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27-691: Hirado City occupies the northern part of Nagasaki Prefecture, the northwestern tip of the Kitamatsuura Peninsula , Hirado Island , which lies to the west of the peninsula across the Hirado Strait, Ikitsuki Island, which lies to the northwest of Hirado Island, Takushima Island, which lies directly north of Hirado Island, and Matoyama-Oshima Island, which lies directly north of Tsushima. It is located about 25 kilometers northwest of Sasebo City and about 80 kilometers north-northwest of Nagasaki City. The Hirado Bridge connects Hirado Island to

54-520: A humid subtropical climate ( Köppen : Cfa ) with hot summers and cool winters. Precipitation is significant throughout the year, but is much higher in the summer, although the relatively low latitude and its coastal location the city receives snow in small quantities but enough to "mark" the winter every year despite being in 33 ° N receives intrusions from the Arctic cold of the Siberia air combined with

81-585: A bridge connecting the peninsula to Hirado Island. Hirado Domain Hirado Domain ( 平戸藩 , Hirado-han ) was a Japanese domain of the Edo period . It was centered around Hirado Castle in what is now the city of Hirado, Nagasaki and was ruled by the tozama daimyō Matsura clan for all of its history. Matsura Takanobu, who rose to power among the Matsura clan, a powerful local clan in

108-531: A castle called Hinotake-jō on the site of the present-day Hirado Castle. However, he burned the castle down himself in 1613, as a gesture of loyalty towards Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu , having served in the losing Toyotomi side during the Battle of Sekigahara . In return, he was allowed to retain his position as daimyō of Hirado Domain under the Tokugawa shogunate with a kokudaka of 63,000 koku . Under

135-597: A center of foreign trade increased, especially vis-à-vis Ming-dynasty China and the Dutch East India Company ( Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC). The Portuguese arrived in Japan in 1543; after the Battle of Fukuda Bay in 1561 the Portuguese stayed for a few more years until they settled in the city of Nagasaki in 1571. The English and Dutch initially reached Japan at the beginning of

162-669: A directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 18 members. Hirado contributes one member to the Nagasaki Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Nagasaki 4th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan . The economy of Hirado is heavily dependent on commercial fishing , agriculture and tourism. Hirado has 15 public elementary schools and eight public junior high schools, and three public high schools operated by

189-413: A land survey was carried out, and the foundation of the domain's finances was solidified by promoting the development of agriculture, fishing, and commerce. The 5th daimyō , Matsura Takashi reduced the domain by 10,000 koku to establish his younger brother, Masashi as head of a cadet branch of the clan and daimyō of Hirado-Shinden Domain . Although a tozama daimyō Matsura Takashi was promoted to

216-505: Is bounded by the Sea of Japan on the west, southwest and the north. Most of the peninsula is within the boundaries of the city of Hirado and Nagasaki Prefecture. The general area of and near the peninsula is commonly called the Hokushō Region ( 北松地方 , Hokushō Chihō ) . Kitamatsuura Peninsula has many bays, inlets, and other coastal features along its shores. Imari Bay is located on

243-480: The Meiji restoration , the town of Hirado and the villages of Hirado, Nakano, Shishi, Himosashi, Nakatsura, Tsuyoshi, Shijiki, Tahibira, Minami-Tabira, Ikitsuki and Oshima were established with the creation of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. The village and town of Hirado merged on April 1, 1925. Ikitsuki was raised to town status on April 17, 1940. On April 1, 1954 Tabira and Minami-Tabira merged to form

270-480: The Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei in northern Japan, at Morioka and Akita . Following the Meiji restoration , in 1871 Hirado Domain became "Hirado Prefecture", which was later incorporated into Nagasaki Prefecture. In April 1884, Matsura Akira was made a count in the new kazoku peerage system. From 1890, he served in the House of Peers of the Diet of Japan . He was later awarded 2nd Court rank. As with most domains in

297-879: The 17th century. The first step in the profitable Dutch-Japanese trading relationship was the Shōgun's grant of a trading pass ( handelspas ) in 1609. In 1613, the British ship Clove arrived in Japan and its Captain John Saris was able to gain the shogunate's permission to establish in Hirado a commercial house of the British East India Company . However, the company soon came to consider this outpost to be unprofitable, especially due to their inability to obtain Japanese raw silk for import to China. Therefore,

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324-554: The 4th daimyō , also named Matsura Shinobu (but with different kanji ) the domain was reduced by 1500 koku through a grant to his cousin Matsura Nobutada. During Shigenobu's tenure, in 1641, the Hirado Dutch Trading Post was relocated by order of the shogunate from Hirado to Dejima , which caused a great blow to the domain's finances. After that, in order to restore the domain's internal affairs,

351-547: The British closed their factory in 1623, voluntarily leaving the Dutch as the sole European presence. At its maximum extent, the Dutch trading center covered the whole area of present-day Sakikata Park . In 1637 and in 1639, stone warehouses were constructed, and the Dutch builders incorporated these dates into the stonework. However, the Tokugawa shogunate disapproved of the use of any Christian year dates, and therefore demanded

378-679: The Kitamatsuura Peninsula is handled by the Nishi-Kyūshū Line , a rail line operated by Matsuura Railway . National Route 204 , which carries traffic between Karatsu in Saga Prefecture and Sasebo in Nagasaki Prefecture, and National Route 498 , carrying traffic between Kashima in Saga Prefecture and Imari. The Hirado Bridge ( 平戸大橋 , Hirado Ōhashi ) , part of National Route 383 , operates

405-516: The Kyushu mainland, and the Ikitsuki Bridge connects Hirado Island to Ikitsuki Island. The western end of Hirado Island is west of Kōzakihana , the westernmost point of Kyushu, and is the westernmost of all areas that can be traveled between the mainland of Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu) or the mainland of Japan by land transportation alone. Nagasaki Prefecture Hirado has

432-715: The Nagasaki Prefectural Board of Education. [REDACTED] Matsuura Railway - Nishi-Kyūshū Line Hirado has one sister city in Japan and one sister city and one friendship city outside Japan. Kitamatsuura Peninsula The Kitamatsuura Peninsula ( 北松浦半島 , Kitamatsuura Hantō ) is a peninsula located in northwest Kyūshū , projecting northwest from an imaginary line drawn between Imari in Saga Prefecture and Sasebo in Nagasaki Prefecture , Japan . The peninsula

459-756: The area. The coastline of Kitamatsuura Peninsula is constantly changing due to erosion from the wind, rain, and ocean waves. The western area of the peninsula is a very wide and flat drowned river valley filled with many small islands including the Kujūku Islands . Much of the area is part of Saikai National Park . The coastal area between Tabira and Matsuura is designated the Hokushō Prefectural Natural Park ( 北松県立自然公園 , Hokushō Kenritsu Shizen Kōen ) . Saikai National Park ( 西海国立公園 , Saikai Kokutei Kōen ) and Genkai Quasi-National Park ( 玄海国定公園 , Genkai Kokutei Kōen ) are located on

486-637: The humidity of the Sea of Japan . Per Japanese census data, the population of Hirado is as shown below: Hirado has been a port of call for ships between the East Asian mainland and Japan since the Nara period . During the Kamakura and Muromachi periods , the local Matsuura clan held the rights to trade with Korea and with Song-dynasty China . During the Sengoku and early Edo periods , Hirado's role as

513-489: The immediate destruction of these two structures. This failure to comply with strict sakoku practices was then used as one of the Shogunate's rationales for forcing the Dutch traders to abandon Hirado for the more constricting confines of Dejima , a small artificial island in the present-day city of Nagasaki . The last VOC Opperhoofd or Kapitan at Hirado and the first one at Dejima was François Caron , who oversaw

540-613: The north side of the peninsula. Due to the rugged coastline, the fishing industry is very active on Kitamatsuura Peninsula. Tsukinokawa Port in Matsuura hosts a fish market and handles the largest volume in Japan of Japanese jack mackerel and related fish . The area of the Kitamatsuura Peninsula includes part or all of several municipalities , including Imari in Saga Prefecture, as well as Sasebo (formerly Shikamachi and Kosaza ), Hirado (formerly Tabira), Matsuura, and Saza in Nagasaki Prefecture. The main rail transportation on

567-471: The north, the Hirado Strait is located to the west between Hirado Island and the peninsula, and Sasebo Bay is found on the southwest. The peninsula is mainly basalt which forms a gently-sloping tableland and pediment , though it features many small hills and uneven terrain as well. The borders of the tableland are very steep. There is abundant evidence of ancient landslide activity throughout

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594-482: The northern part of present-day Nagasaki Prefecture, conquered Kitamatsuura District in northern Hizen Province and the island province of Iki . In 1587, his son, Matsura Shigenobu was confirmed in his holdings for assisting Toyotomi Hideyoshi 's Kyushu Conquest of 1587-1587. During the Japanese invasions of Korea , Hirado was a forward base of operations for Japanese forces. In 1599, Matsura Shigenobu erected

621-514: The peninsula. Much of the land is covered in rice fields , irrigated largely by abundant reservoirs . Within the stratum laid down during the Tertiary period , abundant coal deposits are found. These resources were developed following World War II , creating rapid economic growth in the Hokushō Region. However, alternative energy activism has led to the closure of many of the mines in

648-471: The positions of sōshaban and Jisha-bugyō within the shogunal administration. However, the expenses incurred in this and the reconstruction of Hirado Castle in 1707 led to the domain's finances becoming impoverished. The 9th daimyō , Matsura Kiyoshi, was a noted essayist and political commentator. He carried out major reforms in the domain in line with the Kansei Reforms . His daughter, Aiko,

675-431: The town of Tabira. On January 1, 1955 - Hirado Town, and the villages of Nakano, Shishi, Himosashi, Nakatsura, Tsuyoshi, and Shijiki merged to form the city of Hirado. The city expanded by merging on October 1, 2005, with the neighboring towns of Tabira , Ikitsuki , and the village of Ōshima . The local economy is dominated by agriculture, fishing and food processing. Hirado has a mayor-council form of government with

702-516: The transfer in 1641. Modern research indicated this incident might have been an excuse for the Shogunate to take the Dutch trade away from the Hirado clan. The stone warehouse from 1639 that was torn down was reconstructed back to its original form in 2011. During the Edo period, Hirado was the seat of the Hirado Domain . Hirado Castle is today a historical and architectural landmark. Following

729-650: Was the grandmother of Emperor Meiji . During the Bakumatsu period , the 12th daimyō , Matsura Akira commanded his forces as part of the Satchō Alliance during the Boshin War of the Meiji Restoration , in support of Emperor Meiji . Military reforms led to the formation of a Western-style rifle unit in the domain, which fought at the Battle of Toba–Fushimi and against the Tokugawa remnants of

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