History

The History of Hirosaki

The approximately 400–year history of Hirosaki began with its establishment in the Tsugaru region in far northern Japan by the Tsugaru clan, which had risen to prominence during the Warring State Period. Tamenobu Tsugaru (or Oura, as he was originally called), who unifi ed the Tsugaru region, began building a castle in what was then called Takaoka, the current Hirosaki. Unfortunately he died mid–way through its construction, but the second lord of the clan, Nobuhira, carried out his will and completed the castle in 1611, thereby giving birth to the modern castle town of Hirosaki.

The Develpoment of Hirosaki

On April 1, 1889, Hirosaki was one of the thirty–one municipalities to achieve offi cial city status within prefectures. Then, in 1894, a railroad linking Hirosaki to Aomori was opened, and in 1898 the headquarters of the Eighth Division of the Japanese Army were established in Hirosaki. The grounds of the former feudal castle were opened to the public as Hirosaki Park and became a famous destination for cherry blossom viewers–a tradition that continues today. Later years brought developments in transportation, economics, education, and culture to create the modern city of Hirosaki, which enlarged its area through merging with some of the surrounding farming area in the early Showa Period.
In 1955 eleven villages from the mid–Tsugaru area, and in 1957 Ishikawa Town in southern Tsugaru, also became part of the city. A new merger of the old Hirosaki City with Iwaki Town and Soma Village on February 27, 2006, forming the new Hirosaki City, is the latest development in the history of the central city of the Tsugaru region.