Early history Kashiwa has been settled since ancient times, and was historically part of
Shimōsa Province. The area around Kashiwa was the site of the
Battle of Sakainehara in 1478 early in the
Sengoku period (1467 – 1573). During the
Edo period (1603 – 1868), the area was
tenryō territory controlled directly by the
Tokugawa shogunate. The shogunate established a number of horse ranches which provided
war horses for the army of the shogunate. The Tokugawa shogunate put much effort into draining the marshy areas of
Lake Tega (Lake Teganuma) during the Edo period as part of large-scale
land reclamation carried out across Japan. Kashiwa was developed as a
post station on the
Mito Kaidō, which connected the capitol at
Edo with
Mito in present-day
Ibaraki Prefecture.
Modern history After the
Meiji Restoration in 1868, Kashiwa Village was created in Chiba Prefecture on October 1, 1889, with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. Kashiwa was connected to Tokyo by rail in 1896, and rail construction during the
Meiji period (1868 – 1912) established the area as a commercial center. Kashiwa became a town on September 15, 1926. Kashiwa, like much of northern Chiba Prefecture, saw the development of numerous military installations in the 1930s, notably after the
Mukden Incident in 1931. The
Imperial Japanese Army established Kashiwa Air Field and Kashiwa Military Hospital, and Kashiwa became a military town. The air field was abandoned after the end of World War II, but the hospital continues to exist as the Kashiwa Public Hospital. On September 1, 1954, Kashiwa absorbed neighboring Kogane Town and Tsuchi and Tanaka villages to form the new city of . However, many politicians in Kogane Town were vehemently opposed to the merger, and forced its dissolution on October 15, 1954, with most of former Kogane Town merging with
Matsudo city instead. On November 1, 1954, Fuse Village broke away from Tokatsu, eventually joining Abiko Town to form the city of Abiko. The remaining portion of Tokatsu was renamed Kashiwa on November 15, 1954. On December 25, 1955, a fire of unknown origin destroyed the former Kashiwa City Hall, and burned down most of the center of the city. In the 1960s, Kashiwa was designated for reconstruction with a special fund from the central government, which included Japan's first pedestrian decks, completed at Kashiwa Station in 1973. Also during this period,
new town developments greatly expanded the city's population. On April 1, 2008, Kashiwa was designated as a
core city, with increased local autonomy. In August 2010, the city population exceeded 400,000 people. ==Government==