The area around present-day Asahi Ward was formerly part of Tsuzuki District in Musashi Province. By the Heian period it was part of a huge shōen administered by the Hangaya clan, a subsidiary of the Hatakeyama clan. During the Edo period, it was a rural region classified as tenryō territory controlled directly by the Tokugawa shogunate, but administered through various hatamoto. After the Meiji Restoration, the area became part of the new Kanagawa Prefecture in 1868. In the cadastral reform of April 1, 1889, the area was divided into numerous villages. During the Meiji period, the area was a center for sericulture. The area began to urbanize only during the 1920s and 1930s with the building of the Sagami Railway Main Line. On October 1, 1927, it was annexed by the neighboring city of Yokohama, becoming part of Hodogaya Ward. In a major administrative reorganization of October 1, 1969, Asahi Ward was separated from Hodogaya Ward, becoming an independent ward within the city of Yokohama.
Economy
Asahi Ward is largely a regional commercial center and bedroom community for central Yokohama and Tokyo.
Kamisugeda Sasa-no-oka Elementary School (上菅田笹の丘小学校) and Kawashima Elementary School (川島小学校), which have their campuses outside of Asahi-ku, have zones that include portions of Asahi-ku.[3]
