Sendai

( Sendai-shi 仙台市) is a large Japanese metropolis , capital of the Préfecture of Miyagi. Population of the east city of 1.027.988 inhabitants for a surface of 788,09 km ² (2006).

With 350 km of Tōkyō, in the North-East of the island of Honshū, Sendai appears among the eleven most important cities of the Japan. It has the privilege to be bordered of mountains in the west and the coast of the Pacifique in the east.

Out of economic material, 50 000 companies employ approximately 500 000 people, in varied sectors: electrical engineerings, textile, rubber, craft industry (silk, lacquer, ceramics), etc Sendai also shelters a technopolis of research (medicine, engineering, state-of-the-art technology), about fifteen universities, of which the Université Tōhoku, and for the pleasure of the music lovers, an philharmonic orchestra.

History

Foundation of the city

Although the zone where Sendai is located is inhabited since 20 000 years and that a station strengthened against the Ezo named Mori No Miyako (杜の都, “the City of the trees”) there is installed at the 8th century, the history of Sendai as a city begins in 1601, when the Daimyo Masamune Date installs its capital there.
Date was not satisfied with its preceding fortress, Iwadeyama, which is located at the north of its grounds and is difficult access since Edo. Sendai is an ideal site, located at the center of its grounds recently acquired, on a road major coming from Edo, and close to the sea. Ieyasu Tokugawa gives to Masamune the permission to build a castle with Aobayama there after the Bataille of Sekigahara. Aobayama is the site of a castle used by the preceding one directing area of Sendai. At that time, Sendai is written 千代 (literally, “a thousand of generations”), because of a temple with “thousand statues of Bouddha” (千体 sentai ) located at Aobayama. Masamune Dates exchange the Kanji in 仙臺, which will become later 仙台 (literally, “hermit on a platform”). The kanji is drawn from a poem Chinese which makes the praise of a palate built by the Empereur Wen of the China of Han, comparing it with a mythical palate mounts Kunlun. It is known as which Date chooses this kanji so that its castle thrives as a long time as a mountain inhabited by an immortal hermit. Masamune orders the construction of the Château of Sendai in December 1600, and the foundation of the town of Sendai in 1601. The Plan hippodamien of the streets of the current downtown area of Sendai comes from its plans.

Modern time

Sendai obtains the statute of city on April 1st 1889 after the Abolition of the system of the strongholds. At that time, the city has a surface of 17,45 km ² and a population of 86 000 inhabitants. However, the city grows through seven annexations between 1928 and 1988.

Until the Second world war, Sendai gardre its nickname of City of the trees, the stronghold of Sendai encouraging the residents to plant trees in their courses, which have as a result that number of house, temples and sanctuaries then have “domestic forests” (屋敷林, yashikirin ), used for the other daily material and wood resources. However, the air raids of the Second world war destroy the major part of the city, greenery included/understood, and more still is lost during the rebuilding after the war.

Geography

General information

Sendai is located at 38°16' 05" of Northern latitude and 140°52' 11" of longitude Is. The city recovers 788,09 km ², and extends from the Pacific Ocean with the mountains Ōu sanmyaku , which constitute the borders respectively is and western Préfecture of Miyagi. So the geography of the city is rather varied: is of Sendai is a zone of plains, the center of the city is undulating, and the western part is mountainous. The point highest of the city is the mount Funagata, which culminates with 1500 meters above the sea level.

Hirose-gawa

The river Hirose-gawa runs through Sendai on 45 km. The river is a known symbol of Sendai, particularly because it appears in the worms of Aobajō Koiuta (青葉城恋唄, literally “Love song of the Aoba castle”, a popular song of Sato Muneyuki. The castle of Sendai is built close to the river, in order to use it like natural ditch. Until in the Years 1950, the river is prone to many floods, but of the stoppings and dams made this phenomenon rare. The river is now known for its exceptionally own water and its natural beauty, and of this fact was chosen by the Japanese Agency for the environment like one of “100 Large water of Japan”.

Volcanicity

The majority of the mountains of Sendai are deadened Volcan S, much older than the famous volcanos Zao and Narugo of the close municipalities. However, one finds many hot sources, indicating the existence of a hydrothermal activity. The Earthquake Miyagi Oki takes place with broad of Sendai all the 25 to 40 years. The earthquake of the August 16th 2005 had an epicentre close to the zone of the earthquake Miyagi Oki, but the research center seismic concluded that it was not about the earthquake Miyagi Oki, saying that “… we do not think that the recent event is earthquake, this because the magnitude of the earthquake was low, and the sector source, which was estimated thanks to the seismic distribution of counterpart and the seismic waves, did not cover entirely the area of source envisaged, although the recent event broke part of the focal area of the earthquake envisaged. ”

Climate

Sendai has a moderate Climat. The average temperature in the city is of 12,1°C, and the average of annual precipitations and 1241,8 Misters the highest temperature recorded is of 36,8°C and lowest is of -11,7°C. The annual average is 16,8 days with a temperature above 30°C and only 2 days with a temperature under 0, which is compared little with the other Japanese big cities. The city is seldom touched by the typhoons, and knows only 6 days with more than 10 cm of snowfalls over one year average. The wet Saison of Sendai usually starts enters at the end of June and at the beginning of July, which is later that the majority of the cities of Japan.

Demography

In 2005, Sendai shelters a population estimated at 1 028 214 people, and with a density of 1304,69 hab. /km ². The majority of the inhabitants live in urban areas close to the stations of train and subway. The national census of 2000 revealed that 88,5% of the population of the city (either 892 252 people) lived in a zone of 129,69 km ², which accounts for only 16,6% of the total surface area of the city. The population density in this zone is of 6879,9hab. /km ², which is more than 5 times the population density of the city at that time. Sendai counts approximately 10 000 nonJapanese inhabitants.

In 2005, Sendai counts 444 514 hearths, with an average of 2,31 members per hearth. Each year, the average hearth becomes smaller, the increasing number of hearths of single people. Sendai shelters many people having the beginning of around fifty, and in their score or the beginning of about thirty compared with the other groups of age. The Middle Age of Sendai is 38,4 years, which does of it one of the youngest big cities of Japan.

Twinnings

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