Hachiōji

Japan

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History

Hachiōji, city, southwestern Tokyo to (metropolis), east-central Honshu, Japan. It is situated on a main rail line west of Tokyo and is bordered to the southwest by Kanagawa prefecture and on all other sides by cities in the metropolis, including Hino (east) and Machida (south). Hachiōji is the second largest city in the metropolis, after Tokyo.

It was a castle town in the Middle Ages and prospered as a market and post town during the Edo (Tokugawa) period (1603–1867). Hachiōji has long been well known as a silk-weaving centre. After the late 19th century the textile industry developed rapidly, and the city became one of the leading weaving centres of the Kantō Plain.

Hachiōji was heavily damaged by Allied bombing during World War II. Industry was rebuilt after the war, and the city also grew as a residential suburb of Tokyo. Its products now include electrical machinery, precision instruments, and synthetic textiles. The city is the main commercial market for the western part of the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area and neighbouring communities in other prefectures. The western portion of the city, located in the mountains of western Tokyo metropolis, includes Mount Takao (1,968 feet [600 metres]) in the southwest, which is a popular recreation area. Pop. (2010) 580,053; (2015) 577,513.