page_title: Shirakawa, Fukushima
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Shirakawa, Fukushima / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Shirakawa Komine Castle, Keep Tower 日本語: 白河小峰城、復元天守
context_page_description: Shirakawa is a city located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 April 2020, the city had an estimated population of 59,393 in 23,546 households and a population density of 190 persons per km². The total area of the city was 305.3 square kilometres.
context_section_description: The area of present-day Shirakawa was part of ancient Mutsu Province and was the location of a barrier gate on the Ōshū Kaidō connecting the capital at Kyoto with the northern provinces. In the Heian period, the Buddhist monk and waka poet Nōin composed the following poem about the region:
  都をば霞とともに立ちしかど秋風ぞ吹く白河の関
  Miyako wo ba kasumi to tomo ni tachishikado akikaze zo fuku Shirakawa no seki.
  
  (English: I left the capital with the spring haze, but at the barrier of Shirakawa the autumn wind blows.)
  In the Edo period the area prospered as a castle town Shirakawa Domain, and was the site of a major battle in the Boshin War during the Meiji restoration. In the Meiji period, it was organized as part of Nakadōri region of Iwaki Province.
  The town of Shirakawa was formed on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. On April 1, 1949, Shirakawa was elevated to city status after merging with the neighboring village of Ōnuma. Subsequent mergers occurred in 1954 and 1955 with the inclusion of the villages of Shirasaka, Odagawa, Goka and a portion of Omotegō into the territory of Shirakawa. On November 7, 2005, the villages of Taishin, Higashi, and the remainder of Omotegō (all from Nishishirakawa District) were merged into Shirakawa, increasing its population from 48,297 to approximately 66,000 and territory from 117.67 km² (45.43 sq mi) to  305.30 km² (117.88 sq mi).
caption: View of Komine Castle in Shirakawa
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