji restoration, the area became part of Mie Prefecture. The town of Matsusaka was created on April 1, 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. The second kanji character of Matsusaka was changed to 阪 from 坂 in those days. On March 26, 1893, 1318 houses in the town were destroyed in a fire. Matsusaka was raised to city status on February 1, 1933. The city suffered only light damage in World War II, when an air raid killed four people on February 4, 1945. About 700 houses in the city were destroyed by a fire on December 16, 1951. On October 15, 1956, a major railway accident occurred at Rokken Station on the outskirts of the city, killing 42 people. On August 1, 1982, Typhoon Bess left nine people dead in its wake. The city officially celebrated its 500th anniversary in 1988. On January 1, 2005, the city expanded to its present borders, with the absorption the towns of Mikumo and Ureshino (both from Ichishi District), and the towns of Iinan and Iitaka (both from Iinan District).

Matsusaka has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 28 members. Matsusaka contributes four members to the Mie Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Mie 1st district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Matsusaka has 36 public elementary schools and 12 public middle schools operated by the city government and four public high schools operated by the Mie Prefectural Board of Education. There are also one private middle school and two private high schools. The prefectural also operates two special education schools for the handicapped. Mie Chukyo University, formerly located in Matsusaka, closed in 2013.

JR Tōkai – Kisei Main Line • Rokken - Matsusaka - Tokuwa JR Tōkai – Meishō Line • Matsusaka - Kaminoshō - Gongemmae Kintetsu Railway - Osaka Line • Ise-Nakagawa Kintetsu Railway -Nagoya Line • Ise-Nakagawa Kintetsu Railway - Yamada Line • Ise-Nakagawa - Ise-Nakahara - Matsugasaki - Matsusaka - Higashi-Matsusaka - Kushida - Koishiro

• Ise Expressway • Route • Route • Route • Route • Route

• Port of Matsusaka

• China Binhu District, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China

• Azaka Castle ruins • Matsusaka Castle ruins • Takarazuka kofun ancient burial mound

• Yotsukasa Dai, sumo wrestler • Aki Deguchi, J-pop idol and singer • Keisuke Funatani, professional soccer player • Satoshi Hida, professional soccer player • Hiroki Mizumoto, professional soccer player • Tetsuo Morimoto, politician • Masaharu Nakagawa, politician • Kana Nishino, J-pop/R&B singer • Motoori Norinaga, Edo period kokugaku scholar • Ikuzo Saito, Olympic wrestler • Matsuura Takeshirō, explorer, cartographer, writer, painter, priest, and antiquarian • Mitsui Takatoshi, founder of the Mitsui group. • Norihisa Tamura, politician • Mienoumi Tsuyoshi, sumo wrestler • Ben Wada, film director