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Disclaimer: This is a hand drawn map and is not 100% reliable. The aim is, however, to make it as accurate as possible so any discovered errors are gratefully accepted. Please use this contact form. For more reliable sources, see the section "sources" below.
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Bunkyo or Bunkyō-ku is one of the 23 special wards (特別区) in Tokyo. It was created in 1947 when two (of the then 35) wards, Hongō-ku and Koishikawa-ku, were merged [1]. Hongō-ku and Koishikawa-ku were in turn formed in the beginning of the Meiji era. They were initially two of 15 wards in 1889. Today Bunkyō-ku consists of 19 districts (町 chō), 8 roughly make up old Hongō-ku and the remaining 11 Koishikawa-ku. Each district is divided into 2 to 7 sub-districts, chōme (丁目). Hongō-ku has 30 such sub-districts and Koishikawa 38. The districts of Bunkyō-ku are listed below. The digit after the name indicated the number of sub-districts. Here the districts are divided depending on if they belong to former Hongō-ku or Koishikawa-ku, but formally no such division is done today. A clear feature of the landscape in Bunkyo is the difference in elevation. Five plateaus (台地, daichi) exist in the ward, from west to east: Sekiguchi(関口), Kohinataa (小日向), Koishikawa (小石川), Hakusan (白山), and Hongō (本郷). This can be seen in the old names where four old districts called daimachi (台町).
Before Hongō-ku and Koishikawa-ku merged the districts were smaller. Hongo had 48 and Koishikawa 61 A list of all old districts are shown below (including a few that disappeared before the map was made). Some have a group name, Kanshō (冠称), e.g., Hongō, Yushima, Komagome, Maruyama, Mukōgaoka, and Nezu. The a large redistricting was done i 1964-1966. Some districts disappeared earlier (Hongō-Higashi-Takechō (本郷東竹町) and Hongō-Nishi-Takechō (本郷西竹町) became part of Hongo in 1933) or lost their kanshō (several in 1911, e.g. Hongo). The map is from pre-war Showa so, some changes happened since Meiji.
Four kanshō were used in Koishikawa-ku: Koishikawa, Kobinata, Sekiguchi, and Takada. Like Hongō-ku, most districts changed in 1964-1966. kanshō was also removed in 1911 in most cases. In 1940, the five districts No. 18-22 became Koishikawa-Tomisakachō (1-2) on the map. Note that No. 62 and No. 63 are fragmented areas, not continuous.