Saijo-shi

In the latest Population Census the population is about 105,000 (104,791 in 2020). What to note first here is that the surge of more than fifty-five thousand, from 58,110 in 2000 to 113,371 in 2005, is not the result of people naturally increasing. It is from the new merger in 2004 of the former Saijo City and a surrounding city and two towns, and the step in the numbers mirrors that merger. The former Saijo City before the merger was about sixty thousand; becoming one with the surroundings, both the city area and the population widened at a stroke.

Upon that, looking at the post-merger content, it fell from 113,371 in 2005 to 104,791 in 2020, by more than eight thousand five hundred over fifteen years. Those under 15 also fell by about 3,300, from 16,199 in 2005 to 12,925 in 2020. The share aged 65 and over rose from 21.4% in 2000 to 32.8% in 2020. The household-with-children share was 19.8% (2020), the Childcare Waitlist has been zero in recent years, and the Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.61 in fiscal 2023. The figure of a city of water, widened by the merger, gently losing population and adding years, appears in the numbers. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without going back over the history of the spring water and the festival.

Saijo’s skeleton is set by water that springs up of itself from the ground here and there about the city. This self-springing groundwater is called "uchinuki" locally. The center of Saijo lies upon a rich belt of subsurface flow sourced in the Ishizuchi range, and wells where water springs up naturally just by driving a pipe into the ground are said to number about three thousand in the city. Their daily volume reaches about ninety thousand cubic meters, and this water has been chosen for the nation’s 100 Famous Waters. Water springing up of itself — this advantage of the land has been the foundation of the town’s life and industry.

The festival that put down roots in this city of water is the autumn "Saijo Festival." This festival, in which gorgeous floats called danjiri parade through the town, derives from the autumn rites of the shrines of the former Saijo City area before the merger, and has continued as a yearly event of the region. A life raised on a land blessed with abundant water appears in the form of such rites.

This area was, in early-modern times, also the castle town of the Saijo domain. And what decided the present form of the city was the Heisei merger. In 2004 the former Saijo City, Toyo City, Komatsu Town and Tanbara Town merged anew, widening to the present city area that gathers the whole northern foot of Mount Ishizuchi. Beginning as a city of self-springing water, known for the danjiri festival, and widened by the merger — this town’s shape stands upon the history of spring water and a festival.

What characterizes Saijo is that, after the city area widened through the merger, the population falls gently and aging passes three in ten. Over the fifteen years after the merger the total fell by more than eight thousand five hundred, and those under 15 also fell by about 3,300. Against the backdrop of an industrial agglomeration along the Seto Inland Sea, though not a steep drop, the thinning of births and the outflow of the young generation work quietly — a form of shrinking common to regional cities.

The living-infrastructure numbers also mirror this transition. The elementary schools jumped from ten to twenty-six with the 2004 merger, as the school networks of the combined cities and towns were bundled together just so. After that they fell slightly in step with the falling number of children, and in recent years have moved around twenty-five. The school network dispersed across the widened city area is, broadly, held. The Childcare Waitlist has been zero in recent years. The town, known as a city of self-springing water and prospering on the danjiri festival, now gently loses population in the city area widened by the merger. The total falls gently, children fall, and aging passes three in ten. The population that jumped at a stroke with the merger, and the school network reorganized afterward. The road the self-springing city of water has walked after the merger is engraved in these numbers.

Saijo’s life stands upon water that springs up of itself from the ground. One is the groundwater blessing called "uchinuki," with few other parallels, where the subsurface flow of the Ishizuchi range springs up of itself in the city. About three thousand self-springing wells are scattered about the city, supporting the water of life and industry. Another is the danjiri of the autumn "Saijo Festival" that put down roots in that city of water, conveying the form of the region’s life and faith.

This terrain — where water that fell on Mount Ishizuchi passes through the depths of the earth and wells up in the town — scattered about three thousand self-springing wells across the city, raised the danjiri festival upon that abundant water, and in 2004 bundled the whole northern foot of Mount Ishizuchi into a single city. Water springing from the ground without turning a tap still moistens Saijo’s life and industry.