Place:Kofu, Yamanashi, Japan

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is the capital city of Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 187,985 in 90,924 households, and a population density of 880 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Kōfu's name means "capital of Kai Province". During the Sengoku period, it was famous as the stronghold of Takeda Shingen.

History

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Archaeologists have discovered evidence of human settlement in the Kōfu area dating to the Japanese Paleolithic period, with continuous settlement through the Jōmon, Yayoi and Kofun periods. During the Nara period, the provincial temple of Kai Province was established in what is now Kōfu, indicating that the Nara period provincial capital was located nearby, as the name of the city implies. During the Heian period, a branch of the Minamoto clan, the “Kai-Genji” ruled over vast shōen estates, and developed a military force noted for its use of cavalry. By the Muromachi period, a branch of the Kai-Genji, the Takeda clan came to dominate the area, and built a castle in what is now part of Kōfu.

Under the rule of Takeda Nobutora, Kōfu was rebuilt as a castle town starting in 1519, and remained the capital of the Takeda clan under Takeda Shingen and his son Takeda Katsuyori. During the Edo period, Kai Province was tenryō territory ruled directly by the Tokugawa shogunate, and Kōfu Castle remained its administrative center. Following the Meiji restoration, with the establishment of the modern municipalities system, the town of Kōfu was proclaimed on July 1, 1889.

The city experienced a major flood disaster in 1907 (明治40年の大水害) caused by heavy rain in a typhoon from the night of August 21, 1907 and by deforestation which was accelerated in Yamanashi Prefecture, due to the need for wood for fuel of the steam engines of the growing industrial policy of the Fujimura Prefectural Government. A police officer inspected the stricken area from August 23 to October 10, 1907. Patrol diaries of Masaki Tsukasa Kasaburo said "This heavy rainfall causes rivers to run down, landslides and levee failures, bridge piers destruction, etc., resulting in the destruction of homes and villages, village isolation, runoff and runoff, and traffic disruptions caused serious damage. 233 people died, 5757 houses were run out, 650 hectares of lands have been buried or run down, 3353 landslides, collapse and damage distance of about 140 kilometers of levees, runoff and burial of roads, the damage distance was about 500 kilometers, 393 telephone poles collapsed. It was the largest natural disaster in modern times in Yamanashi Prefecture.

During World War II, much of the city was destroyed by United States Army Air Forces B-29 Superfortress bombers during a major air raid during the night of 6 July 1945.

Kōfu was designated as one of the special cities of Japan on April 1, 2000. On March 1, 2006, Kōfu, with a population of 193,795, absorbed the town of Nakamichi (from Higashiyatsushiro District), and the northern part of the village of Kamikuishiki (from Nishiyatsushiro District) increasing the population to 201,184.

On April 1, 2019, Kōfu's city status is elevated into a core city.

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