Fukui Prefecture

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**Fukui Prefecture (福井県 *Fukui-ken*)**

Capital	Fukui
Region	Chūbu
Island	Honshū
Governor	Issei Nishikawa
Area	4,188.99 km² (34^th)
- % water	0.2%
Population (2005)
- Population	821,589 (43^rd)
- Density	198 /km²
Districts	8
Municipalities	20
ISO 3166-2	JP-18
Website	www.pref.fukui.jp/english/
Prefectural Symbols
- Flower	Narcissus (Narcissus tazetta)
- Tree	Pine tree (Pinus)
- Bird	Dusky thrush (Turdus naumanni)
Symbol of Fukui Prefecture

Fukui Prefecture (福井県, Fukui-ken^?) is located in the Chūbu region on Honshū island, Japan. The capital is the city of Fukui.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Economy
4 Demographics
5 Culture
6 Tourism
7 Prefectural symbols
8 Miscellaneous topics
9 External links

Fukui originally consisted of the old provinces of Wakasa and Echizen, before the prefecture was formed in 1871.

During the Edo period, the daimyō of the region was surnamed Matsudaira, and was a descendant of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Map of Fukui Prefecture.

The province faces the Sea of Japan, and has a western part (former Wakasa) which is a narrow plain between the mountains and the sea, and a larger eastern part (former Echizen) with wider plains including the capital and most of the population.

Nine cities are located in Fukui Prefecture:

Towns and villages in each district:

Imadate District

Ikeda

Mikata District

Mihama

Mikatakaminaka District

Wakasa

Nanjō District

Minamiechizen

Nyū District

Echizen

Ōi District

Ōi

Takahama

Yoshida District

Eiheiji

(as of March 20, 2006)

Main article: Merger and dissolution of municipalities of Japan

On March 1, 2004, the towns of Awara and Kanazu from Sakai District merged, forming the new city of Awara.

On January 1, 2005, the municipalities of Imajō, Kōno, and Nanjō from Nanjō District merged, forming the new town of Minamiechizen.

On February 1, 2005, the municipalities of Asahi, Miyazaki, and Ota from Nyū District merged into the town of Echizen.

On March 31, 2005, the towns of Kaminaka from Onyū District and Mikata from Mikata District merged, forming the new town of Wakasa in Mikatakaminaka District.

On October 1, 2005, the city of Takefu and the town of Imadate from Imadate District merged, forming the new city of Echizen.

On November 7, 2005, the village of Izumi from Ōno District merged into the city of Ōno. Ōno District was dissolved with this merger.

On February 1, 2006, the town of Miyama from Asuwa District and the municipalities of Koshino and Shimizu from Nyū District merged into the city of Fukui. Asuwa District was dissolved with this merger.

On February 13, 2006, the town of Matsuoka and the village of Kamishihi from Yoshida District merged into the town of Eiheiji.

On March 3, 2006, the village of Natasho from Onyū District merged into the town of Ōi from Ōi District. Onyū District was dissolved with this merger.

On March 20, 2006, the towns of Harue , Maruoka , Mikuni and Sakai from Sakai District merged, forming the new city of Sakai. Sakai District was dissolved with this merger.

Fukui Prefecture is home to Maruoka-jō, the oldest castle still standing in Japan. It was built in 1572.
Eiheiji is a serene temple offering training and education to Buddhist monks. Founded by Dogen Zenji in 1244, Eiheiji is located on a plot of land of about 330,000 m².
Many dinosaur fossils have been excavated in Fukui and they can been seen at the Fukui Dinosaur Museum.
Residents of Fukui Prefecture have a distinctive accent, Fukui-ben.

The Cliffs of Tojimbo

Echizen Kaigan Coast
Eihei Temple
Tojimbo, a scenic piece of coastline.
Visitors to Fukui can enjoy eating echizen-gani crabs prepared by local residents. Male crabs are called zuwai and female ones are called seiko.