Historically known as an Agricultural region which produced a lot of food for the Kanto region, the lack of available land in Tokyo following the post World War II expansion quickly led to the rapid development of Saitama. It lies near the northern limit of the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area, about 20 miles (32 km) north of central Tokyo. [16] As in most prefectures, the Saitama assembly was established legally in 1878 and first convened 1879. Saitama forms a sort of buffer zone between the grey sprawl of Tokyo and the mountains of Gunma prefecture. Ōmiya Station in Saitama City forms East Japan Railway Company's northern hub station in the Greater Tokyo Area, offering transfers to and from Shinkansen high-speed lines. According to Sendai Kuji Hongi (), Chichibu was one of 137 provinces during the reign of Emperor Sujin. The area has long been a regional transportation hub, serving as a major rail junction and including a large railroad maintenance facility and a vast switchyard. Most of the cities in the prefecture are closely connected to downtown Tokyo by metropolitan rail, and operate largely as residential and commercial suburbs of Tokyo. Most of the popular tourist sites in Saitama are located in the northwestern part of the prefecture, which is known as the Chichibu Region. It has a lot of still undiscovered sightseeing spots, such as places with old streets and splendid nature. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Website +81 48-645-8171. Other resolutions: 320 × 213 pixels | 640 × 427 pixels | 800 × 533 pixels | 1,024 × 683 pixels | 1,280 × 853 pixels. Ancient graves, ancient craft and local cuisine. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. saitama Just above Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture (埼玉県, Saitama-ken) is more than just a suburb for commuters to the nation’s capital. [13], Rivers and canals, including those developed in the Edo period (17th – 19th centuries) in the east of the prefecture, are largely disused following the introduction of motorised land transport. Origin of the name "Saitama" The name "Saitama" originally comes from the Sakitama (埼玉郡) district of what is now the city of Gyōda in the northern part of what is now known as Saitama Prefecture. The first city in Saitama was only established in 1922 when Kawagoe Town from Iruma District became Kawagoe City. In the creation of modern cities, towns and villages in 1889, these districts were subdivided into originally 40 towns and 368 villages. The latest prefecture-wide election was the House of Councillors by-election in October 2019 to fill the seat vacated by Motohiro Ōno; it was won by the previous governor Kiyoshi Ueda who has a centre-left background (DPJ member of the House of Representatives for Saitama's 4th district before his term as governor), but without full-scale party backing and without any other major party-backed candidate in the race. History. The government of the prefecture was to be set up in Iwatsuki Town, Saitama District in November 1871 by the Dajōkan ordinance to set up the prefecture, but ultimately remained in Urawa's previous prefectural government seat in Urawa Town in Adachi District. Saitama Prefecture is bordered by Tokyo, Chiba, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Nagano, and Yamanashi Prefectures. Template:Infobox Prefecture Japan Saitama Prefecture (埼玉県, Saitama-ken) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region. The Saitama Prefectural Museum of History and Folklore is a ten minute walk from Omiya Koen Station (5 minutes, 150 yen one way from Omiya Station by Tobu Noda Line). Saitama, capital of Saitama ken (prefecture), east-central Honshu, Japan. It became the prefecture's first (and so far only) designated major city in 2003.[5]. "Saitama prefecture" in, 5 (go) capital area provinces (ki)/7 (shichi) circuits (dō), Niikura (also known as Niiza, Shiki or Shiragi), List of cities in Saitama Prefecture by population, "Connecting TOKYO and Narita Int'l Airport - NARITA HELI EXPRESS", 2019 Saitama gubernatorial election result and summary coverage, 2019 HC Saitama constituency by-election result and summary coverage, "Sister States and Provinces of Saitama Prefecture", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saitama_Prefecture&oldid=994761342, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles containing Japanese-language text, Articles with Japanese-language sources (ja), Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Most of the land is contained in Chichibu Tama Kai National Park. [3] Chichibu Province was in western Saitama. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The Musashino serves as a freight bypass line as well as a passenger line. Ōmiya, formerly the prefectural capital and now the northern portion of Saitama city, and Urawa, the southern part of the new city, were roughly equal in size at the time of the merger. Much of southeastern Saitama, including the prefectural capital of Saitama City, are considered suburbs of Tokyo, while its western parts are mostly rural and mountainous and include parts of … The city of Kawagoe is famous for its traditional kura-zukuri style warehouses, which remain from the 18th and 19th centuries and house many souvenir shops. While Tokyo’s metropolitan sprawl swallows most of eastern Saitama, the prefecture’s western borders remain safe havens of rural tradition, preserved history, and a rocky mountainous landscape. Saitama Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. https://www.britannica.com/place/Saitama-Japan. 22 Restaurants within 0.3 miles. This prefectur is pairt o the Greater Tokyo Aurie, an maist o Saitama's ceeties can be describit as suburbs o Tokyo, tae … The Great Heisei mergers of the 2000s pushed the number below 70. Chichibu Province was in Saitama's western part.. Saitama Prefecture was formerly part of the old Musashi Province.. The city was founded on May 1, 2001, and was designated on April 1, 2003 as a government ordinance. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 and has a geographic area of 3,797 km². Asia ; Japan ; Kanto ; ... 4-219, Takahanacho, Omiya-Ku, Saitama Saitama Prefecture. [15], Also as in all prefectures, prefectural by-laws, the budget and the approval of important prefectural administrative appointments such as the vice-governors or members of the public safety commission, are the prerogative of the assembly which is elected directly to four-year terms on an independent electoral cycle. It is located central-west of the Kanto region, measuring 103 km from east to west and 52 km from north to south. The area that would become Saitama Prefecture in the 19th century is part of Musashi Province in the Ritsuryō (or ryō-system; ritsu stands for the penal code, ryō for the administrative code) Imperial administration of antiquity (see Provinces of Japan and the 5 (go) capital area provinces (ki)/7 (shichi) circuits (dō) system) which was nominally revived in the Meiji restoration but has lost much of its administrative function since the Middle Ages. Except for the transfer of a few municipalities to Tokyo in the 1890s/1900s (see below) and several smaller, 20th century changes through cross-prefectural municipal mergers or transfers of neighbourhoods, Saitama had reached its present extent. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. [17], In the National Diet, Saitama's directly elected delegation consists of 15 members of the House of Representatives and currently seven (four per class, but only raised from three in 2019, so it will only grow to eight after the 2022 election) in the House of Councillors. Saitama is the capital and largest city of Saitama Prefecture, with other major cities including Kawaguchi, Kawagoe, and Tokorozawa. Saitama Prefecture (埼玉県, Saitama-ken) is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. The area around Moroyama has been inhabited since at least the Jōmon period, and numerous archaeological sites are within the town limits.. Moro village was created within Iruma District, Saitama with the establishment of the municipalities system on April 1, 1889. Know if you have suggestions to improve this article ( requires login ) to south to plateaus to lowlands signing! 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