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Mito 水戸
—  Special city  —
水戸市 · Mito
Flag
Location of Mito in Ibaraki Prefecture
Mito
Coordinates: 36°22′N 140°28′E / 36.367°N 140.467°E / 36.367; 140.467
Country	Japan
Region	Kantō
Prefecture	Ibaraki Prefecture
Government
- Mayor	Kōichi Katō
Area
- Total	217.45 km2 (84 sq mi)
Population (2005)	263,748
City Symbols
- Tree	Ume
- Flower	Bush clover (hagi)
- Bird	White Wagtail
Website	City of Mito
Phone number	029−224−1111
Address 1-4-1 Chūō, Mito-shi, Ibaraki-ken 310−8610

City skyline over ume of Kauraku-en

Ume Festival at Kairaku-en in Mito

Mito (水戸市, Mito-shi^?) is the capital of Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan and has a central location, moderately offset towards the coast in that prefecture. As of 2005, the city has an estimated population of 263,748 and a total area is 217.45 km², giving a density of 1,212.91 persons per km². Mito natto is the city's culinary speciality and is well-known across Japan.

Mito is the site of the Japanese garden Kairaku-en, located near Senba lake and counted as one of the Three Great Gardens of Japan. Constructed by Tokugawa Nariaki in 1842, the park is known nationwide for its breathtaking ume trees. Many people come to the park in spring to view the spectacular blossoms, particularly during the Ume Festival. In summer, Mito also holds the Mito Koumon Festival.

Mito was the seat of the so-called Mito School, a congregation of nativist scholars of Confucian persuasion led by Aizawa Seishisai, who during the eigthteenth and nineteenth centuries advocated Western learning as a means not only to further Japanese technological development and international strength, but as means to prove Japanese uniqueness and superiority among nations.

History

The Yamato people settled in Mito around the fourth century CE. Around the end of the Heian period, Baba Sukemoto, a warlord of the Heike family, moved to Mito and built a castle there. Mito Castle changed hands several times after that: a daimyo named Satake Yoshinobu won it in the mid-1500s, but he was forced to surrender it to Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603 after the epic Battle of Sekigahara. Ieyasu's son Tokugawa Yorifusa then took over Mito Castle, becoming one of the three "gosanke" family members fortified outside of Edo. Edo was directly connected to Mito by the Mito Kaidō.^[1] The Tokugawas directly ruled Mito until the mid-1800s, when the bakufu in Edo was overthrown.

The modern city of Mito was formed on April 1, 1889, with a population of 25,000. It was designated as the prefectural capital. By 1900, the Joban Line connected it to Tokyo, and by 1910, telephones and electric lighting were available throughout the city. Although more than three-quarters of the city burned to the ground near the end of World War II, the population rebounded to 70,000 just two years later, and has continued to grow ever since.

Today, Mito is primarily a commercial and administrative city: most industry in Ibaraki is concentrated around the nearby city of Tsukuba. Mito has a modest but thriving tourism industry, centered on Kairaku-en (park) and local museums dedicated to the Tokugawa family. Mito is also the site of Ibaraki University and Tokiwa University, and is sister city to Anaheim, California.

Transportation

The Mito Art Tower

Mito is located on the Joban Line (Mito Station) and Joban Expressway, which connect it to Tokyo and Tsukuba to the south and Hitachi and Iwaki to the north. The Suigun Line runs north to Koriyama, and the Mito Line runs west to Oyama. The closest major airport is Narita International Airport. Ibaraki Airport at Hyakuri Airfield in nearby Omitamaopened in March 2010. At present it offers only limited service with one flight a day to Seoul, Korea and a daily flight to Kobe. The airport hopes to attract service by budget air carriers and has structured services and fees accordingly.[[http://http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/business/global/11airport.html?scp=1&sq=airport%20mito&st=cse</ref>

Professional Sports

Mito is the home city of the J-League professional soccer team, Mito HollyHock.

Famous residents

• Aizawa Seishisai (1782-1863)
• Stomu Takeishi (b. 1964, jazz bass player)

Tourist Attractions

• Kodokan School
• Mito Castle
• Lake Senba
• Kairakuen Park
• Ibaraki Museum of Modern Art
• Art Tower Mito
• Ibaraki Prefectural Museum of History
• Mito Municipal Botanical Park
• The Tokugawa Museum

References

External links

• Mito official website in English
• Seifu-Meitokukai Foundation: The Tokugawa Museum
• Mito, Ibaraki travel guide from Wikitravel

Ibaraki Prefecture Cities Bandō | Chikusei | Hitachi | Hitachinaka | Hitachiōmiya | Hitachiōta | Hokota | Inashiki | Ishioka | Itako | Jōsō | Kamisu | Kasama | Kashima | Kasumigaura | Kitaibaraki | Koga | Mito (capital) | Moriya | Naka | Namegata | Omitama | Ryūgasaki | Sakuragawa | Shimotsuma | Takahagi | Toride | Tsuchiura | Tsukuba | Tsukubamirai | Ushiku | Yūki Higashiibaraki District Ibaraki | Ōarai | Shirosato Inashiki District Ami | Kawachi | Miho Kitasōma District Tone Kuji District Daigo Naka District Tōkai Sashima District Goka | Sakai Yūki District Yachiyo

From Wikitravel

Mito (水戸, [1]) is the capital of Ibaraki prefecture, Kanto region, Japan.

View of Senba Lake from Kairakuen hilltop during cherry blossom season

Understand

When Tokugawa Ieyasu reunited Japan in 1603 and established the Tokugawa Shogunate, with its headquarters at Edo, he installed members of his own Tokugawa clan as rulers of Mito and only two other domains, present-day Nagoya and Wakayama. These three cadet lines (known as Gosanke 御三家) were eligible to supply an heir in case any ruling shogun failed to produce one. They were thus among the most loyal of the Tokugawa loyalists. However, the Mito School of fiercely chauvinist Confucian scholars also helped to redefine the Japanese nation in a way that provided the ideological foundation for enhancing imperial power during the Meiji Restoration and its aftermath.

Get in

By plane

The Rose Liner airport limousine bus runs between Narita Airport and the Mito-Oarai Interchange, Mito Station, Katsuta Station and points north to Hitachi. There are nine daily round-trips, and the journey to Mito Station takes about two hours at a cost of ¥3000. Schedule

From Haneda Airport, Airport Limousine buses make runs directly to Mito every hour, but only during the afternoon and evening (about 2 hours, ¥3500). Otherwise, take the Keikyu Line train to Shinagawa, then the JR Yamanote or Keihin-Tohoku Line to Ueno to pick up a train bound for Mito (2 to 3 hours, ~¥2600-4600, depending on what train you take; see below).

By train

Mito is on the JR Joban Line, which starts at Ueno station in Tokyo.

Limited Express trains depart from Ueno for Mito every 30 minutes during the day: Super Hitachi trains depart at the top of the hour, and Fresh Hitachi trains depart at 30 minutes past the hour. The trip will cost ¥4220 (no charge with the Japan Rail Pass) and take 65-75 minutes, depending on the number of stops the train makes.

Local trains will cover the journey in two hours at a cost of ¥2210. Direct local services for Mito depart from Ueno 2-3 times per hour.

By bus

Highway bus depart from Tokyo Station and it cost ¥2000 (about 2 hours). You need not a reservation beforehand but there are no reserved seat so you need to arrive early at the station.

Get around

Mito has a number of train stations within its boundaries:

• On the Joban line - Mito, Kairakuen (station only open during plum blossom season), Akatsuka, Uchihara
• On the Kashima line - Mito, Higashi Mito, Tsunezumi, Oarai

The bus system in Mito, like all parts of Japan, is very complicated but once mastered, very useful. Most areas are serviced with buses coming a few times each hour. The bus for Kairakuen leaves from terminal 6 on the north side of Mito station.

Taxis are always available and the average flag fall is 660 yen.

The principal tourist attraction, the Kairakuen, is an easy half-hour walk from Mito station's South Exit. Just walk down to the river (Sakura-gawa), take a right and keep going along the north (righthand) shore of the lake. In April, you'll walk by cherry blossoms the whole way. The waterfowl will also provide some amusement.

• Kairakuen Garden (偕楽園). Open 6:00 am to 7:00 pm Apr 1 - Sep 15; 7:00 am to 7:00 pm Sep 16 - Mar 31. One of Japan's Top 3 gardens. The Japan's Top 3 gardens are Kenroku-en Garden of the Kanazawa prefecture and Koraku-en Garden of Okayama prefecture. Although most famous for its 3,000 plum trees, which bloom in February and March, the garden also contains walkways through large stands of tall cedar trees and bamboo, and past expanses of flame-red azalea and snow-white bush clover, as well as camellia, magnolia, and cherry blossoms, depending on the season. Views within the garden are impressive enough, but the hillside garden also provides spectacular overlooks of Senba Lake and Park, full of cherry blossoms in April.
  

  

  Kobuntei villa in Kairakuen
• Kobuntei (好文亭). This well-preserved, old-style samurai residence on the grounds of Kairakuen is well worth seeing, with its fine natural woodwork, thatched roofs, hand-painted paper doors, surrounding garden, and beautiful vistas from the higher floors. Look for the Chinese-character cheat-sheets on the walls of the Chinese poetry composing room. Admission ¥190.
• Tokiwa Jinja (常磐神社), at the south gate of Kairakuen, [2]. Weekday: Open 9:30 am to 15:30 pm. Holiday & During plum Festival :Open 9:00 am to 16:00 pm. This large Shinto shrine is dedicated to Mito clan lords Tokugawa Mitsukuni (1628-1700), known as Mito Komon, and Tokugawa Nariaki (1800-1860).
• Giretsukan (義烈館). This small museum on the grounds of Tokiwa Jinja houses a huge rolling taiko drum, an ancient large-barrel cannon (or mortar) on wooden wheels, a lineage chart of the Tokugawa shoguns and their Mito cousins, the 400-odd volumes on Japanese history compiled by the Mito School, and other items from Mito's samurai glory days. Few signs and no pamphlets in English. Admission ¥300.

Do

Komon Festival, [3]. This is a summer festival. It is started in Showa 36, and it is held at every year in August. During the festival we can see so beautiful fireworks. The fireworks not only goes up to the sky but also reflecting the surface of Lake. So we can see both of fireworks. These things, attracted to many spectators.

Buy

Natto Crackers (Area is famous for Natto)

Eat

Mito is famous for its nattō (納豆), a famously smelly and sticky glop of fermented soybeans. It's an acquired taste and even many Japanese (particularly those in Kansai) loathe the stuff.

Yoshiwaradenchu

• Drunken Duck, on the south side of Mito Station (relocated from Katsuta), tel. 029-232-3999, [4]. "An English-style pub, with Aussie grub" (and "now with wireless Internet").

Sleep

near onsen resort

Mito Prince Hotel(水戸プリンスホテル)Ibaraki Mito-shi sakuragawa 2-2-11, ☎029-227-4111 (FAX)029-227-4110, It takes 3minutes walk from the Mito Station. This hotel is popularity with which have about 40 kind of a handmade breakfast. Checkin 15:00~, checkout 10:00~, When you stay you need a reservation beforehand.