The city was founded on May 1, 2001, and was designated on April 1, 2003 as a government ordinance. For the histories of Urawa, Ōmiya and Yono before the merger, see:
On April 1, 2005, Saitama absorbed the city of Iwatsuki to its east, which became a new ward, Iwatsuki-ku.
Name
The name "Saitama" originally comes from the Sakitama District of what is now the city of Gyōda in the northern part of what is now known as Saitama Prefecture. "Sakitama" has an ancient history and is mentioned in the famous 8th century poetry anthology Man'yōshū. The pronunciation has changed from Sakitama to Saitama over the years. With the merger of Urawa, Ōmiya, and Yono it was decided that a new name, one fitting for this newly created prefectural capital, was needed. The prefectural name "Saitama" was changed from kanji into hiragana, thus Saitama City was born. It is the only prefectural capital in Japan whose name is always written in hiragana, and belongs to the list of hiragana cities. However, Saitama written in hiragana actually finished in second place in public polling to Saitama written in kanji. Despite this, government officials decided to name the new city Saitama in hiragana, not kanji. In third place in the poll was Ōmiya. In fourth was Saitama, written with an alternative kanji for "sai" which means "colorful". The "sai" used in the prefectural name is a rare form of a common character that means 'cape' or 'promontory'.
Geography
The city is located 20 to 30 km north of central Tokyo, roughly at the center of the Kantō Plain. Situated in approximately the center of Saitama Prefecture, the city is topographically comprised by lowlands and plateaus, at mostly less than 20 m above sea level, with no mountain ranges or hills within the city boundaries. The western portion of the city lies on the lowland created by the Arakawa River along with those created by small rivers such as the Moto-Arakawa River, Shiba River, and Ayase River. The rest of the area mostly resides on the Ōmiya Plateau lying in the north-south direction. Dispersed in this region, major rivers flow southward, almost paralleling to one another.
Surrounding municipalities
Saitama Prefecture
*Ageo
*Hasuda
*Shiraoka
*Asaka
*Kawaguchi
*Toda
*Warabi
*Koshigaya
*Kasukabe
*Kawagoe
*Shiki
*Fujimi
Climate
Wards
Saitama has ten wards, which were assigned official colors as of April 2005:
Economy
Saitama's economy is principally constituted by commercial business. The city is one of many commercial centers of the Greater Tokyo area and serves Saitama Prefecture, North Kanto, and northeast Honshu. Saitama is also home to various manufacturers, exporting automotive, food, optical, precision and pharmaceutical products. Calsonic Kansei, a global automotive company is headquartered in the city. Iwatsuki is famous for manufacturing of hinamatsuri dolls and ornate kabuto.
