Western Tokyo, known as the , or locally, in the

Tokyo Metropolis 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 ...

consists of 30 ordinary municipalities (

cities 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 ...

(市 shi),

towns A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

(町 machi) and one

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

(村 mura)), unlike the eastern part which consists of 23 special wards. Before it was transferred to Tokyo in 1893, the Tama area, then also still often referred to as the (referring to the

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and South Tama counties it consisted of) had formed the Northern part of

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 ...

. National Archives of Japan
三多摩を東京府に編入
/ref>

Overview

Whereas in the east of

the 23 special wards occupy the area that was formerly

Tokyo City was a Cities of Japan, municipality in Japan and capital of Tokyo Prefecture (1868–1943), Tokyo Prefecture (or ''Tokyo-fu'') which existed from 1 May 1889 until the establishment of Tokyo Metropolis on 1 July 1943. The historical boundari ...

, the west consists of 30 other ordinary municipalities:

(Nos. 1–26),

(Nos. 27, 28, 30) and a

(No. 29).

List of cities, towns and village

The towns of Hinode, Mizuho, and

Okutama is a town located in the western portion of Tokyo Prefecture, Japan, at a distance of roughly west-northwest of Tokyo Imperial Palace. , the town had an estimated population of 4,949, and a population density of 22 persons per km2. The total a ...

, and the village of Hinohara make up the non-contiguous Nishitama District. The offshore islands of Tokyo (including the Bonin,

Volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

, Izu island chains, and the uninhabited islands of

Okinotorishima , or Parece Vela, is a coral reef, geologically an atoll, with two rocks enlarged with tetrapod-cement structures. It is administered by Japan with a total shoal area of and land area . Its dry land area is mostly made up by three concrete enc ...

and

Minamitorishima sometimes Minami-Tori-shima or Minami-Torishima, also known as Marcus Island, is an isolated Islands of Japan, Japanese coral atoll in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, located some southeast of Tokyo and east of the closest Japanese island, Sout ...

) are not considered part of Western Tokyo.

History

Under the

Ritsuryō is the historical Japanese legal system, legal system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Legalism (Chinese philosophy), Chinese Legalism in Feudal Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" (). ''Kya ...

system, Western Tokyo was part of

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. ...

. The provincial capital was at Fuchū. The provincial temple (''kokubunji'') was at Kokubunji and the principal shrine (''ichinomiya'') was at Tama. Western Tokyo previously consisted of three

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

: * (lit. "Western Tama") encompassed the present-day cities of Akiruno, Fussa, Hamura, and Ōme; in addition to the four municipalities (3 towns and a village) that still remain a part of the district. * (lit. "Southern Tama") covered the area now occupied by Hachiōji, Hino, Inagi, Tama, and Machida. With the formation of Inagi (the last city to be created in Tokyo in 1971), Minamitama District ceased to exist. * (lit. "Northern Tama") consisted of the locations of the present-day cities of Akishima, Chōfu, Fuchū, Higashikurume, Higashimurayama, Higashiyamato, Kiyose, Kodaira, Koganei, Kokubunji, Komae, Kunitachi, Mitaka, Musashimurayama, Musashino, Nishitokyo, and Tachikawa, as well as some land now in

Setagaya is a special ward in the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. It is also the name of a neighborhood and administrative district within the ward. Its official bird is the azure-winged magpie, its flower is the fringed orchid, and its tree is the '' Ze ...

. With the establishment of the city of Musashimurayama in 1970, Kitatama District ceased to exist.

References

{{Tokyo-geo-stub