Tsuru ( Tsuru-shi) is a city of 30,000 people (2019) in Yamanashi Prefecture.
Understand
Tsuru is in southeastern Yamanashi Prefecture, in the foothills of Mount Fuji. It is bordered on the south by the Tanzawa Mountains. The Sagami River, known locally as the Katsura River, flows through the city.
History
The area around Tsuru has been continuously inhabited since the Japanese Paleolithic period, and numerous artifacts from the Jōmon period and Kofun period have been found within its borders. The area has been part of ancient Tsuru County of Kai Province since the Nara period. During the Sengoku period, the area was controlled by the Takeda clan. During the Edo period, all of Kai Province was tenryō territory under direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate. During the cadastral reform of the early Meiji period in 1889, the village of Tani was created within Minamitsuru District, Yamanashi Prefecture. Tani was raised to town status on March 7, 1896. On April 29, 1954 Tani merged with four neighboring villages to form the city of Tsuru.
Get in
By train
Tsuru is on the Fuji Kyuko - Ōtsuki Line.
By car
Tsuru can be accessed via the E19 Chūō Expressway and by National Route 139.
Get around
See
- Yamanashi Prefectural Maglev Exhibition Center (山梨県立リニア見学センター), 35.582861°, 138.927333°. This exhibition center showcases the technology that is used in the Linear Chuo Shinkansen that is being built between Tokyo and Osaka. In addition, visitors can also witness the new train in action, as the center is built alongside the track, where the train can be seen speeding by at 504 km/h.