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is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū, Japan.
As of 2003, the city has an estimated population of 669,034 and a density of 2,507.91 persons per km². The total area is 266.77 km².
Kato Kiyomasa, a contemporary of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was made daimyo of half of the (old) administrative region of Higo in 1588. After that, Kiyomasa built Kumamoto Castle. Due to its many innovative defensive designs, Kumamoto Castle was considered impregnable, and Kiyomasa enjoyed a reputation as one of the finest castle-builders in Japanese history. After Kiyomasa died in 1611, his son, Tadahiro, succeeded him, but Tadahiro was removed by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1633, replacing him with the Hosokawa clan. Former Prime Minister of Japan Hosokawa Morihiro is a direct descendant of the Hosokawa clan of Kumamoto. Another famous politician, former president of Peru Alberto Fujimori, also has roots in Kumamoto; Fujimori's ancestors emigrated from Kumamoto early in the 20th century.
The city's most famous landmark is Kumamoto Castle, a large and, in its day, extremely well-fortified Japanese castle. The ''donjon'' (castle central keep) is a concrete reconstruction built in the 1970s, but several ancillary wooden buildings remain of the original castle, which was assaulted during the Satsuma Rebellion and sacked and burned after a 53-day siege. It was during this time that the tradition of eating ''basashi'' (raw horse meat) originated. ''Basashi'' remains popular in Kumamoto and, to a lesser extent, elsewhere in Japan, though these days it is usually considered a delicacy.
Within the outer walls of Kumamoto Castle is the Hosokawa Gyobu-tei, the former residence of the Higo ''daimyo''. This traditional wooden mansion has a fine Japanese garden located on its grounds.
Miyamoto Musashi lived the last part of his life in Kumamoto.
Kumamoto is also home to Suizenji-Jōjuen, a formal garden neighboring Suizenji Temple approximately 3 kilometers southeast of Kumamoto Castle. Suizenji Park is considered to be one of the most beautiful gardens in Japan, together with Kenroku-en in the city of Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, Kairaku-en in Ibaraki Prefecture and Koraku-en in Okayama Prefecture.
The current administrative body of the "City of Kumamoto" was founded on April 1, 1889.

Contents

Education

Sister cities

External links

Education

★ Kumamoto University

★ Kumamoto Gakuen University

★ Kyushu Lutheran College

Sister cities

★ Heidelberg, Germany

★ Guilin, China

★ San Antonio, Texas, USA [1]

★ Bristol, United Kingdom

External links

★ Official site of Kumamoto city

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★ Kumamoto Gakuen University

★ Kumamoto Links