Shizuoka (Japanese: 静岡市 Shizuoka-shi, “Silent Hill City”) is a city designated by the Japanese government and the capital of Shizuoka Prefecture. It is located on the northwestern shore of Suruga Bay. The area of ​​the city is 1411.82 km², the population is 707,119 people (August 1, 2014), the population density is 500.86 people / km².

History
prehistoric period
On the territory of the city there are several ancient burial mounds (kofun). Archaeological excavations have shown that during the Yayoi period, a large settlement existed in the central part of the modern city.

Middle Ages
The province of Suruga appeared at the beginning of the Nara period. Shortly thereafter, between 701 and 710, the provincial capital moved from the eastern shore of the bay (the modern city of Numazu) to the western. The new capital was named Sumpu (Jap. 駿府) or Fuchu (Jap. 府中).
For a long time, the Imagawa clan ruled in Sumpu. After the Battle of Okehazama (1560) and the death of Imagawa Yoshimoto, power over Suruga and Sumpo passed to Takeda Shingen, then to Tokugawa Ieyasu (who fortified the city by building a castle in it), then to Nakamura Kazutada, a vassal of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In 1600, Tokugawa Ieyasu defeated the Toyotomi clan and soon became the sole ruler of Japan. In 1605, Ieyasu “retired” and moved from Edo to his castle in Sumpu. Thus, the city of Sumpu became tenryo (the immediate patrimony of the shogun).

Modern history
Sumpu was renamed Shizuoka in 1869. In 1871 the provinces were reorganized into prefectures; present-day Shizuoka Prefecture. In 1889, the village of Shizuoka officially received the status of a major city (si).
The city suffered significant damage as a result of a fire in 1889, an earthquake in 1935, another fire in 1940, and a massive American air raid with firebombs in April 1945.
In 2003, the cities of Shizuoka and Shimizu merged. In 2005, Shizuoka was divided into three districts; the former city of Shimizu became the Shimizu-ku area.