is one of ten wards of the Saitama City, 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 ...

, and is located in the northeastern part of the city. , the ward had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 119,298 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of 9,300 persons per km². Its total area was . Although Urawa-ku is the governmental center of Saitama City, Ōmiya-ku is the most active commercial and business centre in both Saitama City and Saitama Prefecture thanks to its transport infrastructure, especially railways connected at Ōmiya Station.

Geography

Ōmiya Ward is within the Ōmiya Terrace of the

Kantō plain The , in the Kantō region of central Honshu, is the largest plain in Japan. Its 17,000 km2 covers more than half of the region extending over Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture, Kanagawa Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Tochigi Prefe ...

, in the center of Saitama City. It is in the

Greater Tokyo Area The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, consisting of the Kantō region of Japan (including Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis and the prefectures of Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Gunma Prefecture, Gunma, Ibaraki Prefecture, ...

and about 25 km north of central

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 ...

Neighboring Municipalities

Ōmiya-ku is surrounded by Nishi-ku (to the west), Kita-ku (north), Minuma-ku (east), Urawa-ku (southeast), Chūō-ku (south), and Sakura-ku (southwest).

History

Ōmiya derives its name from a famous

Shinto shrine A Stuart D. B. Picken, 1994. p. xxiii is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more kami, , the deities of the Shinto religion. The Also called the . is where a shrine's patron is or are enshrined.Iwanami Japanese dic ...

, the Hikawa Shrine, which has been a place of pilgrimage since at least the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

. During 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 flourished as Ōmiya-shuku, a post station on the Nakasendō highway, which connected Edo with

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 ...

. Following the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

, it became part of Urawa Prefecture which merged with Iwatsuki, Urawa, and Oshi Prefectures in 1871 to form

. The modern town of Ōmiya was officially created within Kitaadachi District, Saitama with the establishment of the municipalities system on April 1, 1889. On November 3, 1940 Ōmiya merged with the neighboring villages of Mihashi, Osato, Miyahara and Nisshin and was elevated to city status. Ōmiya continued to expand after the end of the war, absorbing the villages of Sashiougi, Mamiya, Uemizu, Katayanagi, Haruoka, and Nanasato on January 1, 1955. On May 1, 2001 Ōmiya merged with Urawa and Yono to form Saitama City. In April 2003 Saitama became a

city designated by government ordinance A , also known as a or , is a Cities of Japan, Japanese city that has a population greater than 500,000 and has been designated as such by order of the Cabinet of Japan under Article 252, Section 19, of the Local Autonomy Law. Designated cit ...

, and now the area of former Ōmiya City was divided between Kita-ku (north), Minuma-ku (east), Nishi-ku (west), and Ōmiya-ku (south).

Education

Tertiary: * Kokusai Gakuin Saitama Junior College * University of Human Arts and Sciences Urawa-ku has nine elementary schools, seven junior high schools, and eight high schools. Public junior high schools: * No. 2 (Daini) Higashi (第二東中学校) * Mihashi ( 三橋中学校) * Omiya Higashi ( 大宮東中学校) * Omiya Kita ( 大宮北中学校) * Omiya Minami ( 大宮南中学校) * Onari ( 大成中学校) * Sakuragi ( 桜木中学校) Municipal elementary schools: * Kamiko ( 上小小学校) * Mihashi ( 三橋小学校) * Omiya ( 大宮小学校) * Omiya Higashi ( 立大宮東小学校) * Omiya Kita ( 大宮北小学校) * Omiya Minami ( 大宮南小学校) * Onari ( 大成小学校) * Sakuragi ( 桜木小学校) * Shibakawa ( 芝川小学校) The ward also has a North Korean school, Saitama Korean Elementary and Middle School ( 埼玉朝鮮初中級学校). This school was previously in the City of Ōmiya.埼玉朝鮮初中級学校とは？
" Saitama Korean Elementary and Middle School. Retrieved on October 14, 2015. "〒330-0804 埼玉県大宮市堀之内町1の501の1"

Transportation

Railway

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

– Tohoku Shinkansen / Joetsu Shinkansen / Akita Shinkansen / Yamagata Shinkansen /

Hokuriku Shinkansen The Hokuriku Shinkansen () is a high-speed Shinkansen railway line connecting Tokyo with Tsuruga, Fukui, Tsuruga in the Hokuriku region of Japan. It is jointly operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and West Japan Railway Company (JR ...

/ Kawagoe Line *

– Tohoku Main Line / Takasaki Line / Keihin Tohoku Line * - 35px Tōbu Railway – Tōbu Urban Park Line * - - Saitama New Urban Transit ("New Shuttle") - Ina Line * –

Highway

Shuto Expressway The is a network of Toll road, tolled expressways in the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. It is operated and maintained by the . Most routes are Grade separation, grade separated and have many sharp curves and multi-lane merges that require cauti ...

Ōmiya Route *

Local attractions

* Ōmiya Park * Hikawa Shrine * Railway Museum *Saitama Red Cross Hospital in Omiya * The

bonsai Bonsai (; , ) is the Japanese art of Horticulture, growing and shaping miniature trees in containers, with a long documented history of influences and native Japanese development over a thousand years, and with unique aesthetics, cultural hist ...

nurseries in the neighbouring Kita-ku is usually referred to as the " Ōmiya Bonsai Village" because it was in the area of former Ōmiya city.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Omiya-ku Wards of Saitama (city)