Chichibu, Saitama

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Float in Night Festival, Chichibu

Chichibu (秩父市 Chichibu-shi) is a city located in Saitama, Japan.

As of November 1, 2006, the city has an estimated population of 71,721 and the density of 124.15 persons per km². The total area is 577.69 km².

Chichibu became a city on April 1, 1950, though the region had already existed for hundreds of years and developed many local traditions. Since that time, the area of the city has grown via a series of mergers, the most recent in 2005.

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1 Geography
2 History
- 2.1 Timeline
3 Sightseeing
4 The Mikado
5 Transportation
- 5.1 Train
- 5.2 Car
6 Famous people raised in Chichibu
7 Sister cities
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] Geography

The city is located in the westernmost part of Saitama. Unlike other parts of the prefecture, it is largely mountainous and the population is concentrated in river terraces along the Arakawa River. It is Saitama's largest municipality in terms of surface area and shares borders with Tokyo, Yamanashi, Nagano and Gumma prefectures. Most parts of the city belong to Chichibu-Tama-Kai National Park.

Because the region is not suitable for growing rice, many people have depended on other types of farming such as sericulture. Limestone from Mount Bukō, which rises just south of the city center, has been also a major source of income for the region. Today the city is shifting its focus toward sightseeing, taking advantages of its rich natural environment and relative closeness to the Tokyo metropolitan area. The city is also famous for brewing industry.

[edit] History

The city was originally developed as a market place of the district as well as the town around Chichibu Shrine. The city's older name, Ōmiya "big shrine", was derived from the shrine. (It is a mere coincidence that Ōmiya ward of the prefectural capital Saitama, which houses Hikawa Shrine, has the same name.)

[edit] Timeline

708 - Copper was discovered in the region and offered to the Imperial Court. The era name Wadō (和銅, meaning "Japanese copper") was declared as a memorial and the copper was used to mint Wadō Kaihō or Wadō Kaichin, one of the oldest coins in Japan.
1884 - The Chichibu Incident: uprising of impoverished peasants under the influence of the Freedom and People's Rights Movement. Seven were sentenced to death and over 4,000 people were punished.
1889 - Ōmiya town was founded
1914 - Chichibu Railway opened
1916 - Ōmiya town was renamed Chichibu town
1950 - Chichibu town became Chichibu city
1954 - The city absorbed Odamaki, Haraya and Kuna villages
1957 - The city absorbed Takashino and Ōta villages
1958 - The city absorbed Kagemori town
1969 - Seibu Railway Seibu Chichibu Line opened
2005 - The city was merged with Yoshida town, Arakawa and Ōtaki villages and formed new Chichibu city

Oku-Chichibu ("interior Chichibu") Mountains

[edit] Sightseeing

Annually, on December 3, Chichibu holds a major night festival. It attracts crowds from Chichibu, as well as from Saitama prefecture, neighboring Tokyo, and the Kantō region.

Other attractions of the city include:

Chichibu Muse Park
Chichibu Shrine
Hitsujiyama Park
Okuchichibu Mountains
Lake Chichibu
Lake Chichibu Sakura
Mitsumine Shrine
Nakatsugawa Gorge
Thirty-Four Temples of Chichibu

[edit] The Mikado

The city considers itself to be the inspiration for Gilbert and Sullivan's 1885 comic opera, The Mikado. This is because the name of the setting of that show, "Titipu", has to be pronounced "Chichipu" in Japanese. Also, Rokusuke Ei, a popular essayist, was convinced that Chichibu, site of a peasant uprising in 1884, inspired Gilbert to set the opera in Japan. Other Japanese reshearchers have concluded that Gilbert may simply have heard of Chichibu silk, an important export in the 19th Century. In any event, in August 2006, a theatre company from Chichibu presented The Mikado, in Japanese, at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton, England.[1][2]

[edit] Transportation

[edit] Train

Two lines serve the city: Chichibu Railway Chichibu Mainline and Seibu Railway Seibu Chichibu Line. Chichibu Railway was constructed along the Arakawa River and first opened in 1914. Seibu Railway reached the city in 1969 and considerably reduced the distance to Tokyo. It takes about one and half hours from Seibu-Chichibu Station to Ikebukuro Station, one of the major train terminals in Tokyo. These lines have carried not only passengers but also limestone from Mount Bukō. The two lines were directly connected on April 1, 1989. Besides them, Chichibu Railway also operates the Mitsumine Ropeway, which carries passengers visiting Mitsumine Shrine. The ropeway is temporally out of service due to metal fatigue until May 31, 2007.

[edit] Car

Two national roads, Route 140 and 299, serve the city. Route 140 connects the city to its nearest expressway interchange, Hanazono Interchange of the Kan-Etsu Expressway. The city had no road communication to Yamanashi Prefecture due to steep Okuchichibu Mountains, but the opening of the Karisaka tunnel in 1998 enabled the city to communicate with Yamanashi.