Landmark of Tsuruoka – an elegant castle town
Tsuruoka City is located in the heart of the Shonai Plain, a rice-producing region surrounded by the Three Mountains of Dewa and Mt. Chokai.
The city has prospered since old times as the castle town of 140,000 koku (1 koku = enough rice to feed one person for one year) belonging to the Sakai clan of Shonai domain.
There are many historical sites and cultural properties that tell the modern day of the vestiges of ancient times. Tsuruoka is also known as the hometown of author Shuhei Fujisawa.