Shiogama is in north-central Miyagi Prefecture, bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east.
Neighboring municipalities
Miyagi Prefecture
*Tagajō
*Rifu
*Shichigahama
Demographics
Per Japanese census data, the population of Shiogama has remained fairly stable over the past 40 years.
Census Year
Population
1970
59,772
1980
61,040
1990
62,025
2000
61,547
2010
56,490
Climate
Shiogama has a humid climate characterized by mild summers and cold winters. The average annual temperature in Shiogama is 12.1 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1225 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 24.6 °C, and lowest in January, at around 0.8 °C.
Etymology
"Shiogama" means "salt furnace" and refers to a local Shinto ritual involving the making of salt from sea water, still performed every July. The name is sometimes written using the kanji 塩釜 rather than 塩竈 and both spellings are officially permitted. Both 釜 and 竈 are pronounced gamain compounds, but as lone words they are pronounced kama and kamado, respectively. A :ja:かまど|kamado is a what a :ja:釜|kama is placed upon, and so the two are not completely interchangeable. 塩竈 is the form officially used by the city, but for ease of writing, the 10-stroke 釜 is often used in place of the 21-stroke 竈, such as in Shiogama Station. Shiogama Jinja uses the rendering 鹽竈, with an archaic character for salt. This third form is rarely seen outside of this context.
History
The area of present-day Shiogama was part of ancient Mutsu Province, and has been settled since at least the Jōmon period by the Emishi people. During the Nara period, the area came under the control of colonists from the Yamato dynasty based at nearby Tagajō and was the most important seaport in Mutsu. The ruins of the provincial capital of Mutsu Province have been found within the city borders. During later portion of the Heian period, the area was ruled by the Northern Fujiwara. During the Sengoku period, the area was contested by various samurai clans before the area came under the control of the Date clan of Sendai Domain during the Edo period, under the Tokugawa shogunate. The town of Shiogama was established with the post-Meiji restoration creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Parts of Tagajō and Shichigahama were incorporated into Shiogama of September 1, 1938. Shiogama was raised to city status on November 23, 1941. The city annexed the Gyūchi area of neighboring Tagajō on December 1, 1949 and the village of Urato on April 1, 1950. The city was affected by the tsunami caused by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake, although damage to its fishing industry turned out to be light.
The economy of Shiogama is largely based on commercial fishing, especially of tuna, and fish processing. The city also boasts of the highest density of sushi restaurants in Japan.
