is one of the six wards of the city of Chiba in

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to t ...

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 n ...

. As of April 2012, the ward 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 usi ...

of 156,860 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 RosenberPopu ...

of 7,380 persons per km². The total area was .

Geography

Inage Ward is located in an inland area of northwest Chiba City. The ward is a flat, highly

urbanized area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities ...

of mixed industry and housing.

Surrounding municipalities

* Wakaba Ward * Chuo-ku Ward * Mihama Ward * Hanamigawa Ward * Yotsukaidō, Chiba

History

The area of present-day Inage Ward was settled since

ancient times Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cov ...

. The

Inage Sengen Shrine is one of the six wards of the city of Chiba in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. As of April 2012, the ward had an estimated population of 156,860 and a population density of 7,380 persons per km2. The total area was . Geography Inage Ward is located ...

dates to the 9th century. In modern times. Inage was composed of the villages of Tsuga, Kemigawa, Kotegawa and a portion of the town of Chiba in 1889. Kemigawa became a town in 1891. Chiba became a city in 1921. Chiba annexed Tsuga Village and Kemigawa Town in 1937, and Kotegawa in 1954. Inage historically faced

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populou ...

, and given its proximity to Tokyo, was a popular tourist destination for swimming and clamming. Numerous

beach hut A beach hut (also known as a beach cabin, beach box or bathing box) is a small, usually wooden and often brightly coloured, box above the high tide mark on popular bathing beaches. They are generally used as a shelter from the sun or wind, chan ...

s were constructed along the Tokyo Bay coast. The ward became landlocked by 1961 after the extensive

land reclamation Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamat ...

projects were completed along the coast of Tokyo Bay in Chiba Prefecture. As part of the development of Chiba City, numerous planned residential districts were built in Inage after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

due to the development of the

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 ar ...

Sōbu and Keisei Chiba lines. The construction of planned housing complexes continues in the ward. With the promotion of Chiba to a

designated city A , also known as a or , is a Japanese city that has a population greater than 500,000 and has been designated as such by order of the Cabinet of Japan under Article 252, Section 19, of the Local Autonomy Law. Designated cities are delegate ...

, the city gained additional autonomy from the Chiba Prefecture and the central government. Accordingly, on April 1, 1992 Inage Ward was established as an administrative unit.

Economy

Inage Ward is largely 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 Chiba and Tokyo. In the northern part of the ward is .

Transportation

Rail

– Sōbu Line ** - *

– Chiba Line ** - *

Chiba Urban Monorail The is a two-line suspended monorail system located in Chiba, Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is owned and operated by , a so-called " third-sector" company established on March 20, 1979. Investors include the city of Chiba. The first segmen ...

– Line 2 ** - - -

Highways

* Higashi-Kantō Expressway *

Keiyō Road The is a limited access Tokyo- Chiba toll road in Japan. It is owned and operated by East Nippon Expressway Company. Naming Keiyō is a kanji acronym of two characters, each representing the two major urban areas connected by the route. Th ...

* Japan National Route 14 * Japan National Route 16 *

Japan National Route 126 National Route 126 is a national highway of 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 Jap ...

Buses

The following public buses are available in the Inage-ku *Keisei Bus *Chiba Nairiku Bus *Chiba City Bus *Chiba Kaihin Kotsu *Asuka Kotsu *Heiwa Kotsu

Education

Inage-ku is home to the main campus of

Chiba University is a national university in the city of Chiba, Japan. It offers Doctoral degrees in education as part of a coalition with Tokyo Gakugei University, Saitama University, and Yokohama National University. The university was formed in 1949 from ex ...

. Additionally,

Keiai University is a private university in the city of Inage-ku, Chiba, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, established in 1966. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1921. The university has attached junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to collo ...

and

Chiba Keizai University is a private university in Inage-ku, Chiba, Japan. The school has an adjacent junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training d ...

are also located in the ward.

Festival

The festival of the Inage Sengen Shrine is held annually on July 15. Its

kagura is a type of Shinto ritual ceremonial dance. The term is a contraction of the phrase , indicating the presence of gods () in the practice. One major function of is , involving a procession-trance process. Usually a female shaman will perfor ...

, a type of

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shint ...

theatrical dance, is designated a Chiba Prefectural Intangible Treasure.

Noted people from Inage Ward

* Ryo Kawashima, professional baseball player *

Satoru Yamagishi is a Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team. Club career Yamagishi was born in Chiba on May 3, 1983. He joined JEF United Ichihara (later ''JEF United Chiba'') from youth team in 2002. He debuted as right midfielder in 200 ...

– professional soccer player * Koki Yonekura – professional soccer player *

Yasushi Kanda is a Japanese wrestler currently performing for the Dragon Gate wrestling promotion in Japan. He is considered one of Toryumon's greatest heel characters, and was a founding member of the M2K stable. In his pre-injury days, he was famous for h ...

– professional wrestler

References

{{Authority control Greater Tokyo Area Wards of Chiba (city)