Nakayama is in between Narita And Haneda International Airport

Ichikawa city / The Short Summary Of Ichikawa-shi

Ichikawa city is on the western part of Chiba prefecture, so it is also east side of Tokyo. And also Ichikawa city is located on the middle of Narita International Airport and Haneda International Airport, therefore almost foreigners had visited Japan might have passed Ichikawa city once or more.

Ichikawa city has many historical remains. There was the provincial government of Shimousa in the classic Japan at west part of the city, Konodai. And the kokubun-ji Temple was built in Nara period, and Nakayama Hokekyo-ji Temple, one of the grand headquarter of Nichiren Sect , is there in the city. And the Mikoshi daiku carpenters who specially construct Mikoshi live at Gyotoku in Ichikawa city, and they built and repair most Mikoshis in Japan. And many artists and writers , Hakushu Kitahara, Rohan Koda, Kafu Nagai, Kaii Higashiyama, Masashi Sada, Hiroshi Motomiya, Hisashi Inoue and so on lived and live in. Sometimes, Ichikawa appears on their works.

The city name of Ichikawa named after 2 stories, one said that the city was along the Edo river, the biggest river in the Eastern Japan, therefore the first river is spoken as Ichi-Kawa in Japanese, then the city was named 'Ichikawa' in the ancient time. And other said that there were big markets on the river, Japanese call market 'Ichi' and river 'Kawa', then the name Ichikawa was created. Anyway Ichikawa has long history.
　
It is said that people has lived in Ichikawa area since twenty thousands years ago. In the city, there are several shell middens, so Ubayama, Soya and Horinouchi shell midden are the larger horseshoe shaped middens than any other middens in Japan. And Ichikawa has the remains of the governor office of the classic district Shimousa and Shimousa Kokubunji Temple. And the legend of Mama-no-tekona was written in Manyoshu (Collection for a Myriad Ages). The first the name of Ichikawa had appeared on the book 'Gikei-ki' (the record of Yoshitsune), and that said that Minamoto-no-Yoritomo who was the first Shogun and founded the Kamakura Bakufu took his army and reached at Ichikawa in Matsudo-sho after he rebuilt his army at Awa-no-kuni after he had lost the battle of Mt.Ishibashi in Sagami-no-kuni (Knagawa Prefecture). In Kamakura period, Nichiren who was the founder of Nichiren Sect in Buddhism started his missionary works at Nakayama in Ichikawa city. His first preaching spot as Nakayama Hokekyoji Temple preserves many important cultural and historical properties including the tow National Treasures of Japan. During Sengoku Period (The Warring States Period), Hojo at Odawara (in Kanagawa prefecture) and Satomi at Awa (the southern Chiba prefecture) had fought at Konodai twice, and finally Hojo won the battle of Konodai. In Edo period, Tokugawa Clan who was the Shogun family directly controlled most part of the city, so the salt made in Gyotoku was very famous. It was introduced on the book 'Edo-meisho-zue'.

Even now, people could feel the history in Ichikawa city. And also they could get much nature and natural products from the sea and the earth. In northern part of the city, farmers growing pears flourishes, so the city has much nature as in the metropolitan area. It takes 20 minutes from Tokyo Station to Ichikawa Station by JR east. And also it takes 50 minutes from Narita International Airport to Keisei-Yawata Station by Keisei Line. So Ichikawa is easy to live, over 450 thousand people live in.

The Historical And Cultural Landmarks
Nakayama Hokekyo-ji Temple
Katsushika Hachimangu Shrine
Shimousa Kokubunji Temple


参考
市川市ホームページ
デジタル大辞林
ブリタニカ国際大百科事典
ウィッキペディア