Minami-ku, Yokohama

Minami-ku is one of the 18 wards of the city of Yokohama in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2010, the ward had an estimated population of 197,019 and a density of 15,550 persons per km². The total area was 12.67 km².GeographyMinami Ward is located in eastern Kanagawa Prefecture, and south of the geographic center of the city of Yokohama. Large buildings and apartment complexes are built up along the area surrounding the highways and railways in the Ward; and all other parts of the Ward are residential areas. The Ōoka River is the major river in the Ward, and in spring many cherry blossoms come into full bloom on its banks. Gumyō-ji, located in the southern part of the ward, is the oldest Buddhist temple in Yokohama.Surrounding municipalitiesHodogaya WardNishi WardIsogo WardNaka WardTotsuka WardKonan WardHistoryPart of the domains of the Miura clan during and after the Kamakura period, the area of present-day Minami Ward was part of the tenryō territory in Musashi Province controlled directly by the Tokugawa shogunate, but administered through various hatamoto. During the Bakumatsu period, the area was the site of the 1863 Idogaya Incident in which anti-foreign ronin assassinated a soldier of the French mission in Yokohama, precipitating a diplomatic incident.