Tokyo City

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the historical Tokyo City. For present-day Tokyo, see Tokyo.

Tokyo City (東京市, Tōkyō-shi^?) was a municipality in Japan. It existed from May 1, 1889 to July 1, 1943, when it was merged with Tokyo Prefecture to form the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The historical boundaries of Tokyo City are now occupied by the 23 special wards. They form the eastern portion of the mainland part of present-day Tokyo.

Some people still use the name to refer collectively to the 23 special wards. While convenient, this is technically inaccurate. The wards do not share a mayor or a city council, but rather function as separate municipalities under the metropolitan government, that is, Tokyo.

[edit] History

In 1868, the medieval city Edo, seat of the Tokugawa government, was renamed Tokyo, the Eastern Capital. Then, the offices of Tokyo Prefecture (-fu) were opened. The extent of Tokyo Prefecture was initially limited to the former Edo city (15 wards listed below), but rapidly augumented to be comparable with the present Tokyo Metropolis.

In 1878, 15 wards and 6 districts were placed under Tokyo Prefecture. Wards were placed in the former Edo city.

Kojimachi (present Chiyoda)
Kyobashi (present Chuo)
Kanda (present Chiyoda)
Nihonbashi (present Chuo)
Fukagawa (present Koto)
Honjo (present Sumida)
Asakusa (present Taito)
Shitaya (present Taito)
Hongo (present Bunkyo)
Koishikawa (present Bunkyo)
Ushigome (present Shinjuku)
Yotsuya (present Shinjuku)
Akasaka (present Minato)
Azabu (present Minato)
Shiba (present Minato)

In 1889, Tokyo City (-shi) was formed with these 15 wards.

In 1932, Tokyo City was augumented with 20 wards from surrounding districts.

Joto (present Koto)
Mukojima (present Sumida)
Arakawa (present Arakawa)
Takinokawa (present Kita)
Toshima (present Koto)
Yodobashi (present Shinjuku)
Shibuya (present Shibuya)
Meguro (present Meguro)
Ebara (present Shinagawa)
Shinagawa (present Shinagawa)
Edogawa (present Edogawa)
Katsushika (present Katsushika)
Adachi (present Adachi)
Oji (present Kita)
Itabashi (present Itabashi and Nerima)
Nakano (present Nakano)
Suginami (present Suginami)
Setagaya (present Setagaya)
Omori (present Ota)
Kamata (present Ota)

In 1943, Tokyo City and Tokyo Prefecture were united into Tokyo Metropolis (-to). The previous wards became directly administered by the Metropolis. Tokyo ceased to be the name of a city at that time.

In 1947, Tokyo Metropolis was reformed with the same status as the other prefectures, while retaining its name and subtle speciality. The previous wards were merged into 22. They each received a status comparable to that of a city.

In 1947, Nerima was separated from Itabashi forming the 23rd special ward.