Soka City

634 pines on the road Bashō walked.

Sōka Matsubara

Photo by Fred Cherrygarden (CC BY-SA 4.0)

01 ／ Pine avenue

Down to 119 pines,the avenue is back to 634.

草加松原(黒松の並木).jpg — Photo by Souka Kinmei (CC0)

Sōka Matsubara (草加松原) runs for about 1.5 km along the Ayase River, just north of the old post town of Sōka-juku (草加宿). Exhaust fumes and other damage kept killing the pines, and by 1975 only 119 were left. The next year residents formed the Sōka Pine Avenue Preservation Society and kept replanting, and by 2012 there were 634. In 2014 it was designated a national Place of Scenic Beauty, one of the Landscapes of Oku no Hosomichi (おくのほそ道の風景地).

119 pines in 1975
634 pines in 2012
Place of Scenic Beauty, 2014

02 ／ Senbei

The tale of Osen-sanwas written in the Shōwa era.

The story of Osen-san (おせんさん), a teahouse woman who flattened and grilled her unsold dumplings, is, according to the city, a tale made up in the Shōwa era. In fact, rice crackers kept by farmers in this rice-growing area are thought to have spread when teahouses in Sōka-juku began selling them; brushing them with soy sauce began at the end of the Edo period. In 2006 Sōka senbei (草加せんべい) was among the first foods certified as Honba no Honmono (本場の本物), and in 2007 it became a regional collective trademark.

Soy sauce since the late Edo period
Honba no Honmono, 2006
Regional collective trademark, 2007

03 ／ Leather

Cowhide or kangaroo,it becomes leather here.

In 1935 a leather company opened a factory in Sōka, where groundwater was plentiful, and others followed from the Mikawashima area of Tokyo. Tanners here work everything from cattle, pig and sheep to deer, kangaroo and reptile hides, and cutting through to finished goods can all be done within the city. In 2024 it was counted among the Japan Tanners' Association's "four major leather-producing areas".

Factories from 1935
A wide range of hides
Four major leather areas

Living here

About 25 minutes to Ueno or Asakusa.

about 250,000 people
30 min to a city centre

From Sōka Station it is about 25 minutes to Asakusa on the Tobu Skytree Line, and about 25 minutes to Ueno on trains running through onto the Hibiya Line. Through service with the Hibiya Line began in 1962, and with the building of the Matsubara housing estate (松原団地) the population grew; it is now over 250,000. City Hall is a 10-minute walk from Sōka Station.

People living here: 248,304people
Area: 27.46km²
Households: 111,923households
Rent (average for rentals): 66,165yen
Healthcare: 6 hospitals ／ 134 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —31 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.

Soka City in Japan35.825°N 139.805°E

to UenoTokyo Metro Hibiya Line and Tobu Skytree Line25min
to AsakusaTobu Skytree Line25min

Travel times follow 市公式「草加市へのアクセス」（2022-02-01 更新）に載っている値。2026-09-24 の経路検索で、いまのダイヤでも合っていることを確かめた (checked 2026-09-24). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 6 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Soka City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

7.4km

Saitama Prefecture: 八潮市, 越谷市, 川口市, 吉川市, 三郷市
Tokyo: 足立区

Soka City isthis kind of town.

01North of the old Sōka-juku on the Nikkō Kaidō, an avenue of 634 pines is a national Place of Scenic Beauty linked to Oku no Hosomichi
02The home of Sōka senbei, where the city itself says the tale of Osen-san is a Shōwa-era story
03A major leather centre, working hides from cattle to kangaroo

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Soka City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗