No.88 Inagi's 130th Anniversary

This year, 2019, there is a lot of interest in the change of name due to the abdication of His Majesty the Emperor, but did you know that it also marks a major turning point as the village of Inagi was born 130 years ago?
Inagi was born in 1889 as a new village with a population of 3,750 by merging Higashi-Naganuma Village, Yanoguchi Village, Daimaru Village, Hyakumura, Sakahama Village, and Hirao Village. At that time, there was not much difference in size between the six villages, and the merger was not an absorption-type merger but a merger of equals, so the new village name ``Inagi'' was given to them.
At that time, Oshidate Village was under the jurisdiction of Kitatama District, and it also became part of Tama Village, which was newly created in 1889 (currently merged with Fuchu City). Later, in 1944, parts of Oshidate and Tsunehisa from Tama Village were incorporated into Inagi Village, forming the current Inagi City area.
By the way, many municipalities across the country have undergone three mergers and have significantly reduced their numbers. Originally, there were ``natural villages'' as living communities before the Edo period, and as of 1898, there were 71,314 municipalities. In the same year, the city system and the town and village system were promulgated, and because small towns and villages lacked administrative capacity, the ``Great Merger of Meiji'' was carried out, and by 1899, the number had decreased to 15,859.
Next, the ``Great Merger of Showa'' was carried out through the enforcement of the Local Autonomy Law in 1945, the Town and Village Merger Promotion Law in 1950, and the New Municipal Construction Promotion Law in 1955, and by 1950, 3,472 decreased to
Furthermore, due to the revision of the Special Merger Law under the Omnibus Decentralization Law in 1995, the "Great Heisei Merger" was carried out from 1999 to 2018, and the number decreased to 1,821, and currently stands at 1,718.
As a result of the above process, there are very few municipalities nationwide that have not undergone a single merger since 1899, and Inagi City is one of them, and some people refer to it as a ``municipality that adheres to the principle of pure blood.'' . However, due to geographical factors and the history of rapid population growth, this is not necessarily uncommon in the Tama area of ​​Tokyo, and this includes the cities of Musashino, Mitaka, Koganei, Kokubunji, Higashimurayama, Kiyose, Kunitachi, Komae, Tama, and Hamura. .
I believe that based on this mini-knowledge, citizens' attachment to Inagi City will deepen even further.
Inagi City will reach a major milestone in 2021, the 50th anniversary of its establishment as a city, but before that, in order to let everyone know about Inagi's roots, which have been 130 years since its establishment as a village, we will be holding a few small events in the new year. I hope I can start some businesses.