Pre-history to the 14th century As in most other Japanese regions, prehistoric society in Yamanashi progressed through the hunting, fishing and gathering stage of the
Jōmon period, then the rice-producing stage of the
Yayoi period and subsequent village and regional formation. The Maruyama and Choshizuka
Kofun (earthen burial mounds) located on Sone Hill of Nakamichi Town (Southern
Kōfu) are believed to have been built from the end of the 4th century. From these remains it can be assumed that the people of Sone Hill had great influence. During the
Heian period,
Kai Province was created in this area.
15th to 19th centuries Among the many Kaigenji generations, those of the
Takeda, Ogasawara, and Nanbu families were particularly prosperous. During the
Sengoku period of the 16th century,
Takeda Shingen attained the status of
daimyō and built Tsuzuji Mansion and the Yōgai Castle in Kōfu. From this base, he attempted to unify and control Japan. After Takeda's death in 1582, Kai-no-Kuni came under the control of the
Oda and
Toyotomi clans before being subsumed into the
Tokugawa shogunate during the
Edo period. Beneath the Edo shogunate, the Kōfu clan (based in Kuninaka, or Central and Western Yamanashi) and the Yamura clan (based in Gunnai, or Eastern Yamanashi) were formed, but in 1724 the area came under the direct control of the Shogunate. With the development of the
Kōshū Kaidō (highway) and
Fuji River transport, goods, materials and culture flowed into the region. By the mid-19th century, the contradictions of military government and clan system caused stability to erode and resistance to erupt across Japan, paving the way for the
Meiji Restoration of 1868.
Meiji Restoration (1868) to end of World War II (1945) , North of Kōfu During the
Boshin War, the
Battle of Kōshū-Katsunuma on the 29 March 1868 was a significant battle between pro-Imperial and Tokugawa shogunate forces immediately prior to the Imperial Forces march on
Edo Castle. Preceding the Kōshū-Katsunuma battle, Kōfu Castle had been captured by troops loyal to the
Emperor Meiji. The province was renamed
Kōfu Prefecture in 1869 and then Yamanashi Prefecture in 1871. Agricultural production in farming communities was still on a small scale at the turn of the century and land reforms had yet to be introduced. From the 1920s however, tenancy and contract disputes between landowners and farmers in Yamanashi grew increasingly common. In 1926, the
Minobu Railway Line connecting Kōfu with
Shizuoka Prefecture opened, bringing an end to Fuji River transportation. The
Koumi Line connecting
Kobuchizawa to
Kiyosato was opened by
Japanese National Railways (JNR) in 1933, providing access to hitherto remote highland areas on the slopes of Mt.
Yatsugatake in the North of the prefecture.
1945 to present The capital city,
Kōfu, suffered extensive damage during a
major air raid on the night of 6 July 1945. From 1945 onwards, as part of economic initiatives introduced under the
post war Government of Occupation, agricultural land reforms significantly increased the number of individual farms and promoted fruit farming and
viticulture throughout the prefecture. At first with limited success in 1946, but on a much more sustained basis in 1951, dairy farming, introduced by American
Paul Rusch, became a feature of highland pastures surrounding the town of
Kiyosato. Small scale manufacturing industries and commerce grew at rapid speed during the expansion of the post-war Japanese economy. The 1982 opening of the
Chūō Expressway also led to significant growth in service industries, transport logistics and tourism. In common with many similar sized cities during the 1990s, rapid growth in car ownership, out of town shopping, and improved transportation links to Tokyo, caused a drop in commercial activity and land values in the center of the prefectural capital
Kōfu. To counterbalance this trend the prefectural government launched a city center revitalization plan in 2008, promoting downtown tourist attractions such as redeveloped land North of Kōfu station,
Maizuru Castle Park and new residential, cultural and government office facilities. Planned changes in transportation infrastructure also promise to significantly impact the Yamanashi economy in the coming decades; under mountains in the eastern part of the prefecture is a completed 42.8 km section of the
SCMaglev test track, a section of the planned
Chūō Shinkansen. The
maglev line is designed to ultimately connect
Tokyo,
Nagoya, and
Osaka with a station also planned to the South of
Kōfu. Central Government permission to proceed with an extension to the existing test track was granted on May 27, 2011. At the end of 2013 construction was already well advanced as far as
Fuefuki. JR Central is considering opening a demonstration service from a new station in
Kōfu by the
2020 Summer Olympics so that visitors can also ride on the experimental track through the Yamanashi mountains. == Geography ==