Kitakyūshū

Kitakyūshū, city in Japan, on northern Kyūshū Island, in Fukuoka Prefecture, on the Hibiki Sea and Kammon Strait, near Fukuoka. The city was formed in 1963 when the five cities of Kokura, Moji, Tobata, Wakamatsu, and Yahata were combined.

The combined city of Kitakyūshū features a great iron and steel industry, supplied by the large Chikuho coalfields, lying to the south and west. It is also an important transportation center, home of light industries, and a major export center.

Of the five previously autonomous cities, Kokura is a port at the mouth of the Murasaki River. Industries include cotton-textile weaving, rice milling, and the manufacture of chemicals and porcelain. Moji, connected with Shimonoseki across the Kammon Strait by a highway bridge and a rail tunnel, is a steamer terminus for the Inland Sea. Lumber, cement, cotton products, glass, sugar, flour, and beer are exported from Moji. After completion of the railroads in 1887 and opening of the port to foreign trade in 1899, Moji (known in feudal times as Mojigaseki) developed rapidly. Tobata and Wakamatsu are joined by the Wakato Bridge over an inlet of the Hibiki Sea. Fishing is important in Tobata, and plants produce sugar, glass, cotton thread, and alcohol. Wakamatsu exports sugar and imports raw materials for the industries of the city. Yahata, or Yawata, is the chief iron- and steel-milling center; the Yahata ironworks were established in 1901. Population (2006) 989,830.