Shimada-shi

In the latest Population Census the population is about ninety-six thousand (95,719 in 2020). This city’s population has a step from mergers. Shimada City merged with Kanaya Town in 2005 and incorporated Kawane Town in 2008 to become the present city area. The former Shimada City’s 75,248 in 2000 became 96,078 in 2005 with Kanaya Town added, and from a peak of 100,276 in 2010 came down gently through 98,112 in 2015 to 95,719 in 2020.

Looking inside the figures, the form of a provincial city along the Tokaido appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 19.1% in 2000 to 31.5% in 2020, passing three in ten. The household-with-children share is high at 23.9% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist was zero in 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.69 in fiscal 2023 — a middling level for a provincial city, whose own tax revenue can cover about seven-tenths of expenditure. The figure of the post town of the Oi River, declining gently from the post-merger peak while keeping the household-with-children share high, appears in the numbers. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without going back over the history of the Oi River crossing and the tea of Makinohara.

Shimada’s skeleton is set by the geography of the Oi River crossing the Tokaido, and by the history of the post town that river brought. The old layer is the river-crossing system. In the Edo era, no bridge was built over the Oi River, and travelers had no choice but to rely on the river-crossing porters to cross the current. Shimada flourished as the post town on the western bank of that Oi River. The kawakaisho that set the crossing fee and sold the river-crossing tickets, the banjuku where the porters gathered, and the fudaba that cashed the tickets lined up along with the streets of the post town. This area still keeps, as a National Historic Site, the streetscape that conveys the river-crossing system. A river that builds no bridge gave birth to a city, the post town.

And in the modern age, this city held a new industry on its upland. After the Boshin War, the Makinohara upland spreading west of the Oi River was opened and became one of the country’s leading great tea fields. The fields of tea set the foundation of modern Shimada. Together with this, the city is known too for the scenery tied to the river: the steam locomotive climbing up the valley of the Oi River, and the wooden bridge crossing the river. A river that builds no bridge gave birth to a post town, and the upland raised tea — this city’s shape stands upon the history of river and tea held by the geography of the Oi River crossing the Tokaido.

What characterizes Shimada is that, while holding the history of the post town of the river-crossing system and the tea of Makinohara, it has declined gently from the peak after the merger. From 96,078 in 2005, with Kanaya Town added, to a peak of 100,276 in 2010 after incorporating Kawane Town, it fell to 95,719 in 2020. While the convenient location of being along the Tokaido has kept the population constant for a time, in recent years it has turned to a gentle decline, as it can be read.

On the other hand, the household-with-children share is high for a provincial city at 23.9% in 2020. The traffic convenience of being along the Tokaido, and the local industries, tea foremost, have kept young households tied for a time, as it can be read. The Childcare Waitlist was also zero in 2025, and the receiving capacity for demand is kept. The Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.69 is middling for a provincial city, and the tea industry and the economy along the Tokaido support the tax source, as it can be read. The post town of the Oi River now declines gently in population from the post-merger peak while keeping the household-with-children share high, and its finance is in the middle. The population declines gently, the aging passes three in ten, and yet the household-with-children is high. That the convenience along the Tokaido and the tea of the upland still tie young households in place is the one thing that supports this lineup.

Shimada holds several functions of its own. One is the history of the post town that supported the system of relying on river-crossing porters rather than building a bridge over the Oi River, holding the old layer where the streetscape of the kawakaisho and the fudaba remains as a National Historic Site. Another is the great tea field of Makinohara opened after the Boshin, keeping the character of the tea fields spread over the upland. And the steam locomotive climbing the valley of the Oi River and the wooden bridge crossing the river give this city the peculiar structure of scenery tied to the river.

Shimada is a city inscribed with a river that builds no bridge and the tea of the upland. From the post town that supported the river-crossing system, to the provincial city along the Tokaido, and to a town holding tea — the geography of "the Tokaido crossing the Oi River" called the bridgeless crossing and the post town, raised tea on the upland, and set the city’s skeleton. At the single point where the Tokaido crosses the Oi River, the river-crossing system, in which no bridge was built and porters carried the travelers across, was born, and the post town stood. That the river dammed the coming and going called the inn, and the tea of the upland carried on the work.