Matsusaka, Mie Prefecture, Kansai Region, Japan

🇯🇵 Matsusaka (松阪市, Matsusaka-shi, Local dialect: Mattsaka or Massaka) is a city located in Mie Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 August 2021, the city had an estimated population density of 250 people per km². The total area of the city is 623.64 square km (240.79 sq mi). The city is famous for Matsusaka beef.

Geography 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.

Neighboring municipalities Mie Prefecture • Meiwa • Ōdai • Taki • Tsu; Nara Prefecture • Higashiyoshino • Kawakami • Mitsue.

Demographics Per Japanese census data, the population of Matsusaka has been increasing slowly over the past 50 years.

History Matsusaka developed as a commercial centre 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 forest (四五百森, Yoiho no mori) and named the site "Matsusaka", meaning "slope (坂) covered with pines (松)" in 1588. Matsusaka Castle was the centre 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).

Government 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.

Education 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.

Transport: Rail 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.

Transport: Road • Ise Expressway • National Route 23 • National Route 42 • National Route 166 • National Route 368 • National Route 422.

Seaports • Port of Matsusaka.

Local attractions • Azaka Castle ruins • Matsusaka Castle ruins • Takarazuka kofun ancient burial mound.