The area of Inagi has been settled since the
Japanese Paleolithic, or for over 20,000 years, based on projectile points,
stone tools and
microliths found in several locations within city borders. There is evidence of several
Jomon period settlements, but settlement disappeared towards the end of the Jomon period due to climate change and eruptions of Mount Fuji. The area was sparely settled in the
Yayoi period, with increasing settlement density in the
Kofun period. A number of
Nara period remains have been found, including the ruins of a
roof tile kiln. During the
Heian period, the area became part of a
shōen controlled by the Oyamada clan, and later by their cadet branch, the Inabe clan into the
Kamakura period, and was an area contested between competing branches of the
Ashikaga clan and
Uesugi clan in the
Muromachi and
Sengoku periods. After the start of the
Edo period, the area was
tenryō controlled directly by the
Tokugawa shogunate. Inagi as a municipality was founded on April 1, 1889, as a village in what was then
Minamitama District,
Kanagawa Prefecture, from the merger of 6 pre-
Meiji period hamlets with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. The district was transferred to the administrative control of Tokyo Metropolis on April 1, 1893. On April 1, 1957, Inagi Village was promoted to town status, and to city status on November 1, 1971. ==Government==