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Progressing Kunitachi

更新日 平成23年7月29日

Medieval Times

In the latter period of the Kamakura Period, the name Yahogo谷保郷 came into use. Originally, the character 「谷」of yaho means swampy land, so the conditions are adequate for rice fields and a prosperous rice crop.
In the Kamakura Period the vassal Tsudo family is said to have lived in Yaho.

Edo Period (1603-1868) / Meiji Period (1868 - 1912)

In the Edo Period, a lot of private houses were built along the Koushu Kaido and soon a village has been formed.
The citizens lived mainly from agriculture and sericulture (silkworm culture) and along the Kaido Merchants and Handicrafts emerged.
In 1889, the 3 villages of Yaho, Aoyagi and Ishida united and became the predecessor of Kunitachi Yaho-Mura.
In 1893, the governmental control was transfered from Kanagawa Prefecture, to Tokyo-Fu.

Taisho Period (1912 -1926)

In the closing years of the Taisho period, the way along the Koushu Kaido was dotted with several hundreds of farm houses and the wild nature zone. In the northern part of Yaho village became developed by the HakoneTochi Kaihatsu Corporation. With the eye of creating an ideal city for education and the streets were planned in an orderly manner.
In 1926 the Kunitachi College of Music was founded and the station inaugurated.

Showa Period (1926-1989)

In 1927, Hitotsubashi University started to move to Kunitachi, and in 1930 the Nanbu Line opened its service. In 1945, during the second world war, Kunitachi became evacuated, but after the end of the war, people came back and the population increased in a rapid pace. So in 1951, Yaho Village became Kunitachi town.
Also, in this time among the citizens and students a movement to protect the education environment of Kunitachi, and designate special education district came into being. The claim for a Special District for Education has finally been accepted by the Ministry of Construction and the Metropolitan Government in 1927.
In 1965, the Fujimidai appartment complexes were completed and as the population exceeded the 50,000 Kunitachi town becomes Kunitachi city.
In 1998, the population surpassed the 70,000.
In the third basic planning period (1996-2005) the ideal figure of kunitachi in 2005 is outlined - a "green-overflowing city of communication", "a city with a culture to change people ", "hand over with pride to the next generation" live a life full of vitality and a overflowing heart, aim at the creation of a cultural city - that's what the city government makes all efforts for.

The starting point for the Town Development - 「The Special District for Education」…

A sign "Special District for Education" has been put up in the center of the rotary in front of Kunitachi station.
The origin of this "school zone" is not simply because of a large number of schools and universities.
In the 1950's a big dispute, has been settled that split the town in half.
When in 1950 the Korean war begun, a large number of American Military has been stationed in Tachikawa as base camp.
Under this influence, also in Kunitachi simple Ryokan and restaurants for the GIs made their appearance and dubious business started.
At that time a movement started among the citizens and students, who wanted to protect the environment with the aim of designating rules for a special education district in the metropolitan area.
Aiming to protect the environment in the town area for the youth, it has been stated in this regulations that in the Kunitachi area-the regulation applying high-class Japanese-style restaurants, cabarets etc. are not to be constructed and the construction of hotels and ryokan is limited.
A dispute occured, as the opposite faction argued that a special district for education will become an obstacle to economic growth, and the tax would be heavier as the economy's faltering.
The discussion in the town council heated up and as a result of the melee a vote has been hold and a petition has been filed for the special district for education.
In 1952, it has been established.
The movement for the designation of a special district for education, was not simply an opposition movement to the development of a pleasure quarters, but you can say that the movement to create an ideal university town has been revived.
Hence the town development has been decided on by the citizens, and as an original precedent of citizens' self-government, this is of historic significance.

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