No.88 130th Anniversary of the Implementation of Village System in Inagi

This year, Heisei 31, there is great interest in the era change accompanying the Emperor's abdication, but did you know that it is also a significant milestone year marking 130 years since the village of Inagi was established?
Inagi was established in Meiji 22 (1889) through the merger of Higashi-Naganuma Village, Yanokuchi Village, Omaru Village, Momura Village, Sakahama Village, and Hirao Village, forming a new village with a population of 3,750. At that time, the six villages were of similar scale, and since it was an equal merger rather than an absorption, the new village was named "Inagi."
At that time, Oshitate Village was under the jurisdiction of Kitatama County and was incorporated into Tama Village, which was newly established in the 22nd year of the Meiji era (now part of Fuchu City due to merger). Later, in the 24th year of the Showa era, parts of Oshitate and Tokuhisa were incorporated into Inagi Village, forming the current area of Inagi City.
By the way, many municipalities across the country have significantly reduced in number after three mergers. Originally, there were "natural villages" that served as communities for living since before the Edo period, and it is said that there were 71,314 municipalities as of the 21st year of the Meiji era. In the same year, the city and town village systems were promulgated, and since small towns and villages lacked administrative capacity, the "Great Merger of the Meiji era" was implemented, reducing the number to 15,859 by the 22nd year of Meiji.

Next, the "Great Merger of Showa" was implemented due to the enforcement of the Local Autonomy Act in 1947, the Promotion of Town and Village Mergers Act in 1953, and the subsequent Promotion of New City and Town Construction Act in 1956, resulting in a decrease to 3,472 by 1961.
Furthermore, due to the amendment of the Merger Special Law by the Local Autonomy Law in 1995, the "Heisei Great Merger" was implemented from 1999 to 2006, reducing the number to 1,821, and it is currently 1,718.
As a result of the above, there are few municipalities nationwide that have not experienced any mergers since the 22nd year of the Meiji era, and Inagi City is one of them, with some referring to it as a "municipality that upholds pure blood principles." However, due to geographical factors and the rapid increase in population, it is not necessarily rare in the Tama area of Tokyo, with cities such as Musashino, Mitaka, Koganei, Kokubunji, Higashimurayama, Kiyose, Kunitachi, Komae, Tama, and Hamura also falling into this category.
Considering these mini pieces of knowledge, I believe that the citizens' affection for Inagi City will deepen even further.
Inagi City will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its city system implementation in 2021. However, before that, I hope to carry out a few projects in the new fiscal year to let everyone know about the 130th anniversary of the village system, which is the root of Inagi, even though it may be a bit modest.