:Kagawa Prefecture

{{See also|Historic Sites of Kagawa Prefecture}}

Kagawa was formerly known as Sanuki Province.Nussbaum, "Provinces and prefectures" at {{Google books|p2QnPijAEmEC|p. 780|page=780}}.

For a brief period between August 1876 and December 1888, Kagawa was made a part of Ehime Prefecture.{{cite book

| editor = Ikatachōshi Editing Committee | language = ja |title=Ikatachōshi |script-title=ja:伊方町誌 |trans-title=Ikata Town History

| publisher=Town of Ikata, printed by DAI-ICHI HOKI Publishing | date = March 31, 1987 }}

Located in Kagawa's capital city, Takamatsu, the mountain of Yashima was the battlefield for one of the best-known struggles between the Heike and Genji clans.

Kagawa comprises the northeast corner of Shikoku, bordering Ehime Prefecture on the west and Tokushima Prefecture on the south, with a coastline on the Seto Inland Sea facing Okayama Prefecture and the Kansai. The Sanuki Mountains run along the southern border.

Kagawa is currently the smallest prefecture, by area, in Japan. Kagawa is a relatively narrow prefecture located between the mountains of Shikoku and the sea.

As of April 1, 2012, 11% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks, namely Setonaikai National Park and Ōtaki-Ōkawa Prefectural Natural Park.{{cite web |url=http://www.env.go.jp/en/nature/nps/park/doc/files/np_6.pdf |title=General overview of area figures for Natural Parks by prefecture |publisher=Ministry of the Environment |access-date=19 August 2012}}

{{See also|List of cities in Kagawa Prefecture by population}}File:Map of Kagawa Prefecture Ja.svg

Image:Takamatsu200910cut.JPG

File:View from Marugame Castle 20170121-1.jpg

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Eight cities are located in Kagawa Prefecture:

Kagawa has eight towns organized into five districts. Many were created after 1999 through mergers, as part of a national effort to reduce the number of small towns and villages.{{Cite web|date=March 5, 2010|title=「『平成の合併』について」の公表 [Heisei era mergers]|url=https://www.soumu.go.jp/gapei/pdf/100311_1.pdf|access-date=25 March 2021|website=Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications}}

{{Main|List of mergers in Kagawa Prefecture}}

Kagawa has a nominal GDP of approximately 3,802 billion yen.{{Cite web|title=Kagawa Regional Information - Investing In...|url=https://www.jetro.go.jp/en/invest/region/data/kagawa.html|access-date=September 21, 2021|website=Japan External Trade Organization}} Kagawa's major export industries, in order of export value, include transportation equipment, electrical equipment, chemical products, general machinery, mineral fuels, manufactured goods, raw materials, and foodstuff.{{Cite journal|last1=日 本 貿 易 振 興 機 構 （ J E T R O ）|last2=香 川 貿 易 情 報 セ ン タ ー|date=March 2020|title=香川県貿易実態調査 2020 年（令和 2 年）3 月|url=https://www.jetro.go.jp/ext_images/jetro/japan/kagawa/data/survey2018.pdf|journal=香川県貿易実態調査|pages=155}}

File:Sanukiudon-gyouretsu 01.JPG

Sanuki udon (a type of udon noodle) is the most famous local food of Kagawa Prefecture. In 2008, there were over 700 udon restaurants in this prefecture alone.{{Cite web|url=https://www.zipan-go.jp/shikoku/kagawa|title=Kagawa 香川|date=2017|website=Zipango|access-date=October 24, 2019|archive-date=October 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191024235944/https://www.zipan-go.jp/shikoku/kagawa|url-status=dead}}

Aside from udon, Kagawa is also famous for "hone-tsuki-dori", seasoned chicken thigh cooked on the bone. Originating from Marugame City, the dish has now become a popular dish in izakaya restaurants across the country.

Olives and olive-related products have also come to be recognized as Kagawa foods. As the first place in Japan to successfully cultivate olives, Kagawa has been producing olive-related products since 1908. As well as winning both domestic and international awards for the quality of its olive oil, Kagawa has also created two offshoot food brands from its olive industry - "olive beef" and "olive yellowtail". Waste organic matter from olive pressing is used as feed for cattle and the Yellowtail Amberjack. Due to the high amount of polyphenols in the olive waste, the flesh of the respective meats does not oxidize or lose color easily.

Other local specialties include wasanbon sugar sweets, sōmen noodles and shōyu soy sauce.

Rare sugar researches are thriving and have discovered mass production culture enzymes. D-tagatose 3-epimerase is an enzyme that catalyzes the reversible epimerization reaction of the 3rd carbon of ketose.

File:Kagawa prefecture population pyramid 2020.svg

As of October 2020, Kagawa Prefecture had an estimated population of 950,244. This was 7.1% lower than the population in the 2000 census, being 1,022,890. The area of the prefecture is 1,877 km, and the population density is 506.3/km.{{cite web |last1=Kagawa |first1=Prefecture Demographics |title=Japan: Kagawa |url=https://www.citypopulation.de/en/japan/cities/kagawa/ |website=www.citypopulation.de |access-date=17 May 2022}}

• Kagawa Prefectural College of Health Sciences
• Kagawa University in Takamatsu
• Shikoku Gakuin University in Zentsuji
• Tokushima Bunri University in Sanuki
• Takamatsu University

File:Marugame-sta140824-01.jpg in Marugame.]]

The sports teams listed below are based in Kagawa.

Baseball

• Kagawa Olive Guyners

Basketball

• Kagawa Five Arrows (Takamatsu)

Football (Soccer)

• Kamatamare Sanuki (Takamatsu)

Volleyball

• Shikoku Eighty 8 Queen

Ice Hockey

• Kagawa Ice Fellows (see Japan Ice Hockey Federation)

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File:150505 Benesse House Museum Naoshima Kagawa pref Japan01b3s5.jpg

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• Kotohira
• Kanamaruza Kabuki Theatre
• Konpira Shrine
• Manno
• Manno Lake
• Sanuki Manno National Park
• Marugame
• Marugame Castle
• Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art
• Sakaide
• Kagawa Prefectural Higashiyama Kaii Setouchi Art Museum (Kaii Higashiyama`s Art Museum)
• Mount Iino (Kagawa's Mount Fuji)
• Kiyama (a castle ruins)
• Shinto shrine (misasagi) (Emperor Sutoku's Tomb)
• Fuchu Dam
• Great Seto Bridge
• Mitoyo
• Chichibugahama Beach
• Takaya Shrine
• Higashi Kagawa
• Hiketa Castle - A castle ruin, one of the Continued 100 Fine Castles of Japan in 2017.{{cite web|url=http://jokaku.jp/japan-top-100-castles/best-100-castles-of-japan-2nd-selection/|title=続日本100名城|date=November 29, 2017|publisher=日本城郭協会|language=ja|access-date=25 July 2019|archive-date=December 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191202170315/http://jokaku.jp/japan-top-100-castles/best-100-castles-of-japan-2nd-selection/|url-status=dead}}
• Naoshima Island
• Ando Museum
• Benesse House
• Chichu Art Museum
• Lee Ufan Museum
• Setonaikai National Park
• Shikoku Pilgrimage – Zentsū-ji, Motoyama-ji, Yashima-ji, etc.

File:201211Kankakei Shodoshima Kagawa pref Japan10s4.jpg]]

• Shodoshima
• Kankakei Gorge
• Shodoshima Olive Park
• Nakayama Senmaida
• Takamatsu
• Megijima and Ogijima
• Ritsurin Garden
• Takamatsu Castle
• Yashima, the island on which the Battle of Yashima was foughtFile:Ritsurin.JPG
• Teshima Island
• Shima Kitchen
• Teshima Art Museum
• Kan'onji
• Kotohiki Park
• Zentsūji
• Amagiri Castle

Based on its ancient name, Sanuki, Kagawa is famous for its Sanuki udon (wheat noodles). Recent years have seen an interest in Sanuki udon across Japan{{Citation needed|date=April 2009}}, and many Japanese now take day-trips to taste the many Sanuki udon restaurants in Kagawa.

• JR Shikoku
• Dosan Line
• Kotoku Line
• Seto-Ōhashi Line
• Yosan Line
• Kotoden (Takamatsu Kotohira Electric Railroad)
• Kotohira Line
• Nagao Line
• Shido Line

• Fukuoka
• Kokura Station
• Hakata Station
• Tenjin Station
• Hachioji
• Hiroshima
• Kansai Int'l Airport
• Kōchi
• Kobe
• Sannomiya
• Maiko Bus Stop
• Kyoto Station
• Matsuyama
• Nagoya
• Osaka
• Nanba
• Umeda
• Shinjuku of Tokyo
• Tokyo Disneyland
• Tokyo Station
• Tokushima
• Yawatahama
• Yokohama

• File:JP Expressway E30.svg Seto-Chūō Expressway
• File:JP Expressway E11.svg Takamatsu Expressway
• File:JP Expressway E11.svg Matsuyama Expressway

• {{jct|country=JPN|Route|11}} (Tokushima-Takamatsu-Marugame-Niihama-Maysuyama)
• {{jct|country=JPN|Route|30}}
• {{jct|country=JPN|Route|32}} (Takamatsu-Kotohira-Kochi)
• {{jct|country=JPN|Route|193}}
• {{jct|country=JPN|Route|318}}
• {{jct|country=JPN|Route|319}}
• {{jct|country=JPN|Route|377}}
• {{jct|country=JPN|Route|436}}
• {{jct|country=JPN|Route|438}}

• Port of Marugame
• Port of Tadotsu
• Port of Takamatsu – Ferry route to Uno, Tonoshō (Shōdoshima Island), Kobe, Naoshima
• Port of Tonoshō – Ferry route to Okayama, Himeji, Kobe and Osaka.

• Takamatsu Airport

• Shōdoshima is the setting of the novel Twenty-Four Eyes by Sakae Tsuboi and its subsequent film adaptations.
• In Pom Poko, the tanuki Tamasaburo Onigamori travels to Shikoku to ask the Transformation Masters to come to Tokyo to save Tama Hills from destruction, but he marries and settles there for three years.
• The manga Teasing Master Takagi-san is also set on Shōdoshima, in Tonoshō the native place of the creator, Sōichirō Yamamoto
• The novel Battle Royale by Koushun Takami was set in the fictional town of Shiroiwa ('Castle Rock') in Kagawa Prefecture. Okishima, the fictional island on which much of the novel takes place is placed in the Seto Inland Sea. The manga also places Shiroiwa in Kagawa, while the film moves Shiroiwa to Kanagawa Prefecture.
• The city of Takamatsu is the main setting of the book "Kafka on the Shore" by Haruki Murakami.
• Kan'onji is the setting of the early parts of the manga My Bride Is a Mermaid as well as the anime series Yuki Yuna is a Hero.{{cite web |title=Yuki Yuna is a Hero" Fights for Local Tourism in Kan'onji City |url=https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2016/02/24/yuki-yuna-is-a-hero-fights-for-local-tourism-in-kanonji-city |website=Crunchyroll |access-date=29 October 2022}}
• Poco's Udon World.

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|Kagawa prefecture}}

• {{in lang|ja}} [https://www.pref.kagawa.lg.jp/ Official Kagawa Prefecture Japanese homepage]
• [http://notesfromshikoku.blogspot.com Notes from Shikoku] in English

{{Kagawa}}

{{Regions and administrative divisions of Japan}}

{{Authority control}}

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Category:Shikoku region

Category:Prefectures of Japan