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Gyōda

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Country
  
Japan

Prefecture
  
Saitama Prefecture

Area
  
67.49 km²

Local time
  
Monday 2:47 AM

Region
  
Kantō

– Tree
  
Ginkgo biloba

Population
  
81,871 (Feb 2016)

Gyōda httpsiytimgcomviDkT8Iidjgsmaxresdefaultjpg

Time zone
  
Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

– Flower
  
Chrysanthemum, Nelumbo nucifera

Weather
  
4°C, Wind N at 6 km/h, 95% Humidity

University
  
Institute of Technologists

Gyōda (行田市, Gyōda-shi) is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, in the central Kantō region of Japan. As of 1 February 2016, the city had an estimated population of 81,871 and a population density of 1210 persons per km². Its total area was 67.49 square kilometres (26.06 sq mi).

Contents

Map of Gyoda, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

Geography

Gyōda is located in north-central Saitama Prefecture, with the Tone River separating it from Gunma Prefecture. The entire city is located on the alluvial plain of the Tone River and the Arakawa River.

Surrounding municipalities

  • Saitama Prefecture
  • Kazo
  • Kōnosu
  • Kumagaya
  • Hanyū
  • Gunma Prefecture
  • Chiyoda
  • Meiwa

    • History

    Gyōda contains many Kofun period burial mounds and has been inhabited since prehistoric times. “Saitama” is a local place name within Gyōda, and is recorded in Nara period documents. During the Sengoku period, Oshi Castle famously withstood a siege by Ishida Mitsunari in 1590. During the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate, the castle was the center of Oshi Domain, ruled by a branch of the Matsudaira clan until 1871, during which time the castle town prospered from its location on the Nakasendō highway.

    The town of Gyōda was created within Kitasaitama District, Saitama with the establishment of the municipalities system on April 1, 1889. On April 1, 1937, Gyōda annexed the neighboring villages of Nagano, Hoshikawa and Mochida. It was elevated to city status on April 23, 1949. From 1954–1955, the city expanded by annexing the neighboring villages of Araki, Suka, Kitakawahara, Saitama, Hoshimiya, and Ōi.

    On January 1, 2006, the village of Minamikawara (from Kitasaitama District) was merged into Gyōda.

    Economy

    Gyōda has a mixed economy of agriculture and light manufacturing, especially for automobile components.

    Education

  • Institute of Technologists
  • Gyōda has 16 elementary schools, eight middle schools and one high school, as well as one special education school.

    • Railway

  • JR East – Takasaki Line
  • Gyōda
  • Chichibu Railway – Chichibu Main Line
  • Bushū-Araki – Gyōdashi – Higashi-Gyōda – Mochida

    • Highway

  • Japan National Route 17
  • Japan National Route 125

    • Sister city relations

  • Kuwana, Mie, Japan
  • Shirakawa, Fukushima, Japan

    • Important historical sites

  • Saitama Kofun Park (さきたま古墳公園) is a 300,000 square metres (3,229,173 sq ft) historic park dotted with large ancient tombs, including the Maruhakayama Kofun, one of the largest round burial mounds in Japan. At Shogunyama Kofun, a key-hole shaped 91 metres (299 ft) long burial mound that is square at the head and rounded at the foot, there is a display room of its interior where the stone cave hut and excavated articles have been restored to their original conditions in the 5th to 7th centuries.
  • Ancient Lotus Park (古代蓮の里, Kodai hasu no sato) has lotuses that were grow from seeds estimated to date back 1,400 to 3,000 years which had been found by chance during excavation for the building of a waste disposal facility. After a few thousand years of dormancy, they awoke and germinated. The large pink blossoms bloom only in the morning for about a month from mid-July after the close of the rainy season.
  • Oshi Castle (忍城御三階櫓, Oshi-jo Gosankai Yagura) is a 1988 reconstruction of the third yagura tower of Oshi Castle. The daimyo Narita Akiyasu built Oshi Castle near the end of the 15th century using the natural levee of the surrounding marshlands and river. It was considered impregnable. When it was attacked by the 20,000 man army of Ishida Mitsunari in 1590, it did not fall even when it was flooded by water drawn in from the nearby river, leading to the rumor that it floated on water. The existing turret was reconstructed in 1988. The castle grounds are also the home of Oshi Tōshō-gū shrine.

    • Culture

  • Zeri Furai is a local speciality consisting of fried bean curd, carrots, onion, and potato. There are many shops which sell it around town, especially during the warmer seasons.
  • Gyōda is also quite well known for the making of traditional tabi socks, worn with kimono. Gyoda still makes half of the tabi made in Japan.

    • References

    Gyōda Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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