Ōmiya, Saitama

Ōmiya was a city in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. In 2001 it merged with two other cities to form the city of Saitama. Since 1 April 2003, the area of former Ōmiya city is Kita-ku, Minuma-ku, Nishi-ku, and Ōmiya-ku of Saitama city.

[edit] History

Ōmiya is an indigenous Japanese language word which can be decomposed to Ō (大, kun'yomi (Japanese reading) おお: large, great) and miya (宮, kun'yomi み-や: noble or holy - house; palace or shrine) after the Hikawa Shrine.

The town was on the Nakasendō, a main national road in the feudal Edo period and the predecessor to a part of National Highway Route 17, and the Takasaki Line. Its name was derived from the famous shrine.

The town of Ōmiya as a modern municipality was founded in 1899.

After the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake bonsai nurseries relocated from Tokyo and formed the bonsai village.

In 1940, the town merged with several surrounding villages to form the city of Ōmiya.

On May 1, 2001 it merged with Urawa and Yono to form Saitama city.

On April 1, 2003, when Saitama became a designated city, the former area of Ōmiya city was sectored into Kita-ku, Minuma-ku, Nishi-ku and Ōmiya-ku.

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