Honjo City

Hanawa Hokiichi's home until age 15.

Hanawa Hokiichi's birthplace

Photo by MChew (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Scholar

Blind from the age of seven,he compiled 666 volumes.

Hanawa Hokiichi (塙保己一) was born in 1746 in what is now Hokino, Kodama, and lost his sight at seven. At fifteen he went to Edo to study, and over 41 years he compiled the 666 volumes of the Gunsho Ruijū (群書類従). Its printing blocks number 17,244, and their pages of 20 characters by 10 lines are said to be the origin of the 400-character manuscript paper. His birthplace is a National Historic Site.

Born 1746 in Hokino
Gunsho Ruijū, 666 volumes
Birthplace a National Historic Site

02 ／ Post town

More houses and peoplethan any other Nakasendō post town.

Honjō-juku (本庄宿) was the tenth post town on the Nakasendō from Nihonbashi in Edo. Supported by travellers, river-landing trade and merchants, by 1843 it had 1,212 houses and 4,554 people, the largest post town on the Nakasendō. The Tamura family, who ran its honjin inn for daimyo, recorded the lords' stays from 1642 to 1863, and the honjin's gate still stands.

10th post town from Nihonbashi
1,212 houses in 1843
4,554 people

03 ／ Sericulture

Little roofs on the rooflet air through the silkworm rooms.

Kimura Kuzō (木村九蔵) of Kodama devised the Ippa Ondan-iku (一派温暖育) method, using fire to keep silkworms from disease and shorten rearing time. In 1877 he formed a sericulture improvement group, and in 1894 its successor, Kyōshinsha (競進社), built the Model Silkworm Rearing House. Its row of roof vents (yagura) lets out moisture. It is a Saitama Prefecture cultural property. In the Meiji era Honjō was one of Japan's leading cocoon markets.

Group formed 1877
Rearing house built 1894
Saitama Prefecture cultural property

Living here

About 50 minutes to Tokyo Station by Shinkansen.

about 80,000 people
60 min to a city centre
Shinkansen stops here

The city has Honjō-Waseda Station on the Joetsu and Hokuriku Shinkansen, Honjō Station on the JR Takasaki Line and Kodama Station on the JR Hachikō Line. From Honjō-Waseda Station, opened in 2004, Tokyo Station is about 50 minutes away. Waseda University's Honjo Campus is near the station. From Honjō Station, Shinjuku and Ueno are about 1 hour 30 minutes away.

People living here: 78,569people
Area: 89.69km²
Households: 33,033households
Rent (average for rentals): 45,955yen
Healthcare: 11 hospitals ／ 51 clinics

Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Population from 2010 onward (municipal boundary changed).2006-01-10 に新設合併（児玉町）。2010年調査から市域が変わっている。

Children waiting for childcare: —20 nurseries and similar
Home purchase subsidy: —
Average annual temperature: —

These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.

ACCESS

Where you can go from here.

Honjo City in Japan36.244°N 139.190°E

to TokyoJoetsu Shinkansen50min
to ŌmiyaJoetsu Shinkansen25min
to UenoJR Takasaki Line90min
to ShinjukuJR Shonan-Shinjuku Line90min

Travel times follow 市公式「アクセス」（シティプロモーション推進課・2026-08-20 更新）の図「本庄〜東京間のアクセス」の『上越新幹線で約50分（本庄早稲田駅〜東京駅）』『高崎線で約1時間30分（本庄駅〜新宿駅・上野駅）』と、市公式「交通」（2020-10-01 更新）の『（大宮駅〜本庄早稲田駅）約25分』。JR東日本の時刻表（2026-09-24 閲覧）で、本庄早稲田駅は上越・北陸新幹線の『大宮・東京方面（上り）』、本庄駅は高崎線の『熊谷・上野・新宿方面（上り）』があり、いまも直通していることを確かめた (checked 2026-09-24). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 8 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Honjo City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

17.3km

Saitama Prefecture: 神川町, 美里町, 上里町, 深谷市, 長瀞町, 皆野町
Gunma Prefecture: 伊勢崎市, 玉村町

Honjo City isthis kind of town.

01Hanawa Hokiichi, the scholar who compiled the 666-volume Gunsho Ruijū after losing his sight at seven, was born here, and his birthplace is a National Historic Site
02The gate of the honjin inn survives from Honjō-juku, which by the end of the Edo period had the most houses and people of any Nakasendō post town
03Kyōshinsha's Model Silkworm Rearing House, where Kimura Kuzō taught his rearing methods, stands in Kodama, and Meiji-era Honjō thrived as a cocoon market

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Honjo City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗