Ishikawa

Ishikawa (ēshē`käwä), prefecture (1990 pop. 1,164,627), 1,619 sq mi (4,193 sq km), central Honshu, Japan. The capital is Kanazawa. There are wooded mountains in the interior and fertile plains along the coast. Rice, machinery, lumber, raw silk, and lacquer ware are produced.

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Ishikawa 

a prefecture in Japan on the west coast of the island of Honshu. It includes the peninsula and island of Noto. Area, 4,200 sq km. Population, 1 million (1970), 64 percent of which is urban. The administrative center is the city of Kanazawa.

The greater part of the terrain of the prefecture of Ishikawa consists of uplands and mountains; there are narrow littoral lowlands. One of the two main industries is textiles, which accounts for more than one-third the value of the prefecture’s industrial output. Ishikawa is one of the country’s most important regions in the production of silks. The other industry is machine building, principally automotive vehicles and tractors. The textile and machine-building enterprises are concentrated south of Nanao Bay, along the coast of the Sea of Japan. Other industries are food processing, sawmilling, and silicate-ceramics (including manufacture of high-grade porcelain). Extracted in the prefecture are phosphorites (the sole commercial deposit in the country is on Noto Peninsula), silver, copper (the Ogoyakyo deposit near the city of Komatsu), and petroleum. The chief agricultural pursuits are rice and vegetable growing, and there is coastal fishing.