Prehistoric and ancient era Archaeological evidence from the Japanese
Paleolithic and
Jōmon period can only be found in the northwest
Tama Hills. The course of the Tama and the coast of the Bay of Tokyo have also changed in historical times, so that large parts of the urban area are geologically young.
Classical era Nara period to the Sengoku period With the introduction of the
Ritsuryō legal system, the area came to the
Musashi Province in the 7th century. In the
Nara period, the center of the Tachibana district was probably in the area of today's Takatsu district. Since the
Heian period, the domain of the Inage clan has expanded here. Around the
Heiken-ji Buddhist temple (better known as Kawasaki-Daishi), founded in 1128, a monzen-machi, a busy district for the supply of pilgrims, soon emerged. Between the
Kamakura period and
Sengoku period, smaller feudal lords ruled the area until it finally came under the control of the
Later Hōjō clan.
Early modern In 1611, Koizumi Jidayū had Nikaryō Yōsui built, a canal system on the right bank of the Tama for irrigating the fields, which in some cases still runs through the densely built-up city. On the long-distance
Kaidō roads Tōkaidō and Nakaharakaidō built by
Edo-
Bakufu, stations were built in the area of what would later become Kawasaki, which increased its importance. The Kawasaki station (Kawasaki-juku, near today's Kawasaki station) on the Tōkaidō was not officially recognized until 1623 as the last of the 53 Tōkaidō stations. The Bakufu let the bridges over the Tama collapse and there were ferry connections to nearby Edo in several places in today's Kawasaki, which laid the foundation for the development of the city. File:Kura-zukuri building kawasaki kanagawa 2014 08 09 250pm.jpg|Old building in the "Kura-zukuri" style on Oyama Kaido street File:Rokugō_no_Watashi_in_the_1860%27s_photographed_by_Felice_Beato.jpg|Rokugō no Watashi in the 1860s photographed by
Felice Beato File:東海道五十三次之内_川崎_六郷渡舟-Ferry_Boat_Crossing_the_Rokugo_River_MET_DP122176.jpg|Ferry Boat Crossing the Rokugo River
Modern The rapid
urbanization of the area, which continues to this day, began in the
Meiji and
Taishō eras. In 1872,
Kawasaki Station was established on the
Tōkaidō Main Line which was Japan's first railway line. In 1889, the city (machi) Kawasaki in the district (gun) Tachibana was created according to the Japanese municipal system introduced the year before. In 1912 the border between
Kanagawa and
Tokyo prefectures was established as the
Tama River. On July 1, 1924, the independent city (shi-) of Kawasaki with 48,394 inhabitants was formed through a merger with the city of Daishi (formerly Daishigawara) and the village of Miyuki. People from the Korean peninsula were made to work in the industrial sector in the city, working on railways construction, or rebuilding roads damaged by U.S. bombings towards the end of WWII. People from Okinawa were also coming to the city, and in 1924, the oldest Okinawans Association in Japan was founded in Kawasaki.
World War II As part of
World War II, the city was bombed three times by the
United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) between April 1945 and July 1945. The most serious attack was an area bombing with
Napalm bombs on April 15, 1945. The attacks destroyed around 35% of the urban area and claimed 1,520 dead and 8,759 injured. The attacks burned down 9.3 km2 of the city (see
Bombing of Tokyo). Kawasaki became a target of the first mainland bombing by the US military in 1942, followed by multiple bombings, partly due to the city's heavy and chemical industrial complex supplying the war efforts in Asia and the Pacific.
Contemporary period Shōwa era (1945–1989) On April 15, 1945, large parts of the area around the train station and the industrial area at the port were destroyed by air raids. Since the 1950s, residential areas for commuters have been created in the northeastern part of the city, which are connected directly to the centers of Tokyo by new railway lines. On April 1, 1972, Kawasaki became a decree-designated city (
seirei shitei toshi) with 5 districts. 1973 the population exceeded the million mark. In 1982 the new districts of Miyamae and Asao were created by splitting off from the districts of Takatsu and Tama. In the course of
deindustrialization, industrial areas have recently been increasingly converted into residential areas (mostly
Multi-family residential), so that a further increase in population density can be expected. == Geography ==