is one of the 18 wards of the city of

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. As of 2010, the ward had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 230,401 and a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

of 9,650 persons per km². The total area was 23.88 km².

Geography

Kanagawa is located in eastern Kanagawa Prefecture, and northeast of the geographic center of the city of Yokohama.

Surrounding municipalities

* Tsurumi Ward * Nishi Ward * Kōhoku Ward * Midori Ward * Hodogaya Ward

History

Under the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capita ...

Ritsuryō is the historical Japanese legal system, legal system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Legalism (Chinese philosophy), Chinese Legalism in Feudal Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" (). ''Kya ...

system, the area that is now Kanagawa Ward became part of Tachibana District in

Musashi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province encompassed Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Kawasaki and Yokohama. ...

. During the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, the area was ''

tenryō The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil war ...

'' territory controlled directly by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

, but administered through various ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the Shōgun, shogunates in History of Japan, Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred ...

''. The area prospered in the

Kanagawa-juku was the third of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō. It was located in Kanagawa-ku in the present-day city of Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It was close to Kanagawa Port. Many of its historical artifacts were destroyed by the G ...

, a post station on the Tōkaidō connecting

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

with

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

. During the

Bakumatsu period were the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, under foreign diplomatic and military pressure, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunat ...

, Kanagawa was the location of the signing of the

Convention of Kanagawa The Convention of Kanagawa, also known as the or the , was a treaty signed between the United States and the Tokugawa Shogunate on March 31, 1854. Unequal treaty#Japan, Signed under threat of force, it effectively meant the end of Japan's 220-ye ...

, which ended Japan’s national isolation policy and led to the normalization of diplomatic relations between the United States and Japan. The subsequent

Treaty of Amity and Commerce (United States–Japan) The , also called the Harris Treaty was a treaty signed between the United States and Tokugawa Shogunate, which opened the ports of Kanagawa and four other Japanese cities to trade and granted extraterritoriality to foreigners, among a number ...

led to the establishment of a

treaty port Treaty ports (; ) were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Qing dynasty of China (before the ...

for foreign commerce and settlement, which was initially stipulated to be Kanagawa. However, for security reasons, the actual settlement was established at neighboring Yokohama (present day Naka Ward). The

Namamugi Incident The , also known as the Kanagawa incident and Richardson affair, was a political crisis that occurred in the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the ''Bakumatsu'' on 14 September 1862. Charles Lennox Richardson, a British merchant, was killed by ...

, which led to the 1863

Anglo-Satsuma War The Bombardment of Kagoshima, also known as the , was a military engagement fought between Britain and the Satsuma Domain in Kagoshima from 15 to 17 August 1863. The British were attempting to extract compensation and legal justice from ''daimyo ...

, occurred in Kanagawa. 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, the area was transferred to the new

in 1868. Kanagawa was connected to Yokohama and Tokyo by train in 1872, and was proclaimed a town on April 1, 1889. On April 1, 1901, it was absorbed into neighboring Yokohama. Kanagawa suffered severe damage from the

1923 Great Kantō earthquake The 1923 Great Kantō earthquake (, or ) was a major earthquake that struck the Kantō Plain on the main Japanese island of Honshu at 11:58:32 JST (02:58:32 UTC) on Saturday, 1 September 1923. It had an approximate magnitude of 8.0 on the mom ...

. On October 1, 1927, it became Kanagawa Ward within the city of Yokohama. The area again destroyed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, first being bombed during the Doolittle Raid of 1942, and finally being completely devastated during the massive Yokohama air raid of May 29, 1945. Kanagawa Ward soon rebuilt after the end of the war, although large portions of its territory remained under the control of the

United States military The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

until the 1970s.

Economy

Kanagawa Ward is a regional commercial center and

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for central Yokohama and Tokyo. The coastal area is part of the Keihin Industrial Zone, and is the most industrialized region within Yokohama. Major factories are operated by

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

JVC JVC (short for Japan Victor Company) is a Japanese brand owned by JVCKenwood. Founded in 1927 as the Victor Talking Machine Company of Japan and later as , the company was best known for introducing Japan's first televisions and for developin ...

, Nippon Petroleum Refining Co., Ltd.,

Nippon Flour Mills is a Japanese company which derives most of its revenue from milling flour and produces flour related products such as noodles. It was established in 1896 and is a member of the Mitsui ''keiretsu''. Nippon Flour Mills (NFM) and its group compani ...

Showa Denko {{Infobox company , name = Resonac K.K. , native_name = レゾナック株式会社 , native_name_lang = ja , romanized_name = Rezonakku kabushiki gaisha , logo = Resonac logo.svg , type = Public , traded_as = {{tyo, 4004 , hq_location_city ...

, Asahi Glass Co.

Mazda is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima (town), Fuchū, Hiroshima Prefecture, Hiroshima, Japan. The company was founded on January 30, 1920, as Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd. ...

has a research and development center in Kanagawa-ku.

Transportation

Railroads

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and 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 in ...

–

Yokohama Line The Yokohama Line () is a Japanese railway line of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) connecting Higashi-Kanagawa Station in Yokohama, Kanagawa and Hachiōji Station in Hachiōji, Tokyo. The line forms part of what JR East refers to as t ...

** – *

- Keihin-Tōhoku Line ** – *

Keihin Electric Express Railway (), also known as or, more recently, , is a private railroad that connects inner Tokyo to Kawasaki, Yokohama, Yokosuka and other points on the Miura Peninsula in Kanagawa Prefecture. It also provides rail access to Haneda Airport in Tokyo. ...

Keikyū Main Line The is a railway line in Japan, operated by the private railway operator Keikyu. The line connects the Tokyo wards of Minato, Tokyo, Minato, Shinagawa, Tokyo, Shinagawa, Ōta, Tokyo, Ōta, and the Kanagawa Prefecture, Kanagawa municipalities o ...

** - - - - *

Tokyu Corporation The , a contraction of and formerly until 2 September 2019, is a Japanese ''keiretsu'' or conglomerate headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. While a multinational corporation, its main operation is , a wholly-owned subsidiary operating railways i ...

Tōkyū Tōyoko Line The , a contraction of and formerly until 2 September 2019, is a Japanese ''keiretsu'' or conglomerate headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. While a multinational corporation, its main operation is , a wholly-owned subsidiary operating railways i ...

** - - *

Yokohama City Transportation Bureau The Yokohama City Transportation Bureau, legally the is the local government administrative agency in charge of public transportation, public transport services in the city of Yokohama, Japan. Subway operations The Yokohama Municipal Subway con ...

– Blue Line ** – –

Highways

* Daisan Keihin *

Shuto Expressway The is a network of Toll road, tolled expressways in the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. It is operated and maintained by the . Most routes are Grade separation, grade separated and have many sharp curves and multi-lane merges that require cauti ...

Route 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered S ...

* Route 15

Prefecture roads

* Kanagawa Prefecture Road 2 *Kanagawa Prefecture Road 21 *Kanagawa Prefecture Road 13 *Kanagawa Prefecture Road 111

Education

Colleges and universities

Kanagawa University , abbreviated to , is a private university in Japan. The main campus is located in Rokkakubashi, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. History The university was founded in 1928 by as . It was an evening school for the working youth. I ...

* Institute of Information Security

Primary and secondary schools

The

Kanagawa Prefectural Board of Education The is the board of education for Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan. The board consists of six members; one of them is elected as the chair, and one of them is appointed by the board as the superintendent. The board administers municipal education an ...

operates prefectural high schools. Public senior high schools: * Yokohama Suiran High School * Kanagawa Sohgoh High School * * The operates public elementary and junior high schools. Public junior high schools: *Kanagawa ( 神奈川) *Kuritaya ( 栗田谷) *Matsumoto ( 松本) *Nishikidai ( 錦台) *Rokkakubashi ( 六角橋) *Sugeta ( 菅田) *Urashimaoka ( 浦島丘) Additionally, Karuisawa Junior High School (軽井沢中学校), outside of Kanagawa-ku, serves a part of Kanagawa-ku. Public elementary schools:
From this link
/ref> *Aoki ( 青木) *Futatsuya (二谷) *Hazawa (羽沢) *Kamihashi ( 神橋) *Kanagawa (神奈川) *Kandaiji (神大寺) *Kōgaya ( 幸ケ谷) *Koyasu ( 子安) *Minami-Kandaiji ( 南神大寺) *Mitsuzawa ( 三ツ沢) *Nakamaru ( 中丸) *Nishiterao (西寺尾) *Nishiterao-Daini (No. 2) (西寺尾第二) *Ōguchidai ( 大口台) *Saitobun ( 斎藤分) *Shirahata ( 白幡) *Sugetanooka ( 菅田の丘) *Urashima ( 浦島) Additionally the zones of Higashi Hongo Elementary School (東本郷小学校), Kamihoshikawa Elementary (上星川小学校), Kohoku Elementary (港北小学校), Miyagaya Elementary ( 宮谷小学校), Shirosato Elementary ( 城郷小学校), Terao Elementary (寺尾小学校), and Tokiwadai Elementary (常盤台小学校), all with campuses located outside of Kanagawa-ku, include portions of Kanagawa-ku. Municipal special schools: * Yokohama Municipal Special Needs School for the Blind (横浜市立盲特別支援学校) Former municipal schools: *Ikeue (池上) and Sugeta (菅田) Elementaries merged into Sugetanooka on April 1, 2021 (

Reiwa is the current and 232nd era of the official calendar of Japan. It began on 1 May 2019, the day on which Emperor Akihito's eldest son, Naruhito, ascended the throne as the 126th Emperor of Japan. The day before, Emperor Akihito abdicated ...

3). International schools: * Kanagawa Korean Jr./ Sr. High School – North Korean schoolThe Education System and Schools
"

. Government of Kanagawa Prefecture. Retrieved on October 13, 2015. *Yokohama Korean Primary School ( 横浜朝鮮初級学校) - Also a North Korean school – Kindergarten and primary schoolInternational schools
". City of Yokohama. Retrieved on October 13, 2015. Private Schools: Private schools: *

Asano High School , often referred to as "Asano", is a private boys' school located in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. General , often referred to as "Asano", is a private boys' school located in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. Asano Sōichirō (the founder of Asano zaiba ...

Local attractions

* Hama Wing *

Mitsuzawa Stadium The is an association football stadium in Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama, Japan. It serves as a home ground of Yokohama FC and, on occasion, Yokohama F. Marinos. Until 1999 it had been the home of Yokohama FC's spiritual predecessor, Yokohama Flügels ...

Noted people from Kanagawa Ward

* Hiroshi Abe, actor *

Tetsurō Degawa is a Japanese people, Japanese comedian. Character Representative of the so-called "reaction entertainers," he is known for his thick voice. His favorite phrase is "Yabaiyo, yabaiyo!" (やばいよやばいよ!, It's dangerous, dangerous!), w ...

, comedian *

Tomomi Itano is a Japanese recording artist, songwriter, dancer, model, and actress. She is a former member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48. She was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. In 2011 she debuted solo with a single titled " Dear J", which wa ...

, ex-AKB48 *

Keiko Kishi is a Japanese actress, writer, and UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador. Life and career She made her acting debut in 1951 in Noboru Nakamura's film '' Home Sweet Home''. In the 1950s, David Lean proposed her for the main role in '' The Wind Cannot Read ...

, actress *

Akinori Ogata is a Japanese professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 63 Toyota Tundra for Akinori Performance. He has also competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR K&N Pro Series ...

, racing driver * Kaori Takahashi, actress * Junichi Tazawa, professional baseball player * Tetsuya Yamaguchi, professional baseball player

References

* Kato, Yuzo. ''Yokohama Past and Present''. Yokohama City University (1990).

External links

Kanagawa Ward Office

Kanagawa Ward Office

* {{Authority control Wards of Yokohama