250px, Ruins of Musashi Kokubun-ji temple is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

located in the western portion of

Tokyo Metropolis Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

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 126,791, 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 RosenberPopul ...

of 11,000 persons per km². The total area of the city was .

Geography

Kokubunji is located on the

Musashino Terrace The , also translated as Musashino Platform and also named as Musashino Region, is a large tableland (known as a fluvial terrace) in the Kantō region of Honshu, Japan. The Musashino Plateau is a plateau that extends between the Arakawa and Tama R ...

of western Tokyo, approximately in the geographic centre of mainland Tokyo Metropolis. The city extends for about 5.68 kilometers east-to-west by about 3.86 kilometers north-to-south.

Surrounding municipalities

* Fuchū *

Kunitachi 250px, Daigaku-dori and sakura is a city located in the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 76,423 in 38,825 households, and a population density of 9,400 persons per km2. Approximately 41.9% of ...

Tachikawa file:Autumn colors in Showa memorial park.jpg, 250px, Showa Memorial Park is a Cities of Japan, city located in the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 184,383 in 93,428 households, and a populat ...

Kodaira is a city located in the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 195,207 in 93,654 households, and a population density of 9500 persons per km². The total area of the city was . Geography Kodaira i ...

Koganei is a Cities of Japan, city located in the Western Tokyo, western portion of Tokyo, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 123,698 in 61,832 households. The total area of the city is so the population density is about 11,000 persons per ...

Climate

Kokubunji has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kokubunji is 14.0 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1647 mm, with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August (at around 25.5 °C) and lowest in January (at around 2.6 °C).

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kokubunji increased rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s.

History

The area of present-day Kokubunji was part of ancient

Musashi Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province encompassed Kawasaki and Yokohama. Musashi bordered on Kai, Kōzuke, Sagami, S ...

, and was the site of the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 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 cap ...

Provincial temple were Buddhist temples established in each of the provinces of Japan by Emperor Shōmu during the Nara period (710 – 794). History Shōmu (701 – 756?) decreed both a ''kokubun-ji'' for monks and a for nuns to be established in each ...

of that province. In the post-

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 ...

cadastral reform of 1878, the area became part of Kitatama District in

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

. The village of Kokubunji was created on April 1, 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. Kitatama District was transferred to the administrative control of Tokyo Metropolis on April 1, 1893. Kokubunji was elevated to town status in 1940, and to city status on November 3, 1964.

Government

Kokubunji 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 22 members. Kokubunji, together with the city of Kunitachi, contributes two members to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Tokyo 19th district of the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, 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 co ...

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

Kokubunji is the home of the

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...

Central Research Laboratory, which contains one of the largest natural preserves in the area surrounding Tokyo. The

Railway Technical Research Institute , or , is the technical research company under the Japan Railways group of companies. Overview RTRI was established in its current form in 1986 just before Japanese National Railways (JNR) was privatised and split into separate JR group compani ...

, the technical research company under the

Japan Railways The Japan Railways Group, more commonly known as the or simply JR, consists of seven for-profit stock companies that took over most of the assets and operations of the government-owned Japanese National Railways (JNR) on April 1, 1987. Mo ...

group of companies is also located in Kokubunji.

Education

The city has one public high school, , which is operated by the

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education (東京都教育委員会 ''Tōkyō-to Kyōiku Iinkai'') is the board of education in Tokyo, Japan. The board directly manages all of the public high schools in all 23 special wards, the Western T ...

. Kokubunji has ten public elementary schools and five public middle schools. Municipal junior high schools: * No. 1 ( 第一中学校) * No. 2 ( 第二中学校) * No. 3 ( 第三中学校) * No. 4 ( 第四中学校) * No. 5 ( 第五中学校) Municipal elementary schools: * No. 1 (第一小学校) * No. 2 ( 第二小学校) * No. 3 (第三小学校) * No. 4 (第四小学校) * No. 5 (第五小学校) * No. 6 (第六小学校) * No. 7 (第七小学校) * No. 8 (第八小学校) * No. 9 (第九小学校) * No. 10 (第十小学校) There is also one private K-12 school, affiliated with

Waseda University , abbreviated as , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the ''Tōkyō Senmon Gakkō'' by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the school was formally renamed Waseda University in 1902. The university has numerou ...

: .

Tokyo Keizai University (Tokyo University of Economics) is a private university in Tokyo, 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 w ...

has a campus at Kokubunji.

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 ...

–

Chūō Main Line The , commonly called the Chūō Line, is one of the major trunk railway lines in Japan. It connects Tokyo and Nagoya, although it is the slowest direct railway connection between the two cities; the coastal Tōkaidō Main Line is slightly faste ...

* -

–

Musashino Line The is a railway line operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It links Tsurumi Station in Yokohama with Nishi-Funabashi Station in Chiba Prefecture, forming a 100.6 km unclosed loop around central Tokyo. Passenger operations a ...

*Nishi-Kokubunji SeibuRailway mark

Seibu Railway is a conglomerate based in Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan, with principal business areas in railways, tourism, and real estate. Seibu Railway's operations are concentrated in northwest Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture; the name "Seibu" is an abbreviati ...

Seibu Kokubunji Line The is a railway line in Tokyo, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Seibu Railway. The line is part of the Seibu Shinjuku group of railway lines and connects suburban areas of western Tokyo to Seibu and JR main lines that run to c ...

* -

Seibu Tamako Line The is a single-track railway line in Tokyo, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Seibu Railway. The line is part of the Seibu Shinjuku group of railway lines that connects suburban areas of western Tokyo to Seibu and JR East main ...

*Kokubunji

Highway

*Kokubunji is not served by any national highways or expressways.

Sister city relations

* –

Marion, South Australia Marion is a suburb in the City of Marion, around south-west of the city centre of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia. Founded as a rural village in 1838 on the banks of the Sturt River, Marion was found to have rich soil and the populatio ...

, Australia

Local attractions

* Site of Musashi ''kokubunji'' *

Tonogayato Garden is a traditional Japanese garden located in Kokubunji, Tokyo. Its name comes from the region's old name, Tonogayato, Kokubunji village. The garden covers an area of . History The garden was laid out between 1913 and 1915 in the grounds of a v ...

References

External links

*
Kokubunji City Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Tokyo Western Tokyo