is a

rural district Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the Ad ...

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 ...

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 ...

. As of January 2015, the district had an estimated population of 34,946 and an area of 1,322.23 km², with a population density of 26.4 people per square kilometer.

Towns and villages

* Minakami * Katashina * Kawaba * Shōwa Much of the city of

Numata is a city located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 46,908 in 20,589 households, and a population density of 110 persons per km². The total area of the city is , making it the largest city in terms of area w ...

was formerly part of the district.

History

The area of Tone District was formerly part of

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 ...

. Per a census conducted at the end of 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 characteriz ...

, the area was divided into one town and 66 villages administered as ''

tenryō 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 ...

'' directly by 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 ...

or various ''

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

'' and two towns and 47 villages under the control of

Numata Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Kōzuke Province (modern-day Gunma Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Numata Castle in what is now the city of Numata, Gunma. History Following the Battle of ...

. One village was under the joint control of the Shogunate and Numata Domain. file: Gumma Tone-gun 1889.png, Historic Map of Tone District in 1889:

1. Numata, 2. Tonami, 3. Shirasawa, 4. Azuma, 5. Katashina, 6. Kawaba, 7. Ikeda, 8. Usune, 9. Komemaki, 10. Minakami, 11.Momono, 12.Yunohara, 13. Kawata, 21. Kuroho, 22. Itonose, 23. Akagine, +. Kuga *April 1, 1889 – With the establishment of the municipalities system, the town of Numata and the villages of Tonami, Gunma, Tonami, Ikeda, Gunma, Ikeda, Usune, Gunma, Usune, Kawada, Gunma, Kawada, Shirasawa, Gunma, Shirasawa, Kawaba, Komemaki, Momono,

Azuma Azuma may refer to: Places * Azuma, historical name for eastern Japan, now called Kantō region, Kantō and Tōhoku region * Azuma, Gunma (Agatsuma), former village in Agatsuma District, Gunma Prefecture, Japan * Azuma, Gunma (Sawa), former villag ...

, Yunohara, Katashina, and Minakami were placed within the district. (1 town, 12 villages) *April 1, 1896 (1 town, 16 villages) **Absorbed Kitaseta District. The villages of Kuroho, Itonose (now the village of Shōwa), and Akagine (now the city of Numata). **The village of Kuga, Agatsuma District, moved to Tone District. *May 1, 1908 - The villages of Kuga and Yunohara merged to form the village of Niiharu. (1 town, 15 villages) *October 10, 1947 - The village of Minakami gained town status. (2 towns, 14 villages) *April 1, 1954 - The town of Numata and the villages of Tonami, Ikeda, Usune, and Kawada merged to form the city of Numata. (1 town, 10 villages) *April 1, 1955 - The villages of Komemaki and Monono merged to form the town of Tsukiyono. (2 towns, 8 villages) *September 30, 1956 - The villages of Azuma and Akagine merged to form the village of Tone. (2 towns, 7 villages) *November 1, 1958 - The villages of Kuroho and Itonose merged to form the village of Shōwa. (2 towns, 6 villages) *February 13, 2005 - The villages of Shirasawa and Tone merged into the city of Numata. (2 towns, 4 villages) *October 1, 2005 - The towns of Tsukiyono and (former) Minakami, and the village of Niiharu merged to form the town of Minakami. (1 town, 3 villages) Districts in Gunma Prefecture {{Gunma-geo-stub