is a city located in

Gunma Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,362 km2 (2,456 sq mi). Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima P ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. , the city had an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 213,303 in 91,789 households, and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPop ...

of 1500 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Isesaki is located in the northwestern part of the

Kantō Plain The is the largest plain in Japan, and is located in the Kantō region of central Honshū. The total area of 17,000 km2 covers more than half of the region extending over Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture, Kanagawa Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture ...

of southern

. It is adjacent to Saitama Prefecture across the

Tone River The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It is in length (the second longest in Japan after the Shinano) and has a drainage area of (the largest in Japan). It is nicknamed Bandō Tarō (); ''Bandō'' is an obsolete alias of the Kantō ...

, which runs through the southern part of the city. The distance to the center of the city is about from Maebashi City, the prefectural capital of Gunma, from

Takasaki is a city located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 372,369 in 167,345 households, and a population density of 810 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Takasaki is famous as the hometown of th ...

, and about from central Tokyo.

Surrounding municipalities

Maebashi is the capital city of Gunma Prefecture, in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 335,352 in 151,171 households, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It wa ...

* Kiryū * Ōta * Midori * Tamamura

Saitama Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 km2 (1,466 sq mi). Saitama Prefecture borders Tochigi Prefecture a ...

* Honjō * Fukaya

Climate

Isesaki has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezin ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Isesaki is 14.5 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1256 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.6 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.3 °C. On June 26, 2022, the temperature in the city reached 40.2 °C, the highest ever recorded in Japan for the month of June.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Isesaki has increased steadily over the past 60 years.

History

Isesaki developed during the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

as a

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, a ...

surrounding Akaishi Castle, a stronghold in southern

Kōzuke Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Gunma Prefecture. Kōzuke bordered by Echigo, Shinano, Musashi and Shimotsuke Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, Kōzuke was ran ...

controlled by the Yura clan. During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characterize ...

, it was the center of Isesaki Domain, a feudal domain under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia' ...

controlled by the Sakai clan. The area also contained two

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in the address increases ...

s on the

Nikkō Reiheishi Kaidō The was established during the Edo period as a subroute to Nikkō Kaidō. It connects the Nakasendō with the Nikkō Kaidō.Nikkō Kaidō The was one of the five routes of the Edo period and it was built to connect Edo (modern-day Tokyo) with the temple-shrine complex of the Mangan-ji and Tōshōsha (now called the Rinnō-ji and Tōshōgū), which are located in the present-day ...

which connected the

Nakasendō The , also called the ,Richard Lane, ''Images from the Floating World'' (1978) Chartwell, Secaucus ; pg. 285 was one of the five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto in Japan. There were ...

directly with Nikkō, bypassing

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

.Nikkō Reiheishidō
. Mainichi Shinbun. Accessed August 29, 2007.
. City of Takasaki. Accessed August 29, 2007. Isesaki Town was created within Sai District, Gunma Prefecture on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system after the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were r ...

. Sai District and Nawa District merged to form Sawa District in 1896. It merged with the villages of Uehasu and Moro to form the city of Isesaki on September 13, 1940. On January 10, 1955 the village of Misato was annexed by Isesaki, followed by the villages of Nawa, Toyouke and Miyagō on March 25 of the same year. On January 1, 2005 the towns of Akabori and

Sakai is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the fifth century and inclu ...

, and village of Azuma were incorporated into Isesaki. On April 1, 2007, Isesaki was proclaimed a special city (''tokureishi'') with increased autonomy.

Government

Isesaki has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...

city council of 29 members. Isesaki contributes five members to the Gunma Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of the Gunma 2nd district of the

lower house A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or oth ...

of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paralle ...

Economy

Isesaki (along with neighboring Kiryū) was traditionally famous for

sericulture Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, ''Bombyx mori'' (the caterpillar of the domestic silkmoth) is the most widely used and intensively studi ...

since ancient times, with a cloth called "Isesaki Meisen" as one of its most famous products. This cloth has been made since the late 17th century, and became popular during the Meiji and Taishō periods. Now, however, due to the ubiquity of Western-style clothes, its popularity is decreasing. The automotive equipment and electrical equipment manufacturing company

Sanden Corporation is a Japanese, Isesaki, Gunma-based automotive equipment and electrical equipment manufacturing company and is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. History Kaihei Ushikubo founded the company, Sankyo Electric Company (Sankyo Denki Co), in Jul ...

is headquartered in Isesaki. Also the city is home to Meisei Electric, a

communications Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

and electronics equipment and electric measuring instruments manufacturing company. Large

industrial park An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park ...

s have been built in the suburbs, making it one of the leading industrial cities in the northern Kantō region. It is also the location of

J-List J-List is an online retailer of Japanese goods for consumers outside Japan, mainly otaku goods, anime, and manga. The company was established by American Peter Payne in 1996. Its head office is located in Isesaki, Gunma, Japan. JBOX is a divi ...

, a retailer of anime goods, visual novels and related products from Japan.

Education

Universities

* Jobu University *

Tokyo University of Social Welfare is a private university in with its main campus in Ikebukuro, Toshima, Tokyo; Kita, Tokyo; Naka-ku, Nagoya; and Isesaki, Gunma is a city located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 213,303 in 91,789 househo ...

– Isesaki Campus

Primary and secondary schools

Isesaki has 22 public elementary schools and 12 public middle schools operated by the city government, and five public high schools operated by the Gunma Prefectural Board of Education. Then prefecture also operates three special education schools for the handicapped. Isesaki has a , Colegio Hispano Americano de Gunma.Colegio
. Colegio Hispano Americano de Gunma. Retrieved on October 24, 2015.

Transportation

Railway

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

– Ryōmō Line * - Tōbu Tetsudō Logo

Tobu Railway –

Tobu Isesaki Line The is a Japanese railway line operated by the private railway company Tobu Railway, extending from Tōbu-Dōbutsu-Kōen Station in Saitama to Isesaki Station in Gunma Prefecture. The Isesaki Line can refer to the entire section between Asaku ...

* - - -

Highway

* – Isesaki Interchange, Hashie Parking Area * * * *

Local attractions

* Former home of Tajima Yohei * Grave of

Kunisada Chūji was a popular figure in the Edo period. He was a bakuto (gamblers commonly seen as forerunners to the modern yakuza). His story is mainly responsible for the romanticised "chivalrous bandit" or "Robin Hood" image in Japan. An example was when ...

* Isesaki Jinja * Goshiki Onsen * Kezouji Park (Amusement park)

Sister-city relations

Teradomari, Niigata was a town located in Santō District, Niigata Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 11,766 and a density of 202.30 persons per km2. The total area was 58.16 km2. On January 1, 2006, Teradomari, along wi ...

, Japan, friendship city since 1986 *

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County, Missouri, Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Sp ...

, United States, since 1986 *

Ma'anshan Ma'anshan (), also colloquially written as Maanshan, is a prefecture-level city in the eastern part of Anhui province in Eastern China. An industrial city stretching across the Yangtze River, Ma'anshan borders Hefei to the west, Wuhu to the south ...

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

, China, friendship city since 1989.

Noted people from Isesaki

Mitsuru Adachi is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from Gunma Prefectural Maebashi Commercial High School in 1969, Adachi worked as an assistant for Isami Ishii. He made his manga debut in 1970 with ''Kieta Bakuon'', based on a manga originally crea ...

, manga artist * Tsutomu Adachi, manga artist *

Atsushi Imaruoka is a Japanese voice actor from Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. He is affiliated with Mausu Promotion. Filmography Anime ;2001 * '' Okojo-san'' (Hasegawa) ;2003 * ''The Galaxy Railways'' (José Antonio Valdivia, Ōiwa) ;2004 * ''Gokusen'' (Oha ...

, voice actor * Takashi Ishizeki, politician *

Mr. Pogo was a Japanese professional wrestler best known for his work under the ring name . He helped popularize hardcore wrestling in the 1990s with "death matches" in promotions such as Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, W*ING and Big Japan Pro Wrestling ...

, professional wrestler

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Gunma Prefecture Isesaki, Gunma