Sakura, Chiba

Sakura (佐倉市, Sakura-shi) is a city located in northern Chiba Prefecture, Japan.

As of December 2014, the city has an estimated population of 177,601 and a population density of 1714 persons per km². The total area is 103.59 km².

Geography

Sakura is located in northeastern Chiba Prefecture on the Shimōsa Plateau. It is situated 40 kilometers northeast of the Tokyo and 15 kilometers from Narita International Airport. Chiba City, the prefectural capital, lies 15 kilometers southwest of Sakura. Lake Inba and the Inba Marsh form the northern city limits.

Neighboring municipalities

History

The area around Sakura has been inhabited since prehistory, and archaeologists have found numerous Kofun period burial tumuli in the area, along with the remains of a Hakuho period Buddhist temple. During the Kamakura and Muromachi periods, the area was controlled by the Chiba clan. During the Sengoku period, the Chiba clan fought the Satomi clan to the south, and the Late Hōjō clan to the west. After the defeat of the Chiba clan, the area came within the control of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who assigned one of his chief generals, Doi Toshikatsu to rebuild Chiba Castle and to rule over Sakura Domain as a daimyō. Doi rebuilt the area as a jōkamachi, or castle town, which became the largest castle town in the Bōsō region. Under the Tokugawa shogunate, Sakura Domain came to be ruled for most of the Edo period under the Hotta clan. In the Bakumatsu period the domain became a center for rangaku studies, centered on the Juntendō school of the doctor Taizen Satō (1804 – 1872). The Juntendō and other educational institutions in Sakura contributed greatly to the Meiji Restoration. After the abolition of Sakura Domain, the area eventually became part of Chiba Prefecture.