was a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

located in

Saitama Prefecture is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (January 1, 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 Square kilometre, km2 ( ...

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 ...

. On May 1, 2001, Urawa was merged with the cities of Ōmiya and Yono to create the city of Saitama. Since April 1, 2003, the area of former Urawa City has been divided into 4 wards: Urawa-ku, Midori-ku, Minami-ku and Sakura-ku of Saitama City. The city hall and the prefectural government building are located in Urawa-ku.

History

Origin and pre-modern history

In 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 that became Urawa flourished as a posting station of the

Nakasendō The , also called the ,Richard Lane, ''Images from the Floating World'' (1978) Chartwell, Secaucus ; pg. 285 was one of the centrally administered Edo Five Routes, five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected the ''de facto'' ...

, a highway connecting

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

(modern-day

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

) and

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

. But it was not as big a town as Iwatsuki, which was the only

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, ...

in the area of the modern-day city of Saitama.

Modern Urawa

* In 1869, the Prefectural Government of Urawa Prefecture was set up, and the Government's Office was located in Urawa. * In 1871, Iwatsuki, Urawa, and Oshi Prefectures merged to form

, and Urawa became the capital of this new Prefecture. * The

1923 Great Kantō earthquake The 1923 Great Kantō earthquake (, or ) was a major earthquake that struck the Kantō Plain on the main Japanese island of Honshu at 11:58:32 JST (02:58:32 UTC) on Saturday, 1 September 1923. It had an approximate magnitude of 8.0 on the mom ...

heavily damaged Tokyo and many nearby cities. Although Urawa is not far from Tokyo, it suffered less damage than Tokyo,

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 ...

, and other cities in

Kantō region The is a geography, geographical region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures of Japan, prefectures: Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Gunma Prefe ...

, so many intellectuals, especially painters, moved to Urawa, and this old posting station started to change into a modern city. * Several neighboring villages then merged into Urawa, and in 1934, Urawa became a city.

Saitama City era

* On May 1, 2001, Urawa was merged with the cities of Ōmiya and Yono to create the new capital city of Saitama. At that time, the city had a population of 488,000. * On April 1, 2003, when Saitama became a designated city, the former area of Urawa City has been divided into 4 wards: Urawa-ku, Midori-ku, Minami-ku and Sakura-ku.

External links

Internet Archive of Urawa's website
Dissolved municipalities of Saitama Prefecture Populated places disestablished in 2001 {{Saitama-geo-stub