Morioka (盛岡市, Morioka-shi) is the capital city of Iwate Prefecture located in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan.

[citation needed] Iwate Prefecture Per Japanese census data,[2] the population of Morioka peaked at around the year 2000 and has slightly declined since.

During the Enryaku era of the Heian period, Sakanoue no Tamuramaro, was ordered north to Shiwa Castle in 803 AD, as a military center to extend the domination of the imperial dynasty over Mutsu Province.

The Kiyohara were in turn defeated in the Gosannen War and the area came under the control of the Ōshū Fujiwara Clan based in Hiraizumi, to the south of Morioka.

After the Ōshū Fujiwara were destroyed by Minamoto no Yoritomo at the start of the Kamakura period, the area was disputed by several samurai clans until the Nanbu clan, based in Sannohe to the north, expanded their territory during the Sengoku period and built Kozukata Castle in 1592.

[9] Morioka has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 38 members.

In terms of national politics, the town is part of Iwate first district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.