Maebashi (前橋市 Maebashi-shi) is the central city of Japan, located in the south-central part of Gunma Prefecture. Maebashi is the capital of this prefecture.

General information
Maebashi is one of the largest cities in the Kanto Plain, located in the middle reaches of the Tone River. Together with the neighboring city of Takasaki, it is one of the main industrial and commercial centers of Gunma Prefecture. There is also an urban rail network connecting Maebashi with the cities of Shibukawa, Isesaki, and Kiryu.
During the Middle Ages, the area of ​​present-day Maebashi was known as Umayabashi. Since the 17th century, Maebashi received its modern name and became the center of the autonomous formation of Maebashi-khanu, which was owned by samurai of the Sakai and Matsudaira families.
Thanks to the active development of the textile industry in the second half of the 19th century, Maebashi was known as the “silk village”.

Geography
Maebashi is located in the eastern part of the island of Honshu, in the north of the Kanto plain, at the southern foot of the Akagi volcano.
The area of ​​the city is 311.64 km², the population is 340,041 people (July 1, 2014), the population density is 1091.13 people / km². Its length from north to south is 25 km, and from west to east – about 20 km.
On the territory of Maebashi flows the largest river of the prefecture and the Kanto plain – Tone, which is known for the purity of its waters. It divides the city into eastern and western parts.
The city is bordered to the southwest by the villages of Fujimi and Shinto, the city of Shibukawa, and the township of Yoshioka. In the east, it has a common border with the city of Takasaki, in the south – with the cities of Tamamura and Isesaki, in the east and northeast – with the city of Kiryu.
The relief of the city is flat, but has a noticeable slope from north to south. The highest point in the north is 1,572 meters above sea level, and the lowest is 64 meters.

The climate of Maebashi is predominantly humid, subtropical. Little precipitation falls. The average air temperature in the late 1990s and early 2000s fluctuated between 14°C and 15°C. Winters are cool, summers are hot and rainy. In winter, a strong northwest wind blows, and in summer – southwest. Also in the hot season there is frequent thunder and lightning.

Symbols of the city
The emblem of Maebashi is an image of an empty circle in the middle (jap. 輪貫 wanuki). This symbol adorned the mon of the Matsudaira clan, the owners of the medieval Maebashi Khan, the center of which was the modern city. The emblem was approved in 1909.
The Maebashi flag is a dark indigo flag with an aspect ratio of 2:3. In the center of the cloth is placed the emblem of the city in white.
In addition to the flag and emblem, Maebashi has four symbols: two flowers – a rose and an azalea, and two trees – a gray elm and a ginkgo. They were approved in 1980. These symbols represent the beauty and harmony of the inhabitants of the city.

History
The first people appeared on the territory of the modern city of Maebashi in the late Paleolithic. Their heirs were the bearers of the Neolithic Jomon culture and the spreaders of the culture of rice growing at the turn of our era. In the 4th century, the local population founded the Ke country, which was conquered by the young Japanese state of Yamato.
Numerous burial mounds of the 4th-8th centuries serve as a reminder of the Yamato conquest. The largest and richest burial mounds are Tenjinzan and Hotozan, which are located on the territory of the modern city.
In the 8th century, the lands of modern Maebashi became part of the province of Kozuke, and the seat of the provincial government was located in the center of the future city. In the same place were the monasteries of Kokubun-ji, which served as centers for the expansion of Buddhism in the region.
In the middle of the 10th century, the Maebashi area became famous in Japan for raising beautiful horses. At this time, new toponyms related to horse breeding appeared in it – the county and station of Kuruma, the parish of Umaya and others. At the same time, the Buddhist culture in the region received a new development: a unique statue of the eleven-faced bodhisattva Kannon was made in the Nitrinji monastery, and a sculpture of the seated Buddha Amitabha was made in the Zenshoji monastery.
Umayabashi Castle was built in 1470 on what is now Maebashi. At its foot grew a merchant-craftsmen’s village, the direct predecessor of the modern city. However, centuries later, in 1567, it was destroyed by a fire that broke out during a battle between two samurai clans, Takeda and Hojo. The surviving residents moved their homes to the old bed of the Tone River, thus establishing the center of present-day Maebashi.

After the establishment of the Tokugawa Shogunate in Japan in 1603, Umayabashi Castle and surrounding areas were transferred to the Sakai clan, close retainers of the shoguns. The heads of this clan changed the name of the city to Maebashi and became the owners of the autonomous county of Maebashi Khan. The Sakai ruled for 150 years before being overthrown by the Matsudaira clan. Due to frequent floods, the new owners moved their residence to Kawagoe Castle, which caused the decline of the city of Maebashi. They planned to renovate the castle there in 1867, but due to the liquidation of the shogunate and the restoration of direct imperial possession, they could not accomplish their plans. However, before the fall of the existing Matsudara regime, silk production was established in Maebashi, which from 1859 was exported through Yokohama abroad. Thanks to this, the once abandoned settlement began to revive in the second half of the 19th century and began to be called the “silk village” behind the scenes.
In 1881, Maebashi was turned into the center of the newly formed Gunma Prefecture. In 1888 it received the official status of a village, and in 1892 it was the first in the prefecture to receive the status of a city. For several decades, the city grew, absorbing neighboring settlements.
In 1945, during World War II, 80% of Maebashi’s buildings burned down during a US air raid. To update the city, a course was taken for its territorial expansion and the reconstruction of industry. In the 1950s and 1960s, Maebashi developed into a center for the production of electrical goods, machinery, and commerce.
The Christian Women’s School, founded in Maebashi in 1888, exactly 111 years later, in 1999, received university status – Kyoai University.
On April 1, 2001, the Japanese government designated Maebashi as a Special City of Japan.
On December 5, 2004, the city of Ogo, as well as the villages of Kasukawa and Miyagi, were included in the city.
On April 1, 2009, Maebashi received the status of a central city.