Portal:Japan/Geography/Selected prefecture/28

Hyōgo Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kinki region on Honshū island. The capital is Kobe. The prefecture's name was previously alternately spelled as Hiogo. Present-day Hyōgo Prefecture includes the former provinces of Harima, Tajima, Awaji, and parts of Tanba and Settsu. In 1180, near the end of the Heian period, Emperor Antoku, Taira no Kiyomori, and the Imperial court moved briefly to Fukuhara, in what is now the city of Kobe. There the capital remained for five months. Himeji Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is in the city of Himeji. The Ako han, home of the Forty-seven rōnin, is in Hyōgo Prefecture. Southern Hyōgo Prefecture was severely devastated by the magnitude 7.2 Great Hanshin earthquake of 1995, which destroyed major parts of Kobe and Awaji, as well as Takarazuka and neighboring Osaka Prefecture, killing nearly 5500 people. Hyōgo has coastlines on two seas: to the north, the Sea of Japan, to the south, the Inland Sea. The northern portion is sparsely populated, except for the city of Toyooka, and the central highlands are only populated by tiny villages. Most of Hyōgo's population lives on the southern coast, which is part of the Osaka–Kyoto–Kobe metropolitan area. Awaji Island is an island in the Inland Sea, lying between Honshū and Shikoku. Summertime weather throughout Hyōgo is hot and humid. During the winter, the north side tends to get lots of snow, while the south side only gets occasional flurries. Hyōgo borders on Osaka Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture, Tottori Prefecture and Okayama Prefecture.