Chiba

Chiba is almost surrounded by water: Tokyo Bay to the west, the Pacific to the east and south, the Tone River to the north and the Edo River along the Tokyo border. It is also Japan's lowest prefecture – its highest point, Mount Atago in southern Boso, reaches only 408 m – and much of it consists of low terraces, rice plains and gentle hills.

The north-west, facing Tokyo, is densely populated: Funabashi, Matsudo, Ichikawa, Kashiwa and Chiba City are commuter cities, and the reclaimed bay shore holds the steelworks, refineries and power stations of the Keiyo industrial zone, the Makuhari business district and Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu. Narita International Airport, Japan's main international gateway, lies in the north.

Further from the capital, Chiba is rural and coastal. The prefecture is one of Japan's leading agricultural producers – peanuts, pears, vegetables and flowers – and Choshi is among the country's largest fishing ports. The Boso Peninsula offers Pacific surf beaches along Kujukuri, the rocky coast of Minamiboso, the mountain temple of Nihon-ji at Mount Nokogiri and old towns such as Sawara and Naritasan's temple town.

The name comes from the Chiba district of Shimosa and from the Chiba clan, warriors of Taira descent who established their seat at Inohana in present-day Chiba City in 1126 and dominated Shimosa for four centuries. The characters mean 'thousand leaves'. Chiba Prefecture was created in 1873 by merging Kisarazu and Inba prefectures, covering Awa, Kazusa and Shimosa. In 1875 the part of Shimosa north of the Tone River was transferred to Ibaraki and a western strip to Saitama, leaving the rivers as its natural borders.

Northern Chiba is the Shimosa plateau, a low terrace of Kanto loam cut by valleys and lakes such as Inba-numa and Tega-numa, bordered by the Tone River. The Kujukuri plain runs along the Pacific in a gently curving sandy beach of about 60 km. The south – the Boso hills – is higher and more rugged, with narrow valleys such as the Yoro gorge, the jagged ridge of Mount Nokogiri and forested hills reaching the sea at Minamiboso. The Tokyo Bay shore has been reclaimed on a large scale, but the Yatsu tidal flat at Narashino survives as a Ramsar wetland. The Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, a bridge and tunnel across the bay, links Kisarazu with Kawasaki in Kanagawa, with which Chiba has no land border.

Chiba has a mild maritime climate. The warm Kuroshio current keeps southern Boso almost frost-free, allowing flower fields to bloom in winter and early spring. Summers are hot and humid but moderated by sea breezes, and snow is rare. The exposed Pacific coast is prone to strong winds and typhoons in late summer and autumn.

The shores of Tokyo Bay were one of Japan's great centres of Jomon culture; the Kasori shell mound in Chiba City is among the largest in the country. In ancient times the region was divided into Awa, Kazusa and Shimosa; Katori Shrine was the chief shrine of Shimosa and, with Kashima across the river, one of the most revered in eastern Japan.

In 1180 Minamoto no Yoritomo, defeated in Sagami, fled by boat to Awa and gathered support from local warriors, including Chiba Tsunetane, before marching on Kamakura. The monk Nichiren was born in Awa in 1222 and proclaimed his teaching at Kiyosumi-dera. In the Sengoku period the Satomi clan ruled southern Boso. During the Edo period the region fed Edo: soy sauce breweries grew at Noda and Choshi, merchants of Sawara shipped goods along the Tone, and Naritasan Shinshoji became a pilgrimage favourite of Edo townspeople.

Modern Chiba was transformed after 1950 by land reclamation along Tokyo Bay, the Keiyo industrial zone and mass suburban housing. Narita Airport opened in 1978 after years of protest by local farmers, Tokyo Disneyland in 1983, and the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line in 1997.

Chiba's traditions are those of fishing ports, rice villages and pilgrimage towns. Naritasan Shinshoji is closely tied to the kabuki actors of the Ichikawa Danjuro line, whose stage name Naritaya honours the temple. Southern Boso is the homeland of Nichiren Buddhism, and the fishing communities of the Pacific coast keep lively festivals in which portable shrines are carried into the sea.

Chiba's food draws on the sea and on the farms that supply Tokyo. Boso fishermen's dishes such as namero and sanga-yaki, sardines from Kujukuri, peanuts from the north and fruit from the south are its signatures.

Chiba's economy has three pillars. The Keiyo industrial zone on reclaimed Tokyo Bay land is one of Japan's largest concentrations of steel, petrochemicals and power generation, served by the port of Chiba. Services, retail and logistics grow around the commuter cities, Makuhari and Narita Airport. Agriculture and fisheries remain strong: Chiba ranks among the top prefectures by farm output, and Choshi is one of Japan's busiest fishing ports. Tourism centres on Tokyo Disney Resort, Narita and the Boso coast.