page_title: Fukui Prefecture
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Fukui Prefecture / Geography
caption_attribution_description: the Keep of Maruoka Castle (丸岡城)
context_page_description: Fukui Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Fukui Prefecture has a population of 778,943 and has a geographic area of 4,190 km². Fukui Prefecture borders Ishikawa Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the east, Shiga Prefecture to the south, and Kyoto Prefecture to the southwest.
  Fukui is the capital and largest city of Fukui Prefecture, with other major cities including Sakai, Echizen, and Sabae. Fukui Prefecture is located on the Sea of Japan coast and is part of the historic Hokuriku region of Japan. The Matsudaira clan, a powerful samurai clan during the Edo period that became a component of the Japanese nobility after the Meiji Restoration, was headquartered at Fukui Castle on the site of the modern prefectural offices. Fukui Prefecture is home to the Kitadani Formation, the Ichijōdani Asakura Family Historic Ruins, and the Tōjinbō cliff range.
context_section_description: Fukui faces the Sea of Japan, and has a western part (formerly Wakasa) which is a narrow plain between the mountains and the sea, and a larger eastern part (formerly Echizen) with wider plains including the capital and most of the population. The province lays within Japan's "Snow country".
  As of 31 March 2008, 15% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks, namely the Hakusan National Park; Echizen-Kaga Kaigan and Wakasa Wan Quasi-National Parks; and Okuetsu Kōgen Prefectural Natural Park.
caption: Maruoka Castle, Sakai, Fukui
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