This whole area was once a wide open field where the shogunate set horses loose and raised them. At the end of the Edo era, a thousand or so horses are said to have been on that field. When the field was abolished in the Meiji era, the wild land was reclaimed by human hands, and in time it became the place where two railways crossed, and the town became a city where people who commute to Tokyo live. As a trace of the field, a single Great Buddha still sits by the highway. The field where the shogunate set its horses loose still keeps increasing its population. Kamagaya-shi’s numbers are the record of a town inscribed with the history of a field where horses were set loose.
A city opening on the Shimosa plateau in the northwestern part of Chiba Prefecture. The population has risen consistently, from 102,573 in 2000 to 109,932 in 2020. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign “a bedtown,” but the causal thread: how the history — a field where the shogunate set its horses loose, and two railways — is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · Looking at the Kamagaya-shi of today in its numbers
In the latest Population Census the population is about 110,000 (109,932 in 2020). Its trend is a consistent increase. From 102,573 in 2000, through 102,812 in 2005, 107,853 in 2010, 108,917 in 2015, and on to 109,932 in 2020, it rose by more than seven thousand over twenty years.
Looking inside, the figure of a plateau city where people commuting to Tokyo live appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 12.4% in 2000 to 28.6% in 2020, but among many regional cities that approach four in ten, it does not reach three in ten and keeps a comparative youthfulness. The household-with-children share is 19.8% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.72 in fiscal 2023, a level above the middle, covering more than seven-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue. The figure of a field where the shogunate set its horses loose, increasing its population consistently while keeping a comparative youthfulness, shows in the numbers. Why it took this form cannot be read without going back over the history of the grazing land and the railways.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency) / Real Estate Information Library (MLIT)
02 · The field where the shogunate set its horses loose, the reclamation of the wild land, the Great Buddha by the highway, the two railways — the history behind the numbers
This town’s skeleton is set by the wide field where the shogunate set horses loose and raised them, by the reclamation after that field was abolished in the Meiji era, and by two railways. The opening layer is the open field. In the Edo era, this whole area was a wide open field directly managed by the shogunate for setting military horses loose and raising them. This grazing land, spanning neighboring areas, was held in high regard among the shogunate’s grazing lands, and at the end of the Edo era a thousand or so horses are said to have been here. Horses were set loose on a wide field, and an untouched wild land spread out — that was this town’s starting form.
With the Meiji era, this field was abolished. The wide wild land, having finished its role of setting horses loose, was reclaimed by human hands, and new fields and human living were opened. As a trace of this field, a single Great Buddha — said to have been erected by a merchant in the mid-Edo era — still sits by the highway, quietly conveying the era when this land was an open field. The course of becoming a city mirrors this town. To this land, which had passed through the reclamation of wild land, two railways eventually ran, and as the place where one line running north and south across the plateau crossed another running east and west, the town became a city where people who commute to Tokyo live. This land became a city in the 1960s, and ever since it has increased its population as a residential area along the rail lines. The field where the shogunate set its horses loose, the reclamation of the wild land, the Great Buddha by the highway, and the two railways — this town’s form stands upon the history of a field of loosed horses that the Shimosa plateau has held.
Source: Chiba / Kamagaya — the Kogane-maki (a grazing land directly held by the Edo shogunate from the Keicho era; the Nakano-maki spanned Kashiwa, Matsudo, Kamagaya, Shiroi, and Funabashi; Hatsutomi from the Meiji reclamation — overview) / Kamagaya City / the Kamagaya Great Buddha (a Buddha image erected in 1776 by Daikokuya Bunemon — overview) / Kamagaya City (the crossing of the Tobu Noda Line and the Hokuso Line / Narita Sky Access Line; a bedtown of the Tokyo metropolitan area; city status in 1971 — overview)
03 · On the plateau where the railways cross, increasing its population consistently and keeping its youthfulness
What characterizes Kamagaya-shi is that, while bearing the history of a field where the shogunate set horses loose, it has increased its population consistently and keeps a comparative youthfulness. From 102,573 in 2000 to 109,932 in 2020, more than seven thousand were gained over twenty years. While many regional cities reduce their population, behind this town keeping on increasing there can be read its location in the northwestern part of Chiba Prefecture, easy to commute to Tokyo from, with housing spreading over the plateau where two railways cross, and households raising children staying in the town. That the share aged 65 and over is 28.6% in 2020, not reaching three in ten and keeping a comparative youthfulness, is also its expression.
On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist was zero in both 2024 and 2025. A Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.72 is a level that covers more than seven-tenths of expenditure with its own tax revenue, above the middle. The income of the many households living on the plateau can be read as supporting the tax source above the middle. The population rises consistently, the aging does not reach three in ten, and the fiscal stamina is above the middle. The three numbers can be read as separate cross-sections of a single flow — households raising children keeping on staying on the plateau where two railways cross.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · A wide field of loosed horses became the groundwork for development
Kamagaya, as a town opened on the Shimosa plateau, holds several functions of its own. One is its history as a wide open field where the shogunate set horses loose and raised them, keeping a Great Buddha by the highway as its trace. Another is its character of having, after that field was abolished and reclaimed in the Meiji era, become the place where two railways cross and a city where people who commute to Tokyo live. The wide, flat landform of the Shimosa plateau set a wide field for loosing horses, and later opened that very place into residential land.
Kamagaya is a town where a field on which the shogunate set its horses loose became a residential city where railways cross. From a wide field of loosed horses, to the reclamation of the wild land, the Great Buddha by the highway, and on to two railways — the geography of “opening on the Shimosa plateau” set a wide field for loosing horses and called in reclamation and railways. Because it was not a town that set human living, but a wide field for loosing horses, consolidated land was left in the Meiji era as the object of reclamation. It was a field for horses — that origin is the groundwork for the present spread of residential land.
Source: Chiba / Kamagaya — the Kogane-maki (a grazing land directly held by the Edo shogunate from the Keicho era; the Nakano-maki spanned Kashiwa, Matsudo, Kamagaya, Shiroi, and Funabashi; Hatsutomi from the Meiji reclamation — overview) / Kamagaya City / the Kamagaya Great Buddha (a Buddha image erected in 1776 by Daikokuya Bunemon — overview) / Kamagaya City (the crossing of the Tobu Noda Line and the Hokuso Line / Narita Sky Access Line; a bedtown of the Tokyo metropolitan area; city status in 1971 — overview)
05 · Atlas note — the chain by which a field of horses became residential land
Lay out Kamagaya’s numbers and indicators that keep a comparative youthfulness, for a plateau city where people commuting to Tokyo live, line up: a consistently rising population, an aging rate of 28.6%, a household-with-children share of 19.8%, fiscal capacity of 0.72. With the habit of going back to the land at the foot of the figure, what I (Atlas) want to read here is the point that this town’s residential land spreads over “a field where the shogunate set its horses loose.” In the Edo era, this whole area was a wide untouched wild land, a grazing land where the shogunate set military horses loose and raised them. Because it was not fields or a town for human living, but a wide field for loosing horses, when its role ended in the Meiji era, consolidated wide land was left as the object of reclamation. The thread — that this wide, flat land later drew in two railways and became the groundwork to be opened as residential land — falls into place once one considers this town’s landform and history.
One more thing to consider is that this field is now a residential city increasing its population consistently. While many regional cities reduce their population, this town gained more than seven thousand over twenty years and still keeps its youthfulness. The locational advantage of the northwestern part of Chiba Prefecture, easy to commute to Tokyo from, and the condition of a plateau where two railways cross, can be read as having turned a field of loosed horses into a receiver of housing. The layering — that a land where a thousand or so horses were once loosed on a wide field is now a residential city where more than a hundred thousand people live — lies behind this town’s population increase. Only a single Great Buddha sitting by the highway, as a trace of the field, quietly conveys the memory of that era. That this town’s residential land spreads over a wide field where the shogunate once set military horses loose and raised them — to read Kamagaya, I want first to go back there. Because it was not fields or a town for human living but a wild land for loosing horses, when its role ended in the Meiji era, consolidated wide land was left as the object of reclamation. That flat, wide land drew in two railways and became the groundwork to be opened as residential land. While many regional cities reduce their people, this plateau that was a field of horses gained seven thousand over twenty years and still keeps its youthfulness. A field where a thousand horses were loosed became a residential city of more than a hundred thousand, and only the Great Buddha by the highway quietly remembers that old field. The history pushes up even the way the present population increases — reading this single thread without severing it, I (Atlas) hold, is what tells most in Kamagaya.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Chiba / Kamagaya — the Kogane-maki (a grazing land directly held by the Edo shogunate from the Keicho era; the Nakano-maki spanned Kashiwa, Matsudo, Kamagaya, Shiroi, and Funabashi; Hatsutomi from the Meiji reclamation — overview) / Kamagaya City / the Kamagaya Great Buddha (a Buddha image erected in 1776 by Daikokuya Bunemon — overview) / Kamagaya City (the crossing of the Tobu Noda Line and the Hokuso Line / Narita Sky Access Line; a bedtown of the Tokyo metropolitan area; city status in 1971 — overview)
Editor’s note: all figures and sources are drawn from official statistics. The prose follows Atlas’s voice, and AI (atlas-handcrafted-reverse-v1 (Daiki 2026-06-02)) handled the shaping of the text. Evaluative or predictive language (such as “a good buy” or “attractive”) is intentionally left out. Revision id: wave18_c