Yonezawa, city, southern Yamagata ken (prefecture), north-central Honshu, Japan. From the Muromachi period (1338–1573) to the Meiji Restoration (1868) it was a castle town of the Uesugi daimyo family. The ruling family initiated agrarian reforms by constructing irrigation systems and allowing samurai (warriors) to cultivate the fields and manufacture silk. Industrialization was slow until the early 1960s, when traditional small-scale textile manufacture was supplemented with the production of electrical appliances and lumber.
Matsugasaki Park, located on the old castle site, contains the shrines of two well-known members of the Uesugi family—Uesugi Kenshin (1530–78), who won a battle in defense of his fief against the Hōjō clan, and Uesugi Harunori (1756–1822), who introduced silk weaving into the city. Yonezawa is a stop on the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) line to Yamagata city and is a popular tourist destination and a gateway to Bandai-Asahi National Park. Pop. (2005 prelim.) 93,170.