Kobe

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This article is about the Japanese city. For the basketball player, see Kobe Bryant. For other
uses, see Kobe (disambiguation).

Kobe

神戸市

Designated city

Kobe City[1]

From top left: Port of Kobe, Akashi Kaikyō Bridge, Kitano-chō, Kobe

Chinatown, night view from Kikuseidai of Mt. Maya, Kobe Port
Tower

Flag
Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap

Location of Kobe in Hyōgo Prefecture

Kobe

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Coordinates:  34°41′24″N 135°11′44″ECoordinates:  34°41′24″N 

135°11′44″E

Country  Japan

Region Kansai

Prefecture Hyōgo Prefecture

Government

 • Mayor Kizō Hisamoto

Area

 • Designated city 557.02 km2 (215.07 sq mi)

Population

 (June 1, 2019)

 • Designated city 1,524,601 (7th)

 • Metro 2,419,973 (6th)

[2]
 (2015)

Time zone UTC+9 (Japan Standard Time)

City symbols  
 • Tree Camellia sasanqua

• Flower Hydrangea

Phone number 078-331-8181

Address 6-5-1 Kano-chō, Chūō-ku, Kōbe-shi,

Hyōgo-ken
650-8570

Website City of Kobe

Kobe

"Kobe" in new-style (shinjitai) kanji

Japanese name

Hiragana こうべ

Katakana コーベ

Kyūjitai 神戶

Shinjitai 神戸

showTranscriptions

Kobe (/ˈkoʊbeɪ/ KOH-bay; Japanese: [koꜜːbe]; officially 神戸市, Kōbe-shi) is the seventh-largest

city in Japan and the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture. It is located on the southern side of the
main island of Honshū, on the north shore of Osaka Bay and about 30 km (19 mi) west
of Osaka. With a population around 1.5 million, the city is part of the Keihanshin metropolitan
area along with Osaka and Kyoto.[3]
The earliest written records regarding the region come from the Nihon Shoki, which describes
the founding of the Ikuta Shrine by Empress Jingū in AD 201.[4][5] For most of its history, the area
was never a single political entity, even during the Tokugawa period, when the port was
controlled directly by the Tokugawa shogunate. Kobe did not exist in its current form until its
founding in 1889. Its name comes from Kanbe (神戸, an archaic title for supporters of the
city's Ikuta Shrine).[6][7] Kobe became one of Japan's designated cities in 1956.
Kobe was one of the cities to open for trade with the West following the 1853 end of the policy
of seclusion and has since been known as a cosmopolitan and nuclear-free zone port city.
While the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake diminished much of Kobe's prominence as a port
city, it remains Japan's fourth-busiest container port.[8] Companies headquartered in Kobe
include ASICS, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, and Kobe Steel, as well as over 100 international
corporations with Asian or Japanese headquarters in the city, such as Eli Lilly and
Company, Procter & Gamble, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Nestlé.[9][10] The city is the point of origin
and namesake of Kobe beef, as well as the site of one of Japan's most famous hot
spring resorts, Arima Onsen.

Contents

History[edit]
See also: Timeline of Kobe

 Media related to History of Kobe at Wikimedia Commons

Origins to the Meiji era[edit]

Tools found in western Kobe demonstrate the area was populated at least from the Jōmon
period.[11] The natural geography of the area, particularly of Wada Cape in Hyōgo-ku, led to the
development of a port, which would remain the economic center of the city.[12] Some of the
earliest written documents mentioning the region include the Nihon Shoki, which describes the
founding of the Ikuta Shrine by Empress Jingū in AD 201.[4]
During the Nara and Heian periods, the port was known by the name Ōwada
Anchorage (Ōwada-no-tomari) and was one of the ports from which imperial embassies to
China were dispatched.[5][11] The city was briefly the capital of Japan in 1180, when Taira no
Kiyomori moved his grandson Emperor Antoku to Fukuhara in present-day Hyōgo-ku.[11] The
Emperor returned to Kyoto after about five months.[5] Shortly thereafter in 1184,
the Taira fortress in Hyōgo-ku and the nearby Ikuta Shrine became the sites of the Genpei
War battle of Ichi-no-Tani between the Taira and Minamoto clans. The Minamoto prevailed,
pushing the Taira further.
As the port grew during the Kamakura period, it became an important hub for trade with China
and other countries. In the 13th century, the city came to be known by the name Hyōgo Port (兵
庫津, Hyōgo-tsu).[12] During this time, Hyōgo Port, along with northern Osaka, composed the
province of Settsu (most of today's Kobe belonged to Settsu except Nishi Ward and Tarumi
Ward, which belonged to Harima).
Later, during the Edo period, the eastern parts of present-day Kobe came under the jurisdiction
of the Amagasaki Domain and the western parts under that of the Akashi Domain, while the
center was controlled directly by the Tokugawa shogunate.[13][14] It was not until the abolition of
the han system in 1871 and the establishment of the current prefecture system that the area
became politically distinct.
Hyōgo Port was opened to foreign trade by the Shogunal government at the same time as
Osaka on January 1, 1868, just before the advent of the Boshin War and the Meiji Restoration.
[15]
 The region has since been identified with the West and many foreign residences from the
period remain in Kobe's Kitano area.