Utsunomiya is served by the high-speed Tohoku Shinkansen line from Tokyo, as well as a number of suburban lines operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and the private railway operator Tobu Railway. In addition, Tochigi Prefecture also operates eight special education schools for the handicapped.

There are also five private high schools. The city has ten public high schools operated by the Tochigi Prefectural Board of Education. In addition, there is one private elementary school and four private junior high schools. Utsunomiya has 68 public elementary schools and 25 public junior high schools operated by the city government as well as one junior high school operated by the prefectural government and one elementary school and one junior high school by the national government.In addition, one of the largest malls in the north Kantō region, Bell Mall is located near central Utsunomiya. Utsunomiya is home to a Canon optical manufacturing plant, a Japan Tobacco plant, Honda design centers, and various other industrial concerns in the Kiyohara Industrial Park. Utsunomiya is the commercial and industrial center of Tochigi Prefecture. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between the Tochigi 1st district and Tochigi 2nd district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan. Utsunomiya, together with the town of Kamikawa collectively contributes 13 members to the Tochigi Prefectural Assembly. Utsunomiya has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 45 members. On March 31, 2007, Utsunomiya absorbed the towns of Kamikawachi and Kawachi (both from Kawachi District), pushing the population of Utsunomiya City over 500,000. In 1996, Utsunomiya was designated a core city within increased autonomy. The city limits were expanded from 1951 to 1955 by annexing neighboring Suzumenomiya town and Hiraishi, Yokokawa, Mizuhono, Kunimoto, Shiroyama, Tomiya, Toyosato, and Sugatagawa villages and the part of Shinoi village from Kawachi District and Kiyohara village from Haga District. On Jmuch of Utsunomiya and the surrounding areas were destroyed in the American Bombing of Utsunomiya during World War II. Utsunomiya was raised to city status on April 1, 1896. At the end of the 1889, Utsunomiya had a population of 30,698 making it the third most populous municipality in the Kantō area, after Tokyo and Yokohama. With the establishment of the municipalities system on April 1, 1889, the town of Utsunomiya was officially established.

Utsunomiya became an important garrison for the Imperial Japanese Army. Following the Meiji restoration, Utsunomiya was briefly (1871–1873) part of Utsunomiya Prefecture, which was then merged into the new Tochigi Prefecture, and became capital of the prefecture in 1884. During the Bakumatsu period Boshin War, the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle was a major conflict in the northern Kantō area. The town of Utsunomiya developed around this shrine, and the area was under the control of the Utsunomiya clan, an offshoot of the Fujiwara clan from the Heian through Sengoku periods, and was destroyed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.ĭuring the Edo period, the Utsunomiya area was ruled by a succession of daimyō clans under Utsunomiya Domain, and prospered from its location at the junction of the Nikkō Kaidō and the Ōshū Kaidō. The Utsunomiya Futarasan Shrine ( 宇都宮二荒山神社), which is the Ichinomiya of Shimotsuke Province claims to have been founded in 353 AD. Per Japanese census data, the population of Utsunomiya has recently plateaued after decades of strong growth.Īrchaeologists have uncovered evidence that the area of Utsunomiya has been continuously settled since the Japanese Paleolithic period onwards, and numerous burial mounds from the Kofun period are found within its borders. Ĭlimate data for Utsunomiya (1991−2020 normals, extremes 1890−present) The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.0 ☌ (78.8 ☏), and lowest in January, at around 2.8 ☌ (37.0 ☏). The average annual rainfall is 1,524.7 mm (60.03 in) with September as the wettest month. The average annual temperature in Utsunomiya is 14.3 ☌ (57.7 ☏). Utsunomiya has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen climate classification Cfa) with hot and humid summers and cool winters. The average altitude of the city is 100 metres (330 ft).

The historic town of Nikkō is approximately 25 km (15 mi) northwest of Utsunomiya. It is approximately 100 km (60 mi) north of Tokyo. Utsunomiya is located in south-central Tochigi Prefecture in the northern Kantō plains.

Utsunomiya shion