Western Tokyo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Western Tokyo or Tama Area (多摩地域, Tama Area^?) consists of the part of Tokyo Prefecture on the island of Honshū to the west of the special wards. Whereas the special wards occupy the space that was formerly Tokyo City, western Tokyo consists of the 26 cities, three towns, and one village that were not part of the former city. The cities are

Akiruno Akishima Chōfu Fuchū Fussa Hachiōji Hamura Higashikurume Higashimurayama Higashiyamato Hino Inagi Kiyose

Kodaira Koganei Kokubunji Komae Kunitachi Machida Mitaka Musashimurayama Musashino Nishi-tokyo Ōme Tachikawa Tama

The towns of Hinode, Mizuho, and Okutama and the village of Hinohara lie in Nishitama, Tokyo.

Collectively, these 26 municipalities are also called the Tama region. This is distinct from the city of Tama.

Tokyo consists of the special wards, Western Tokyo, and insular Tokyo.

[edit] History

Under the Ritsuryo system, Tama District was part of Musashi Province. The provincial capital was at Fuchu. The provincial temple (kokubunji) was at Kokubunji and the principal shrine (ichinomiya) was at Tama.

Western Tokyo previously consisted of three districts. Nishitama District (whose name literally means "Western Tama") encompassed the present-day cities of Akiruno, Fussa, Hamura, and Ome in addition to the four towns and villages that are now in the district. As municipalities are promoted from town or village to city status, they leave the district. Thus the cities named are no longer part of Nishitama District.

Minamitama District ("Southern Tama") covered the area now occupied by Hachioji, Hino, Inagi, and Machida. With the formation of Inagi in 1971, the last city, the district ceased to exist.

Kitatama District ("Northern Tama") consisted of the locations of the present-day cities of Akishima, Chofu, Fuchu, Higashikurume, Higashimurayama, Higashi-yamato, Kiyose, Kodaira, Koganei, Kokubunji, Komae, Kunitachi, Mitaka, Musashimurayama, Musashino, Nishi-tokyo, and Tachikawa, as well as some land now in Setagaya. With the establishment of the city of Musashimurayama in 1970, Kitatama District ceased to exist.