Chiba, Chiba

Chiba (千葉市 Chiba-shi) is the capital city of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is east-southeast of Tokyo on Tokyo Bay.

Chiba City is one of the Kanto region's primary seaports. Much of the city is residential, although there are many factories and warehouses along the coast.

History

The city was founded on January 1, 1921 and was designated on April 1, 1992 by government ordinance.

In the Heian period, the first records related to the city of Chiba record the emigration of Taira Tsuneshige (平常重) to Chiba. He proclaimed himself "Chiba no Suke" (千葉介) and governed around the region we know as Chiba city today. His descendants claimed the family name of "Chiba" and continued dominance of this region until the Muromachi period. In the Kamakura period, Chiba Tsunetane (千葉常胤) helped Minamoto Yoritomo (源頼朝) establish the Kamakura Bakuhu. This made the Chiba clan important in the Kamakura Bakuhu. He built Inohana castle on Inohana mountain and moved his headquarters to it from Oohji castle.

Their power and influence declined because of wars around the Kanto region during the Nanboku-cho and Muromachi periods. In the 16th century, instead of the Chiba clan, the Hara clan, which was one of the servants of Chiba clan, wielded power in this region. In the Sengoku period, the Hara clan was forcibly removed by Yoshiaki Ashikaga (足利義明, not to be confused with 足利義昭). Then, Yoshiaki Ashikaga was also removed by the Sakai (酒井 not to be the Sakai clan in Mikawa) clan, which was one of the servants of the Satomi (里見) clan. Finally both the Chiba and Sakai clans were annihilated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

In the Edo period, both the Oyumi (生実)　(Morikawa (森川)) clan and the Sakura (佐倉) clan governed the region. A part of the region was governed directly by the Tokugawa Bakuhu. The Oyumi clan governed their territory stably. On the other hand, according to the Sakura clan, in the beginning of the Edo period, the governor was frequently changed by various events, such as Takeda Nobuyoshi (武田信吉), Matsudaira Tadateru (松平忠輝). Ogasawara Yoshitsugu (小笠原吉次), Doi Toshikatsu (土井利勝) and so on. Finally the Hotta (堀田) clan stably governed their territory.

Wards

Chiba has 6 wards (ku):

Demographics

As of 2003, the city has an estimated population of 909,497 and a density of 3,342.76 persons per km². The total area is 272.08 km².

Chiba in fiction

William Gibson used a futuristic Chiba as one of the main settings for his novel Neuromancer, also referred in some of his other stories.

Sports

Chiba is home to several professional sports teams.

Club	Sport	League	Venue	Established
Chiba Lotte Marines	Baseball	Pacific League	Chiba Marine Stadium	1950
JEF United Ichihara	Football	J. League	Ichihara Rinkai Studium Fukuda Denshi Arena	1946

Sister cities

Transportation

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