Toyama Prefecture
prefecture of Japan
Toyama Prefecture (富山県, Toyama-ken; Japanese pronunciation: [toꜜ.ja.ma, to.ja.maꜜ.keɴ]) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Toyama Prefecture has a population of 993,848 (1 January 2025) and has a geographic area of 4,247.61 km2 (1,640.01 sq mi). Toyama Prefecture borders Ishikawa Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefecture to the south, Nagano Prefecture to the east, and Niigata Prefecture to the northeast.
Toyama is the capital and largest city of Toyama Prefecture, with other major cities including Takaoka, Imizu, and Nanto. Toyama Prefecture is part of the historic Hokuriku region, and the majority of the prefecture's population lives on Toyama Bay, one of the largest bays in Japan. Toyama Prefecture is the leading industrial prefecture on the Japan Sea coast and has the advantage of cheap electricity from abundant hydroelectric resources. Toyama Prefecture contains the only known glaciers in East Asia outside of Russia, first recognized in 2012, and 30% of the prefecture's area is designated as national parks.
History
Historically, Toyama Prefecture was Etchū Province. Following the abolition of the han system in 1871, Etchū Province was renamed Niikawa Prefecture, but Imizu District was given to Nanao Prefecture. In 1872 Imizu District was returned by the new Ishikawa Prefecture.
“Toyama Prefecture” enters the record as prefecture of Japan. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Toyama, Prefecture and prefecture can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Toyama Prefecture” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Toyama, Prefecture and prefecture provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q132929. VIAF identifies the subject as 253502151. The Library of Congress control number is n80065906. Authority coordinates are 36.695, 137.211. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2025, 2012, 1871 and 1872.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Toyama Prefecture”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Toyama Prefecture primary sources, Toyama Prefecture archive and Toyama research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Toyama Prefecture” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.