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Image of Fukuoka Castle Ruins(2009)

Fukuoka Castle Ruins(2009)

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Fukuoka City or Hakata City?

In April 1889, the government issued a regulation for municipalization, giving birth to "Fukuoka City." However, the following year a great controversy occurred over whether the area should be called Fukuoka City or Hakata City. Originally, the area was called Hakata; however, in 1600 a Japanese warlord, Nagamasa Kuroda, named the area Fukuoka as a tribute to the land of his ancestors, Bizen Fukuoka (Bizen is now called Okayama). Since then, the area of the city located east of the River Naka, in the Nakasu region, has been known as Hakata, and the area to the west of the river has been known as Fukuoka. But, now the locals had to choose between Fukuoka, a proud samurai town, and Hakata, the port and merchant district, for the name of their city. At a meeting of legislators deciding on the name of the city in 1890, votes were split evenly, with Fukuoka and Hakata receiving 13 votes each. A subsequent revote ended with the same result, and so the name "Fukuoka" was kept. In return, the name Hakata was chosen for the new railway station that had just opened. This is how the confusion began between the names of Fukuoka City and Hakata Station.

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Fukuoka originated from Okayama Prefecture!?

There are two names for Fukuoka City, Fukuoka and Hakata, and the Hakata name is better known among those outside of Kyushu. The Fukuoka name was first used during the Edo period (1603-1868), and Fukuoka City became the official name during the Meiji period (1868-1912) that followed. However, the Hakata name has been used for a considerably longer period of time. When the feudal lord, Nagamasa Kuroda and his son, Josui, were given the Chikuzen fief that yielded 523,000 koku of rice (or more than one million U.S. bushels) by Ieyasu Tokugawa, they called their new home Fukuoka Castle. This is because the original residence of the Kuroda feudal lords was Fukuoka in Bizen, now Okayama prefecture. That’s how the region around the castle came to be known as Fukuoka. When viewed from Hakata Bay, the castle seemed to soar like a bird in the sky, hence the name Maizuru Castle, or The Dancing Crane. In those days the castle was a magnificent structure—there were moats extending inland from the sea, and it had more than 10 gates and 47 turrets. The Minamimaru-tamon Turret and the stone walls, which survive to this day, are a reminder of the castle’s former glory.

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Precautions on Usage

When used, the images must be accompanied by the note, "Photograph(s) provided by Fukuoka City." and"photo:Fumio Hashimoto"

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