Tokorozawa City

Where Japan's first airfield opened.

Aviation Memorial Park

Photo by Bryanmackinnon (CC BY 4.0)

01 ／ Birthplace of aviation

Eight years after the Wrights,Japan's first airfield opened.

In April 1911 the army opened Japan's first airfield at Tokorozawa, which was close to Tokyo, flat, and rarely struck by lightning. On 5 April Captain Tokugawa Yoshitoshi flew a Henri Farman biplane 800 m at a height of 10 m in 1 minute 20 seconds. In October the home-built Kaishiki No. 1 (会式一号機) also flew here. In 1978 about 50 ha of the site became the prefectural Tokorozawa Aviation Memorial Park.

Opened 1911
10 m high, 1 min 20 s
About 50 ha now a park

02 ／ Lake Sayama

Beneath the lakelay a village of weavers.

Lake Sayama (狭山湖) is a reservoir made by damming the Sayama Hills for Tokyo's water supply, completed in 1934. It covered most of Shōrakuji (勝楽寺) and part of Kami-Yamaguchi in Yamaguchi Village, where many workshops wove Tokorozawa kasuri (所沢絣) cloth; 282 households, 1,720 people, moved away. It is still a Tokyo reservoir, and on clear days Mt. Fuji can be seen from the embankment.

Completed 1934
282 households moved
Embankment 716 m long

03 ／ Bishamonten and tigers

Bishamonten's messenger tigerssit before the hall.

In 1694 Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu, lord of Kawagoe, had the open plain cleared, creating the three villages of Kami-tome, Naka-tomi and Shimo-tomi. The Bishamon shrine he built to support the settlers is today's Tamon-in (多聞院) in Naka-tomi. Its Bishamonten is said to have been Takeda Shingen's guardian deity, and stone tigers, the god's messengers, sit before the hall. A Tiger Festival is held every 1 May, and the image is shown in each Year of the Tiger.

Hall completed 1766
City Cultural Property
Tiger Festival, 1 May

Living here

About 19 min to Ikebukuro, 11 stations in the city.

about 340,000 people
30 min to a city centre

From Tokorozawa Station on the Seibu Ikebukuro and Shinjuku lines, Ikebukuro is about 19 minutes and Seibu-Shinjuku about 29. City Hall is a 3-minute walk from the East Exit of Kōkū-kōen Station on the Seibu Shinjuku Line. The city has 11 stations on five lines, including the JR Musashino Line, and the Tokoro Bus loop service. Since January 2024 the city has covered school lunch fees at its elementary and junior high schools.

People living here: 342,464people
Area: 72.11km²
Households: 152,652households
Rent (average for rentals): 63,942yen
Healthcare: 23 hospitals ／ 225 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —55 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.

Tokorozawa City in Japan35.799°N 139.469°E

to IkebukuroSeibu Ikebukuro Line19min
to Seibu-ShinjukuSeibu Shinjuku Line express40min

Travel times follow 池袋は埼玉県の移住サイト「住むなら、埼玉。」の所沢市のページ（問い合わせ先は所沢市経営企画課）、西武新宿は市公式「所沢市役所」の交通案内に載っている値 (checked 2026-09-24). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 10 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Tokorozawa City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

8.9km

Saitama Prefecture: 狭山市, 入間市, 三芳町, 新座市, 川越市
Tokyo: 東村山市, 清瀬市, 東大和市, 武蔵村山市, 瑞穂町

Tokorozawa City isthis kind of town.

01Japan's first airfield opened here in 1911 and a Henri Farman biplane flew; the site is now the Aviation Memorial Park
02Beneath Lake Sayama, dammed in the Sayama Hills, lay Shōrakuji, a village of Tokorozawa kasuri weavers
03In Naka-tomi, part of the Santome settlement, Tamon-in, Yanagisawa Yoshiyasu's Bishamon shrine, is guarded by stone tigers

See the town as it is now.

Source: Wikidata (P2002, P2003, P2013, P2397)

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Tokorozawa City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗