Kōchi, Kōchi

Geography

Kōchi is located on the southern coast of Kōchi Prefecture, facing the Pacific Ocean to the south. The city area can be divided into three distinct geographic sections. The urban centre lies at the head of Urado Bay, in a narrow alluvial plain crossed by several rivers, notably the Kagami River and Kokubu River. The plain is bounded by mountains to the north and a range of hills to the south and west.

The northern mountains form the least densely populated part of the city, with the only settlement being along narrow river valleys. The highest point in Kōchi is Kuishi-yama at 1,176 metres (3,858 ft).

To the south of the city centre, Urado Bay cuts through the hills to its outlet into the Pacific Ocean. The land surrounding the bay and a small strip of the coastline form the third part of the city. This area, although hillier and less dense than the plain, is nevertheless a major location of housing and port-related industry.

Neighbouring municipalities

Kōchi Prefecture

• Ino
• Nankoku
• Tosa City
• Tosa Town

Climate

Kōchi has a very wet humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa), receiving twice as much rainfall as Shikoku's other chief cities Matsuyama and Takamatsu. It is also the most typhoon-prone of Japan's major cities owing to its location directly exposed to the open Pacific Ocean from which the storms enter the country, and has twice received over 50 cm (20 in) of rainfall in a day from a typhoon.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kōchi increased rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s before peaking around the year 2000 and going into decline.

History

Feudal period

As with all of Kōchi Prefecture, the area of today Kōchi city was part of ancient Tosa Province. The river plain now containing the city centre was originally settled as a castle town around Kōchi Castle, the seat of the daimyō of Tosa Domain. The castle site was chosen by Yamauchi Kazutoyo in 1601 to replace the earlier seats of the Chōsokabe clan who had previously ruled in province. The city takes its name from that of the castle. As the centre of administration for the province, and the prefecture which succeeded it, the town rapidly grew to become the largest settlement of the region.

Meiji period

During the time of the Meiji Restoration, Kōchi became famous as a centre of pro-imperial ideology, and later for incubating democratic and human rights movements. The city was incorporated on April 1, 1889, with the establishment of the modern municipalities system..

Tram service began in the city on May 2, 1904, and the city was connected to the national rail network on November 12, 1951.

WWII air raid

Kōchi was selected as a target by the United States' XXI Bomber Command because of the city's status as a prefectural capital, and the fact that it was a centre for industry and commercial trade. On July 3, 1945, at 6:22 pm (JST) 129 aircraft took off to bomb Kōchi. 1060 tons of incendiary bombs were dropped on Kōchi, destroying 48% of the built up areas of the city, killing 401 civilians and rendering over 40,000 homeless.

Modern period

On April 1, 1998, the city was designated as the first core city on Shikoku.

On January 1, 2005, the villages of Kagami and Tosayama, both from Tosa District were merged into Kōchi.

On January 1, 2008, the town of Haruno (from Agawa District) was also merged into Kōchi.

Government

Kōchi has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 42 members. The current mayor (since 2023) is Ryugo Kuwana.

Kōchi contributes 15 members to the Kōchi Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between the Kōchi 1st district and Kōchi 2nd districts of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

International relations

International

Sister cities

Friendship cities

Sister ports

National

Sister cities

Education

Universities

Kōchi is home to two universities, Kōchi University (national) and University of Kochi (prefectural), and four junior colleges including Kochi Junior College.

National university

• Kōchi University

Public university

• University of Kochi（Kōchi Prefectural University）

Private university

• Kochi Gakuen University
• The Open University of Japan
• University of Kochi Health Sciences

Schools

Elementary and secondary education

Kōchi has 39 public elementary schools, 17 public middle schools and one public high school operated by the city government, one private and one national elementary school, and five private combined middle/high schools. The city has eight public high schools administered by the Kōchi Prefectural Department of Education. The prefecture also operates one middle school and one combined middle/high school.

Transport

Airport

• Kōchi Ryōma Airport, located in nearby Nankoku

Railways

Kōchi is located on the JR Shikoku's Dosan Line connecting it to northern Shikoku, and via interchanges with the Tosa Kuroshio Railway to the eastern and western parts of Kōchi Prefecture. JR's central station in Kōchi is Kōchi Station.

Conventional lines

Shikoku Railway Company JR Shikoku ■Dosan Line

• Tosa-Ōtsu • Nunoshida • Tosa-Ikku • Azōno • Kōchi • Iriake • Engyōjiguchi • Asahi • Kōchi-Shōgyō-Mae • Asakura

Tramways

The most visible form of transport within Kōchi is the tram service run by Tosaden Kōtsū. Its three lines with historic cars service the major north–south and east–west axes of the city.

Tosaden Kōtsū

• ■Gomen Line
• ■Ino Line
• ■Sanbashi Line

Busways

The city also has an extensive bus network.

Highways

Kōchi is also serviced by the Kōchi interchange of the Kōchi Expressway which connects to the national expressway system.

Expressway

• Kōchi Expressway
• Kōchi-Tōbu Expressway

Japan National Route

• National Route 32
• National Route 33
• National Route 55
• National Route 56
• National Route 194
• National Route 195

Seaways

• Port of Kōchi

Tourism

Kōchi Castle still exists in its pre-restoration form, and is one of the main tourist attractions. Other places of interest in the city centre are the Obiyamachi (帯屋町) shopping arcade, the regular Sunday street markets which are close to a kilometre in length, and Harimayabashi (はりまや橋), a bridge that featured in a famous Kōchi song about the forbidden love of a Buddhist priest.

Local attractions

The mountain Godaisan (五台山) holds a public park with views of the city, and is home to stop 31 on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, Chikurin-ji, as well as the Makino Botanical Garden.

Off Museum Road (Kenritsu Bijutsukandori) is The Museum of Art, Kōchi, where the main collection is composed of expressionistic works related to Kōchi.

The Former Yamauchi Residence and Tosa Yamauchi Family Treasury and Archives are also to be found in the city.

Historic spots

Castle

• Kōchi Castle
• Urado Castle ruins

Shrine

The Shinto Shrine Tosa jinja is located to the west.

Temples

Temples No.30 (Zenrakuji, No.31(Chikurin-ji) and No.33 (Sekkei-ji) on the Shikoku Pilgrimage are located in the city.

At the mouth of Urado Bay, the remnants of Urado Castle (an earlier provincial seat) stand above Katsurahama, a famous beach with an aquarium and statue of the Kōchi hero Sakamoto Ryōma.

Nearby on the grounds is the Sakamoto Ryōma Memorial Museum.

Culture

Festival・Events

Festival

Kōchi's most famous festival is the Yosakoi which is held in August. Teams of dancers dance to traditional and modern songs at various places around Kōchi. The total number of dancers is in the thousands.

• Yosakoi

Events

• Sunday street markets

Gourmet

• Katsuo-no-tataki
• Katsuobushi
• Sawachi Sushi
• Tosa-maki

Museums

• Kōchi Castle Museum of History
• Kōchi Literary Museum
• Ryōma's Birthplace Memorial Museum
• Sakamoto Ryōma Memorial Museum
• The Museum of Art, Kōchi

Sports

Notable figures from Kōchi

• Ryōko Hirosue (born 1980), actress and singer
• Okada Izō (1832–1865), samurai
• Kusunose Kita (1836–1920), advocate for women's rights
• Akihiro Kitamura (born 1979), actor and director
• Tomitaro Makino (1862–1957), botanist
• Nakahama Manjirō (1827–1898), samurai and translator
• Hideshi Matsuda (born 1954), car racer and TV reporter
• Tetsuya Nomura (born 1970), video game designer
• Fumio Nutahara (born 1963), rally driver
• Toshiko Okanoue (born 1928), avant-garde artist
• Sakamoto Ryōma (1836–1867), samurai and politician
• Tsutomu Seki (born 1930), astronomer
• Sumi Shimamoto (born 1954), voice actress
• Itagaki Taisuke (1837–1919), politician
• Baba Tatsui (1850–1888), legislative reformer
• Noa Tsurushima (born 2001), actress and model
• Nobuo Uematsu (born 1959), composer and keyboardist
• Haru Urara (1996-2025) Racehorse