Mito (水戸市 Mito-shi) is a special city in Japan, located in Ibaraki Prefecture.

Geography
Mito City is located in the eastern part of the island of Honshu, in the Ibaraki Prefecture of the Kanto region, 140 kilometers northeast of Tokyo. The capital of Ibaraki Prefecture. The area of ​​the city is 217.43 km², the population is 270,801 people (August 1, 2014), the population density is 1245.46 people / km².

Economy
The city of Mito has a developed textile and tobacco industry. This is where Ibaraki University is located. Mito is a major railway junction.

History
In 1609, Mito becomes a family castle in the principality of Mito, created in 1606 specifically for Tokugawa Jurifusa by his father, the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu.
At the end of the 16th century, the Confucian-nationalist school of Mitogaku scientists formed in the city of Mito, which, through its influence on the sovereign princes, largely determined the policy of Japan at that time.

Sights
Interesting for the guests of the city of Mito is Kairaku-en, one of the Three famous parks in Japan, as well as the city castle with an adjacent park.

The park was laid out at the direction of Tokugawa Nariaki (1800-1860) in 1841. Due to the fact that Nariaki was especially fond of plum trees, a large plum grove was created on the territory of Kairaku-en (unlike other gardens of Nihon Sanmeien).

During World War II, Kairaku-en Park was almost completely destroyed by bombing, but was restored in 1958.