Hiroshima

Hiroshima is a big city in Japan. More than one million people live there.

It is built on islands where a river meets the sea.

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture and the main city of the Chūgoku region, the western part of the big island of Honshū. At the 2025 census (preliminary results), 1,172,423 people lived there, making it Japan's 11th-biggest city.

The city stands on the delta of the Ōta River, at the head of a sheltered bay. Its castle was built on one of the delta's islands, which gave the city its name: hiroi shima, "wide island", Universalis says.

Statistics Bureau of Japan (via City Population): Hiroshima City had 1,117,117 people in 1995, 1,154,391 in 2005, 1,194,034 in 2015, 1,200,754 at the 2020 census and 1,172,423 at the 2025 census (preliminary, 1 October 2025), 11th among Japan's cities.

Universalis (Philippe Pelletier): capital of the prefecture of the same name and the main city of the Chūgoku, western Honshū. The castle occupies one of the islands formed by the Ōta River delta, hence the name "wide island" (hiroi shima).

Look at the calm green pond! Trees and round bushes grow all around it, and you can see them in the water.

Tall city buildings peek over the trees.

This photo shows Shukkeien garden on 22 July 2010: a still pond reflecting pines and leafy trees, round clipped bushes on the left, a low building with a wide roof, a small wooden bridge on the far bank, and tall city buildings rising beyond the trees.

The garden's official site says work on it began in 1620, for Asano Nagaakira, the first lord of the Asano family to rule Hiroshima, as the garden of his second home. It was laid out by Ueda Sōko, a senior retainer known as a tea master. Its name is said to come from a poem preface about shrinking the sea and the mountains into one place.

Commons: 'Shukkei-en Garden in the city of Hiroshima', 22 July 2010, own work by Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Quality image).

Shukkeien official site ('History of Shukkeien'): a daimyo garden built from 1620 (Genna 6) by Asano Nagaakira, first lord of the Hiroshima Asano domain, as the garden of his villa; designer Ueda Sōko, a senior retainer also known as a tea master. Once called 'Osensui' or 'Sentei', it is said to take its name from the preface to a poem by the Confucian scholar Hayashi Razan, written for the second lord, Mitsuakira. Many buildings burned in the great fire of 1758; a major rebuilding began in 1783; the Asano family gave the garden to Hiroshima Prefecture in 1940, when it was designated a Place of Scenic Beauty. Restoration began in 1949 and took about 30 years.

A famous car company, Mazda, began in Hiroshima. People also love to visit its old garden.

Today Hiroshima has important industry and services, such as government offices, a university and shops, Universalis says. The company that became the carmaker Mazda was founded there in 1920 and took the name Tōyō Kōgyō in 1927. After the war it turned to making cars and became known for new technology such as the rotary engine.

Shukkeien garden, in the city center, has been a Place of Scenic Beauty since 1940. Its official site says it is loved as a place to relax by people from all over the prefecture and beyond.

Universalis: the city has important industrial and service activities (prefecture, university, commerce). The ancestor of today's Mazda was founded there in 1920 and took the name Tōyō Kōgyō ('Oriental Industry') in 1927; after the war car production began, and the company became known for technological innovation (the rotary engine).

Shukkeien official site: in the heart of Hiroshima, set among modern streets, the garden is a place of rest for many people from inside and outside the prefecture; designated a Place of Scenic Beauty in 1940.