Marugame, Kagawa


Marugame is a city located in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan.
, the city has an estimated population of 109,922 and a population density of 980 persons per km². Marugame occupies the centre of an alluvial plain. The total area is 111.79 km².

Points of interest

Marugame is famous for Marugame Castle — one of only 12 castles with original wooden tenshu in Japan. The castle stands on a man-made hill which is over 50m high, making it the largest castle mount in Japan.
Marugame is famed for its fan production. About 90% of all fans made in Japan are produced in Marugame.
Places of interest to visit close to Marugame include:
Since 1947, the city has played host to an annual road running competition: the Marugame Half Marathon. Occurring in early February, the race attracts thousands of runners each year. The Asian record in the half marathon was set on the course by Kayoko Fukushi in 2006.

Reoma World

Reoma World, a well-known recreational facility in Shikoku, officially opened on April 20, 1991, but closed due to financial difficulties in August 2000.
It re-opened on April 11, 2004 with new funding. There are many attractions, two restaurants, a spa and hotel in the theme park. Total annual attendance was 660,000 in 2009, significantly reduced compared with 1.6 million attendance in 2004, possibly due to the inconvenience of public transport.

MIMOCA

Marugame is home to the Marugame Genichiro-Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art, situated just east of the railway station, housing the works of Genichiro Inokuma, as well as playing host to many large visiting exhibitions.

History

Marugame was founded in April, 1899 during the Meiji era. Marugame was the 53rd city to be given a city code in Japan. From the 1940s to 1950s the southeast area of the city and some islands were amalgamated to form new parts of the city. In 1999 Marugame celebrated its 100th anniversary.
On March 22, 2005, the towns of Ayauta and Hanzan were merged into Marugame to create the current expanded city of Marugame.
NameOffice EnteredOffice Left
Motoyoshi Toyoda

3 August, 18998 January, 1904
Aina Hasegawa

18 June, 190417 June, 1910
Kenkichi Fujiyoshi

8 June, 191012 January, 1915
Kenichi Saito

2 November, 19151 June, 1917
Tokutaro Higuchi

15 September, 19177 October, 1920
Kiyoshi Hisano

3 June, 19217 March, 1923
Iwao Osuka

5 July, 19234 July, 1931
Kikuma Takaki

17 November, 193110 April, 1934

NameOffice EnteredOffice Left
Seizaburo Ogaza

25 July, 193424 July, 1942
Toshisuke Irie

25 July, 194224 July, 1946
Katsuhide Mihara

26 April, 194729 April, 1963
Shigetoshi Horiie

30 April, 196329 April, 1991
Keisuke Katayama

30 April, 199129 April, 2003
Tetsuji Arai

30 April, 200323 April, 2013
Masaharu Kaji

24 April, 2013present

Economy

The economy produces chemicals, textiles, fans, salt, rice and barley. In the early 1980s, large coastal salt fields were reclaimed from the sea to stimulate further economic development. The city's importance as a port for pilgrims coming from the Kyōto and Ōsaka areas to worship at the Kompira Shrine in Kotohira declined with the opening of the railway between Matsuyama and Takamatsu in 1889 and more recently with the development of bus and air service linking Kotohira with major cities.

Twin cities