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. As of 2010, the ward has 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 249,045 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...

of 7,600 persons per km². The total area is 32.77 km².

Geography

Asahi is located in eastern Kanagawa Prefecture, and on the northwest borders of the city of Yokohama.

Surrounding municipalities

* Seya Ward * Totsuka Ward * Midori Ward * Izumi Ward * Hodogaya Ward

History

The area around present-day Asahi Ward was formerly part of Tsuzuki 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. ...

. By the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

it was part of a huge ''

shōen A was a field or Manorialism, manor in Japan. The Japanese language, Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese language, Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4''). Shōen, from about the 8th to th ...

'' administered by the Hangaya clan, a subsidiary of the

Hatakeyama clan The was a Japanese samurai clan. Originally a branch of the Taira clan and descended from Taira no Takamochi, they fell victim to political intrigue in 1205, when Hatakeyama Shigeyasu, first, and his father Shigetada later were killed in batt ...

. 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 ...

, it was a rural region classified as ''

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 ...

''. 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 became part of the new

in 1868. In the cadastral reform of April 1, 1889, the area was divided into numerous villages. During the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

, the area was a center for

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

. The area began to urbanize only during the 1920s and 1930s with the building of the

Sagami Railway Main Line Sagami may refer to: * Sagami, an 11th-century ''waka'' poet *Sagami Province, an old province in Japan *Sagami River, a river in Kanagawa and Yamanashi *Sagami Bay, a bay south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshū *Sagami Line The is a railwa ...

. On October 1, 1927, it was annexed by the neighboring city of Yokohama, becoming part of Hodogaya Ward. In a major administrative reorganization of October 1, 1969, Asahi Ward was separated from Hodogaya Ward, becoming an independent ward within the city of Yokohama.

Economy

Asahi 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 Yokohama and Tokyo.

Transportation

Railroads

Sagami Railway The , or , is a private railway company operating three lines in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of holding company Sōtetsu Holdings, Inc. Sōtetsu Holdings is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange; 6.58% of it is own ...

–

** - - *

–

Sagami Railway Izumino Line Sagami may refer to: * Sagami, an 11th-century ''waka'' poet *Sagami Province, an old province in Japan *Sagami River, a river in Kanagawa and Yamanashi *Sagami Bay, a bay south of Kanagawa Prefecture in Honshū *Sagami Line The is a railwa ...

** - The

Tōkaidō Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed rail line that is part of the nationwide Shinkansen network. Along with the San'yō Shinkansen, it forms a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt, also known as the Tokaido corridor. Opening in 19 ...

passes through Asahi Ward, but has no stations.

Highways

Japan National Route 16 is a national highway in Japan. A beltway around Tokyo, it links the major prefectural capital cities of Yokohama (in Kanagawa Prefecture), Saitama (in Saitama Prefecture is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, pref ...

*Hodogaya Bypass

Prefectural roads

*Kanagawa Prefectural Route 40 *Kanagawa Prefectural Route 45 *Kanagawa Prefectural Route 401 *Kanagawa Prefectural Route 402

Education

Prefectural high schools are operated by the Kanagawa Prefecture Board of Education. Prefectural senior high schools: * * * * Private secondary schools: * - JHS and HS * - JHS and HS * The operates public elementary and junior high schools. Public junior high schools: *Asahi (旭) *Asahi-Kita ( 旭北) *Honjuku ( 本宿) *Imajuku ( 今宿) *Kami-shirane ( 上白根) *Kibōgaoka ( 希望が丘) *Makigahara ( 万騎が原) *Minami-Kibōgaoka ( 南希望が丘) *Sakon-yama ( 左近山) *Tsuoka (都岡) *Tsurugamine (鶴ケ峯) *Wakabadai ( 若葉台) Primary schools:
From this link
/ref> *Fudōmaru (不動丸) *Futamatagawa (二俣川) *Higashi-Kibōgaoka ( 東希望が丘) *Honjuku (本宿) *Ichisawa ( 市沢) *Imajuku ( 今宿) *Imajuku-Minami (今宿南) *Kami-kawai (上川井) *Kami-shirane (上白根) *Kawai (川井) *Kibōgaoka (希望ケ丘) *Makigahara ( 万騎が原) *Minami-Honjuku (南本宿) *Nakao (中尾) *Nakazawa (中沢) *Sachigaoka ( さちが丘) *Sakon-yama ( 左近山) *Sasanodai (笹野台) *Shiki-no-mori ( 四季の森) *Shirane (白根) *Tsuoka (都岡) *Tsurugamine (鶴ケ峯) *Wakabadai ( 若葉台) *Zenbu ( 善部) Kamisugeda Sasa-no-oka Elementary School ( 上菅田笹の丘小学校) and Kawashima Elementary School ( 川島小学校), which have their campuses outside of Asahi-ku, have zones that include portions of Asahi-ku.

Local attractions

* Yokohama Zoological Gardens

Notable people from Asahi Ward

* Hideyuki Awano, professional baseball player *

Ryō Kase is a Japanese actor. Early life Kase was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture. He moved to Bellevue, Washington in the United States soon after his birth, due to his father's job being transferred. His father Yutaka Kase, was former chairman a ...

, actor * Kentarō Kobayashi, actor, artist *

Ryoko Yonekura is a Japanese actress and former fashion model best known for her role in the Japanese medical drama '' Doctor-X: Surgeon Michiko Daimon''. She also performs the voice of Black Widow in the Japanese-language releases of the ''Avengers'' film ser ...

, actress

References

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

External links

*
City of Yokohama statistics
* {{Authority control Wards of Yokohama