:Okayama Prefecture

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

Prior to the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the area of present-day Okayama Prefecture was divided between Bitchū, Bizen and Mimasaka Provinces. Okayama Prefecture was formed and named in 1871 as part of the large-scale administrative reforms of the early Meiji period (1868–1912), and the borders of the prefecture were set in 1876.Nussbaum, "Provinces and prefectures" at {{Google books|p2QnPijAEmEC|p. 780|page=780}}.

File:Map of Okayama Prefecture Ja.svg

Okayama Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture, Tottori Prefecture, and Hiroshima Prefecture. It faces Kagawa Prefecture in Shikoku across the Seto Inland Sea and includes 90 islands in the sea.

Okayama Prefecture is home to the historic town of Kurashiki. Most of the population is concentrated around Kurashiki and Okayama. The small villages in the northern mountain region are aging and declining in population - more than half of the prefecture's municipalities are officially designated as depopulated.[http://www.pref.okayama.jp/kikaku/kokusai/momo/e/gaiyou/gaiyou.html Okayama official website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130102235712/http://www.pref.okayama.jp/kikaku/kokusai/momo/e/gaiyou/gaiyou.html |date=2 January 2013 }} accessed November 2007

As of 1 April 2014, 11% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks, namely the Daisen-Oki and Setonaikai National Parks; the Hyōnosen-Ushiroyama-Nagisan Quasi-National Park; and seven Prefectural Natural Parks.{{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 |date=1 April 2014 |access-date=19 February 2015 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120421180819/http://www.env.go.jp/en/nature/nps/park/doc/files/np_6.pdf |archive-date=21 April 2012}}

{{See also|List of cities in Okayama Prefecture by population}}

File:Okayama city view from Sankunjinja remains.JPG

File:Tsuyama Castle01s5s5000.jpg

File:Takahashi -01.jpg

File:Niimi city.jpg

Fifteen cities are located in Okayama Prefecture:

These are the towns and villages in each district:

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

File:Okayama prefecture population pyramid in 2020.svg

Per Japanese census data,{{Cite web |url=https://www.citypopulation.de/en/japan/cities/okayama/ |title=Okayama (Japan): Prefecture, Major Cities & Towns - Population Statistics, Maps, Charts, Weather and Web Information |website=www.citypopulation.de |access-date=2022-05-12 |archive-date=2022-05-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512013633/https://www.citypopulation.de/en/japan/cities/okayama/ |url-status=live }} and,{{Cite web |url=http://www.demographia.com/db-japanpref.htm |title=Japan Prefectures Population from 1920 and Area |website=www.demographia.com |access-date=2020-11-25 |archive-date=2017-04-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170429232102/http://www.demographia.com/db-japanpref.htm |url-status=live }} Okayama prefecture has had continual negative population growth since 2005

{{Historical populations

| 1920 | 1,218,000

| 1930 | 1,284,000

| 1940 | 1,329,000

| 1950 | 1,661,000

| 1960 | 1,670,000

| 1970 | 1,707,000

| 1980 | 1,871,000

| 1990 | 1,926,000

| 2000 | 1,950,828

| 2010 | 1,945,276

| 2020 | 1,920,739

| align = none

| footnote =

}}

• Okayama
• Notre Dame Seishin University
• Okayama Shoka University
• Okayama University
• Okayama University of Science
• Sanyo Gakuen University
• Shujitsu University
• Kurashiki
• Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare
• Kurashiki Sakuyo University
• Okayama Gakuin University
• Soja
• Okayama Prefectural University
• Tsuyama
• Mimasaka University
• Niimi
• Niimi Public University

• Okayama
• Kurashiki High School
• Okayama Asahi Senior High School
• Okayama Takahashi High School
• Okayama Ichinomiya Senior High School
• Okayama Hosen Senior High School
• Okayama Joto Senior High School
• Okayama Sakuyo High School{{cite web |url=http://www.sakuyo-h.ed.jp/ |title=岡山県作陽高等学校 |website=www.sakuyo-h.ed.jp |access-date=24 April 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180111190411/http://www.sakuyo-h.ed.jp/ |archive-date=11 January 2018}}
• Okayama Sozan Senior High School

File:岡山駅 東口 2022.jpg]]

File:Okayama Airport 2017-10-29 (38496563031).jpg]]

• JR West
• Ako Line
• Geibi Line
• Inbi Line
• Hakubi Line
• Kibi Line
• Kishin Line
• Sanyo Shinkansen
• Sanyo Line
• Tsuyama Line
• Uno Line

• JR West and JR Shikoku
• Honshi-bisan Line
• Seto-Ōhashi Line
• Chizu Express
• Ibara Railway
• Mizushima Rinkai Railway

• Okayama Electric Tramway

• Chugoku Expressway
• Okayama Expressway
• Sanyo Expressway
• Seto Central Expressway
• Tottori Expressway
• Yonago Expressway

• Route 2 (Osaka-Kobe-Himeji-Bizen-Okayama-Kurashiki-Asakuchi-Onomichi-Hiroshima-Shūnan-Shimonoseki-Kitakyushu)
• Route 30 (Okayama-Uno-Takamatsu
• Route 53 (Okayama-Tsuyama-Tottori)
• Route 179
• Route 180 (Okayama-Takahashi-Niimi)
• Route 181 (Tsuyama-Maniwa-Yonago-Yasugi-Matsue)
• Route 182
• Route 183
• Route 250 (Okayama-Setouchi-Ako-Aioi-Takasago-Akashi)
• Route 313 (Fukuyama-Takahashi-Maniwa-Kurayoshi)
• Route 373
• Route 374
• Route 429
• Route 430
• Route 482 (Kyotango-Toyooka-Wakasa-Kagamino-Maniwa-Kōfu of Tottori
• Route 484

• Okayama Airport

• Bizen-yaki (Bizen pottery)
• Bizen Osafune/Bitchu Aoe swords

Okayama Prefecture is closely associated with the folklore hero, Momotarō. This tale is said to have roots in the legendary story of Kibitsuhiko-no-mikoto and Ura which explains that the Prince Ura of Kudara used to live in Kinojo (castle of the devil) and was a cause of trouble for the people living in the village. The emperor's government sent Kibitsuhiko-no-mikoto (Momotarō) to defeat Ura. The city of Okayama holds an annual Momotarō-matsuri, or Momotarō Festival.{{cite web |title=Okayama History |url=http://www.okayama-japan.jp/en/history.html |access-date=24 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120522182456/http://okayama-japan.jp/en/history.html |archive-date=22 May 2012}}

• Inryoji Temple
• Hayashibara Museum of Art
• Okayama Orient Museum
• Okayama Prefectural Museum
• Okayama Prefectural Museum of Art
• Okayama Symphony Hall
• Yumeji Art Museum

File:Momotaro Stadium 01.jpg.]]

The sports teams listed below are based in Okayama.

• Fagiano Okayama FC (Okayama city)
• Mitsubishi Motors Mizushima FC (Kurashiki)

• Okayama Seagulls (Okayama city)

• Tryhoop Okayama (B3 League, Okayama city){{citation needed|date=February 2022}}

Image:Okayama Korakuen Garden01.jpg

Image:Joyful Park 01.jpg

Image:Harbor View Park Hinase Bizen Okayama Pref Japan03bs.jpg

Image:Bitchu Matsuyama Casle observatory202111-1.jpg

Some tourist attractions are:

• {{nihongo|Bikan Historical Area|倉敷美観地区|Kurashiki Bikan Chiku}}, Kurashiki
• {{nihongo|Bisei Astronomical Observatory|美星天文台|Bisei Tenmondai}}, Ibara Town (following dissolution of Bisei Town)
• Bitchu Matsuyama Castle, Takahashi
• Brazilian Park Washuzan Highland, Kurashiki
• Kakuzan Park, Tsuyama
• Koraku-en Japanese garden in Okayama
• Ki Castle, Sōja
• Maki-do Cave, in Niimi
• Ohara Museum of Art, Kurashiki
• Okayama Castle, Okayama
• Shizutani School, Bizen

• Yuko Arimori (born 1966), marathon runner{{cite web |url=http://talent.yahoo.co.jp/pf/detail/pp215263 |title=Yuko Arimori's profile |access-date=2013-05-31 |archive-date=2015-06-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617020821/http://talent.yahoo.co.jp/pf/detail/pp215263 |url-status=live }}
• Kenji Doihara (1883–1948), army officer
• Tesshō Genda (born 1948), voice actor
• Morihiro Hashimoto (1977–2017), darts player
• Naoki Hoshino (1892–1978), politician
• Koshi Inaba (born 1964), singer
• Masaki Kajishima (born 1962), creator of Tenchi Muyo!
• Shiro Kawase (1889–1946), admiral
• Sadahiko Miyake (1891–1956), general
• Chiura Obata (1885–1975), artist
• Mori Takashi, former member of Gentouki
• Yōji Takikawa (born 1949), pedagogist
• Mutsuo Toi (1917–1938), perpetrator of the Tsuyama massacre
• Inukai Tsuyoshi (1855–1932), former Prime Minister of Japan
• Jiro Watanabe (born 1955), boxer
• Takeo Yasuda (1889–1964), lieutenant general
• Eisuke Yoshiyuki (1906–1940), author
• Fujii Kaze (born 1997), singer
• Nishimura Riki, also known as Ni-ki of ENHYPEN (born 2005), K-pop idol,{{cite web |url=https://beliftlab.com/artist/profile/ENHYPEN |title=ENHYPEN's profile |access-date=2024-01-28 |archive-date=2022-08-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810111203/https://beliftlab.com/artist/profile/ENHYPEN |url-status=live }} dancer, singer, rapper
• Issei Mamehara (born 2002), singer, dancer, member of JO1

{{Reflist|30em}}

• Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC Japan Encyclopedia]. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-674-01753-5}}; {{OCLC|58053128}}.

{{Commons category|Okayama prefecture}}

{{Wikivoyage|Okayama (prefecture)|Okayama prefecture}}

• {{Official website|http://www.pref.okayama.jp/kikaku/kokusai/momo/e/}}
• [http://www.okayama-japan.jp/en/ Official tourism site]
• {{YouTube|user=okayamapref|Official account}}
• {{osmrelation-inline|3794962}}

{{Okayama}}

{{Regions and administrative divisions of Japan}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Chūgoku region

Category:Prefectures of Japan