Wakayama-ken (Wakayama prefecture): wah-kah-yama
The name Wakayama derives from the name of the scenic seashore area "Waka-no-ura" ((pron. of -ura: oo-rah)) with the word "yama" meaning a mountain. Wakanoura, or also called Wakaura, was one of the best scenic seashores of Japan in ancient times. The Japanese characters of "wa-ka" and "yama" mean "peace and song" or "Japanese poem" and "mountain" respectively. However, the characters "wa-ka" are phonetic equivalent characters applied to the pronunciation of "wah-kah," and the deep origin of "Wakanoura" or also called "Wakaura" is "young coves."
Wakayama prefecture is one of the prefectures in Kinki Region of Japan. It is located on the west of the Kii (kee-ee) Peninsula, the largest peninsula in Japan, with a large scaled mountain area on the south. The capital is Wakayama city.
Wakayama prefecture positionally corresponds to most area of the ancient Kii-no-kuni Province established under the Ritsuryo system (ancient law system of Japan) in the 7th century. The other part of Kii-no-kuni Province is included in Mie prefecture. In the earlier Edo period, the Asano clan ruled it as Kishu-Han, and then one of the earlier branch families of the Tokugawa clan called the Kishu Tokugawa clan ruled it with additional chief retainers whom Tokugawa shogunate sent to the two parts of it: the Ando clan to Tanabe area and the Mizuno clan to Niimiya area.
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The pronunciation of ki is "kee," and the Kii-no-kuni (kee-ee) had been previously written as "Ki-no-kuni" with the pronunciation of "kee-no-kuni." Kii-no-kuni Province is also called "Kishu." The origin of "Ki" has two theories; one is from "Ki" meaning trees (ki-no-kuni: tree country) and the other is from the Ki clan who had previously ruled this province area (ki-no-kuni: the Ki clan's country).
The prefecture has so many forests as to have been called "Ki-no-kuni" (tree country) since ancient times, the mountainous area is more than 70 percent of the whole prefecture area, and a varied coastline runs from Kii Channel through Kumano-nada Sea side. The landform of the mountains and glens has attracted Shinto religion, among which Mt. Koya and Kumano Sanzan were used in founding Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, respectively. Meanwhile, large-scaled cities had been built along the Kino-gawa River over the period from the medieval through the modern.
The north of the prefecture, including Wakayama city as a central city, belongs to the Hanshin Industrial Zone and it is active in the heavy industry, such as steel and oil refinery industry. However, it has poor location conditions due to the distance away from the central of the industrial zone, less flatland, poorness of land condition provided for industrial use due to nature conservation policy, and a slump in machinery industry, so that its production volume has not reached the level of overpopulated cities such as in Osaka and Hyogo prefectures. Meanwhile, agriculture such as mainly orchard farming is active all over the prefecture area. The central of the prefecture, the Gobo city area, and the Tanabe city area especially have oranges, flowering plants, and plums as specialties, respectively. Fishery and forestry industries are active, though small volume, and in progress of releasing local brand-name products. Wakayama is the only prefecture reducing in population for 40 years (1970 to 2010) in Kinki Region, though the other six prefectures have each increased by 15 to 40 percent. Wakayama city has the serious outflow of population into the Osaka area (called "Straw Effect"). However, the commuting area for the large cities, such as Iwade and Hashimoto cities, has been increasing in population.
Manufacturing Industry
Wakayama and Kainan cities are located in the south edge of the Hanshin Industrial Zone and the shipment amount of their products is large.
The active manufacturing industries of the prefecture are the steel and oil industries. The shipment amount of the steel industry occupies a little more than 30 percent of the whole prefecture industry, and the sum of the steel and oil industries occupies as large as a little less than 60 percent.
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The large scaled factories of the prefecture are Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (Wakayama Works), Kao Corporation (Wakayama factory) and Mitsubishi Electric (Air-conditioning and Refrigeration Systems) in Wakayama city, and Tonen General Sekiyu K.K. (Wakayama factory) in Arita city.
The main local products are sundries, such as kitchenware and bathroom fabrics produced by Yokozuna Creation, Aisen, Ishizumi, OHE, etc. in Kainan city, occupying about 80 percent of the market share in Japan. Besides, there are mahjong tiles and dice from Gobo city, mosquito repellent coils from Arida city, buttons from Tanabe city, and pile fabrics (used for Shinkansen and automobile seats) from Hashimoto city.
Agriculture
Wakayama prefecture has been called "the kingdom of Orchards" and is active in farming fruits. Major fruits are as follows,
The top market share in Japan:
Oranges: approx. 20%
Plums: approx. 60%
Hassaku citrus (Citrus hassaku): approx. 60%
Jyabara citrus (a species of Citrus): produced by only Kitamura village throughout the world.
Persimmons: approx. 20%
Sansho (Japanese pepper): approx. 80%
The second rank in Japan:
Plums: approx. 20%
Navel oranges: approx. 20%
Iyokan (ee-yo-kan) citrus: approx. 10%
The third rank in Japan:
Kiwi fruits: approx. 10%
Fishery
Having the Kuroshio Current off the coast, Wakayama prefecture is active in fishery.
Tunas: Katsu-ura port
Bonitos: Kenken bonito from Susami town
Pike congers: Saikazaki port
Tachiuo: Pacific cutlassfish from Arita city, the top in this fish catches in Japan
Kue: Longtooth groupers
Forestry
Since the land of the prefecture has small plains with large mountain regions, the forestry has been active mainly in the production of Japanese cedar and Hinoki trees since ancient times.
In general, most of Japan's forests are in national ownership, but most forests of the prefecture are in private ownership, and the forests of producing good quality lumbers since ancient times are mostly in private ownership (in Akita, Kyoto, Miyazaki and Nara prefectures). In order to recover the desolated forests caused by the delay of thinning and the aging of forestry labor force, Wakayama along with Mie prefecture proposed a green employment project in 2001, being on track today.
Tourism
Wakayama city, Shirahana town, Nachi-katsuura town, etc. are popular with tourists for hot spring bathing facilities and the amusement parks of Marina City Porto Europe in Wakayama city, Adventure World and Shirahama Energy Land in Shirahama town, and for sea bathing in summer.
The typical attractions of the prefecture are shrines and temples, such as Kumano-sanzan, Koya-san, and Seiganto-ji and Ki-mii-dera, both of which are the first two sacred sites of Saigoku Sanjusan-sho (Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage). They are the most popular with tourists. The pilgrimage routes to Kumano-sanzan and Mt. Koya listed as the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004, though the prefecture has as few as 400 shrines, ranking second after Okinawa prefecture in ascending order by the number of shrines.
