city, Yamaguchi ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan, facing the Inland Sea. Numerous prehistoric remains and tombs of the Tumulus period indicate that it was an early cultural centre. During the Tokugawa period (1603–1867), Hōfu was a post town and an important shipping port for salt. It served as the capital of Suō province (now part of Yamaguchi prefecture) until 1868. Despite its location on the railway between Kōbe and Moji, industrial development was slow. Hōfu now has textile, chemical, and food-processing plants. The salt works were abandoned in 1960. The Shintō Temman Shrine at Hōfu is dedicated to the 9th-century scholar and statesman Sugawara Michizane, who was falsely accused of conspiring against the emperor in 901. Pop. (2005) 116,818.