Tsuruoka


Tsuruoka is a city in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan., the city had an estimated population of 125,389 in 49,024 households, and a population density of 95.74 persons per km². The total area of the city is. Tsuruoka is the biggest city in Tōhoku region in terms of surface area.
Today's Tsuruoka is the result of the fusion of several neighborhoods around the center of the city such as Atsumi, Asahi, Fujishima, Kushibiki, and Haguro in 1953.

Geography

Tsuruoka is located on the coast of Yamagata Prefecture bordering the Sea of Japan and has some locally popular beaches such as Yunohama and Sanze. All three of the Three Mountains of Dewa are at least partially within the city limits.
Two main rivers run through Tsuruoka, the Akagawa River, and the Mogami River.

Neighboring municipalities

Per Japanese census data, the population of Tsuruoka has gradually been decreasing over the past 30 years.

Climate

Tsuruoka has a Humid continental climate with large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot summers and cold winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year but is heaviest from August to October. The average annual temperature in Tsuruoka is 12.1 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1948 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.2 °C, and lowest in January, at around 0.3 °C. The region is known for its heavy snowfalls during the winter, and people living in Sekigawa and Atsumi's neighborhoods can expect up to 2 meters of snow which after removal creates very particular snow walls standing high along the road. The first snows usually come in late November but the real peak is generally around January. The red leaves appear generally at the end of October and end in mid-November.

History

The area of present-day Tsuruoka was part of ancient Dewa Province, and was under the control of the Shōnai Domain under the Tokugawa shogunate in the Edo period. It was a minor port for the kitamaebune coastal trade.
After the start of the Meiji period, the area organized as Tsuruoka Town under Nishitagawa District, Yamagata Prefecture in 1878. It was elevated to city status on October 1, 1924, becoming Japan's 100th city. In 1955, the city expanded by annexing the town of Kamo and nine neighboring villages. The town of Oyama was annexed by Tsuruoka in 1963.
On October 1, 2005, the towns of Fujishima, Haguro and Kushibiki, and the village of Asahi, and the town of Atsumi were merged into Tsuruoka.

Government

Tsuruoka has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 24 members. The city contributes five members to the Yamagata Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Yamagata District 3 of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Economy

Tsuruoka has a mixed economy based on light manufacturing, commercial services, agriculture, and commercial fishing.

Education

Tsuruoka has 26 public elementary schools and 11public middle schools operated by the city government and six public high schools operated by the Yamagata Prefectural Board of Education. There are also two private high schools. The prefecture also operates two special education schools for the handicapped.

Colleges and Universities

Airports

- Uetsu Main Line

TV

The Mountain Spirit

Tsuruoka is mostly known for its "Three Mountains of Dewa", which refers to Mt. Haguro, the smallest mount that culminates at only 436m high; Mt. Gassan, the highest mount at 1984m; and Mt. Yudono, at 1500m.

Yamabushi and Shugendô

Those three mounts are considered as the core of Shugendô's practice. Shugendô 修験道 is often perceived as a form of syncretism of Shintô 神道,religion and Buddhism. The Yamabushi 山伏, literally : "the men who sleep in the Mountain" believe in Buddha but also believe that a god resides in all things that exist in nature. Yamabushi, those men who wear a checked vest and blow in a trumpet shell to communicate with their peers and to keep the bad spirits away, aim to protect the mountain and to live a sinless life connected to the nature.
The pilgrimage of all the three mounts is done in that sense. The three mounts symbolically represent death and rebirth. By going down and up the 2466 stone stairs of the mount Haguro, people can experiment a "symbolic death" and "rebirth", after which they can access to the world of the dead represented by Mt. Gassan and its foggy landscapes, and then go purify their body and their soul in Mt. Yudono's natural hotsprings.
Shôjin ryôri 精進料理, a vegan food traditionally consumed by Yamabushi, uses no animal product but sansai 山菜 instead, as well as local rice, handmade gomadôfu ごま豆腐, bamboo sprouts, vinegared chrysanthemum flowers and mushrooms. There exists a lot of different shôjin ryôri depending on the shukubô 宿坊 that serves it, but it usually consists in a lot of small dishes accompanied with a miso soup and white rice.

National Treasures

Mt. Haguro hosts The Five-Storied Pagoda, one of Japan's National Treasures. The pagoda's central pillar protects it from earthquakes, which inspired Tokyo's Skytree's architecture. Also in the grounds of Mt. Haguro is the Jiji-sugi 爺杉, a 30m high cedar that exists for more than 1000 years.

Culinary culture

Heritage and creativity

In 2014, Tsuruoka has been registered as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy. Its more than 50 species of "ancestral food" that exist and remain intact for several centuries now are one of the reasons why the city has received this title. Among these there are: minden nasu 民田なす, karatori imo からとりいも, atsumi kabu 温海かぶ, ootaki carrot 大滝ニンジン, etc. The presence of such ancient food is not the only reason why Tsuruoka has been registered as a Creative City of Gastronomy. Its particular way to cook these ingredients was even more determinant. Tsuruoka's most known specialties are: kandarajiru 寒鱈汁, gomadôfu ごま豆腐, tochimochi とちもち, kitsunemen キツネ面, etc.
The city is also known for its large variety of soups, apart from kandarajiru, there is takenokojiru タケノコ汁, imoni 芋煮, nattôjiru 納豆汁, môsô jiru.

Peas

Tsuruoka is known for dadacha-mame, a specie of soybean, which have been called "the king of edamame"; they are also used for other products such as nattō and in manjū. There are two theories as to the origin of the name: one is that it derives from dadacha, the Shonai dialectical word for "father" – gagacha is the dialectical word for "mother", while the other is that the beans came from Date, Fukushima, and were originally called Date-no-chamame, which became Date-chamame and then Dadacha-mame.
Dadachamame are used in any kind of meal: sweet, salty, spicy, bitter, sour, just boiled, crushed, grilled, and in sauces.
Dadakko, are small cakes which contain a sweet dadachamame paste. Dadappai are small dadachamame pasted inside a puff pastry. There are also dadachamame'' flavored ice creams, cookies, biscuits, creams.

Seafood

Tsuruoka and the whole region of Shônai benefit from a large variety of fishes and sea food coming from the Sea of Japan. Among all the local sea foods you can find in Tsuruoka, there are: Cherry salmon, Japanese seabream, blue crab, littlemouth flounder, flatfish, black rockfish, tonguefish, flying squid, oyster, sea robin, sandfish, Japanese codfish, and others. The huge variety of fresh local fishes and seafood in Tsuruoka had contributed to the local sushi shops' good reputation, but it has also helped constitute a very particular kind of "family gastronomy", where fishes hold a very important place.

Rice

The rice cultivated in Tsuruoka and more generally in Shonai region has been recognized for its strong umami taste. In 2010, searchers from Keiô University's Institute for Advanced Biosciences 慶應義塾大学先端生命科学研究所 have proven Tsuyahime local rice brand contained 1.5x more umami taste than the common other brands of rice thanks to the studies of metabolomes.

Arts and crafts

The city is literally surrounded by plains, forests and mountains. Thus, wood and grass were largely used in all kinds of crafts. As for architecture, thatch-roofed houses are one of the symbols of the city. Some of them remained in good condition through centuries now as for example Tasôminka 多層民家, a traditional farmer house from Meiji period, and the house in Chidô Museum 致道博物館.
Concerning clothing, shinaori しな織り, is a traditional weaving style from tree bark that is still performed these days. The items created with this solid and firm thread are very resistant and waterproof.

Local attractions

Twin towns – Sister cities

Tsuruoka is twinned with: