Yoshikawa City

Don't leave without eating the catfish.

01 ／ Catfish

Come to Yoshikawa,and don't leave without catfish.

Set between the Naka and Edo rivers, Yoshikawa took to river-fish cooking, and in the early Edo period restaurants are said to have lined its river landings. People said "Come to Yoshikawa and don't leave without eating catfish and eel", and namazu no tataki (なまずのたたき), catfish flesh chopped with miso and deep-fried, became a home dish. At the south exit of Yoshikawa Station sits a golden catfish made by Murose Kazumi, a Living National Treasure of maki-e lacquer.

River-fish cooking since the early Edo period
Local dish: namazu no tataki
Golden catfish, 1995

02 ／ River trade

From landings on the Naka River,rice and rope went to Edo.

In the Edo period Yoshikawa was shogunate land, and new-field reclamation made it one of the leading rice-growing areas. Boats on the Naka River carried the rice to Edo, and the Yoshikawa and Hiranuma river landings (吉川河岸・平沼河岸) prospered. Rope and other straw goods were shipped to Edo from the landings too, and until recent years that craft lived on in making the straw bales that ring the sumo ring at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan.

Yoshikawa and Hiranuma landings
Early-ripening rice
Straw bales for the Kokugikan ring

03 ／ Temple

At a temple founded by Shinran's disciple,a hexagonal stone tower from the Kamakura era.

According to the temple, Shōjō-ji (清浄寺) was founded in 1261 by Sainen (西念), one of the "Twenty-four Disciples" (二十四輩) of Shinran, on the riverside at Kiuri (木売) where boats came and went. In its grounds, the Sainen Hōshi Tower (西念法師塔), a Kamakura-period stone tower with a hexagonal body under a hexagonal roof, is the only one of its kind in the prefecture. Together with a bluestone slab carved "Namu Butsu" (南無仏), it is a prefectural Historic Site.

Founded 1261, by tradition
The only Kamakura hexagonal stone tower in the prefecture
Two prefectural Historic Sites

Living here

About 50 minutes from Tokyo Station, no change.

about 70,000 people
60 min to a city centre

The city has Yoshikawa Station on the JR Musashino Line and Yoshikawa-Minami Station, opened in 2012. It takes about 50 minutes from Tokyo Station to Yoshikawa Station on the Musashino Line, and buses run to City Hall from the station's north exit. The population grew after the Musashino Line and the Yoshikawa housing estate arrived in 1973, and the town became a city in 1996.

People living here: 71,979people
Area: 31.66km²
Households: 27,901households
Rent (average for rentals): 60,232yen
Healthcare: 2 hospitals ／ 41 clinics

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

Children waiting for childcare: —12 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.

Yoshikawa City in Japan35.896°N 139.856°E

to TokyoJR Musashino Line50min

Travel times follow 市公式「市役所への交通案内」（2026-05-29 更新）の「JR東京駅から、武蔵野線でJR吉川駅まで約50分」。JR東日本の吉川駅の時刻表（2026年10月分・下り）で東京行きの直通があることを確かめた (checked 2026-09-24). They vary by time of day.

Shape

Borders 6 municipalities across 1 prefectures.

Territory of Yoshikawa City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

9.0km

Saitama Prefecture: 松伏町, 三郷市, 越谷市, 草加市
Chiba Prefecture: 流山市, 野田市

Yoshikawa City isthis kind of town.

01A town of river-fish cooking between the Naka and Edo rivers, where people said not to leave without eating catfish and eel
02In the Edo period, rice and straw goods went to Edo by boat on the Naka River, and the Yoshikawa and Hiranuma landings prospered
03Shōjō-ji, said to have been founded by Shinran's disciple Sainen, has a Kamakura-period hexagonal stone tower found nowhere else in the prefecture

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Yoshikawa City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗