History

Shizuoka's rich historical past gives it a special character. During the Warring States period in the sixteenth century when this part of the country was ruled by the Imagawa clan, whose headquarters were located in Sumpu(now the city of Shizuoka), the region was so prosperous that it was called the "Kyoto of the East." The prefecture abounds with historical sites, a vestige of major building projects undertaken by the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu(1542-1616), who transformed Sumpu into a castle town rivaling Edo, the former name for Tokyo.