is a

rural district A rural district was a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. I ...

Gunma Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, 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 . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuk ...

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 January 2015, the district had an estimated population of 22,972 and an area of 365.82 km², with a population density of 62.8 people per square kilometer.

Towns and villages

* Kanra * Nanmoku * Shimonita The southern part of the city of

Takasaki is a Cities of Japan, city located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 372,369 in 167,345 households, and a population density of 810 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Takasaki is famous as th ...

and all of the city of Tomioka were formerly part of the district.

History

The area of Kanra District was formerly part of

Kōzuke Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Gunma Prefecture. Kōzuke bordered Echigo Province, Echigo, Shinano Province, Shinano, Musashi Province, Musashi and Shimotsuke Province, Shimotsuke Provinces. Its abb ...

and appears in

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 ...

records, such as the 711 AD ''

Shoku Nihongi The is an imperially-commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 797, it is the second of the '' Six National Histories'', coming directly after the and followed by ''Nihon Kōki''. Fujiwara no Tsugutada and Sugano no Mamichi served as t ...

'' as . Its etymology indicates that it was an area settled by large numbers of people from the

Korean peninsula Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically divided at or near the 38th parallel between North Korea (Dem ...

. Per a census conducted at the end of 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 divided into three towns and 79 villages administered 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 ...

'' 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 ...

, 21 villages under the control of

Nanokaichi Domain was a Han (Japan), feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Kōzuke Province (modern-day Gunma Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Nanokaichi ''jin'ya'' in what is now part of the city of Tomioka, Gunma. Parts ...

and 32 villages under the control of Obata Domain. Two more villages were under the shared control of Obata Domain and the Tokugawa shogunate. On December 7, 1878, the area was divided into Minamikanra District (which became Tano District and Kitakanra District (present-day Kanra District). With the establishment of the municipality system on April 1, 1889 the area was organized into five towns (Tomioka, Ichinomiya, Myōgi, Shimonita and Fukushima) and 18 villages. file: Gumma Kanra-gun 1889.png , Historic Map of Kanra District in 1889:

1. Tomioka, 2. Kuroiwa, 3. Ichinomiya, 4. Nyu, 5. Takada, 6. Myōgi, 7. Kosaka, 8. Nishimaki, 9. Ozawa, 10. Tsukigata, 11.Iwado, 12.Aokura, 13. Shimonita, 14. Mayama, 15. Yoshida, 16. Takase, 17. Nukabe, 18. Akihata, 19. Obata, 20. Fukushima, 21. Niiya, 22. Iwadaira, 23. Ono

Modern timeline

*1925, May 10 – Obata village was raised to town status *1950, April 1 – Kitakanra District was renamed Kanra District *1954, April 1 – Ono, Kuroiwa, and Takase villages and Ichinomiya town were merged into Tomioka, which was then raised to city status. *1955, January 15 – Iwadaira village is annexed by Yoshii Town in Tano District *1955, March 10 - Shimonita annexed the villages of Kosaka, Nishimaki, Aokura and Mayama *1955, March 15 – Akihata village was annexed by Obata Town *1955, March 20 – Taka village was annexed by Myōgi Town *1955, April 1 – Yoshida village was annexed by Tomioka City *1959, February 1 – Fukushima and Niiya villages were into Obata Town, which was renamed Kanra Town *1960, April 1 – Nyu village was merged into Tomioka City *2006, March 27 - Myōgi town merged into the city of Tomioka

References

Districts in Gunma Prefecture {{Gunma-geo-stub