Gyōda contains many Kofun period burial mounds and has been inhabited since prehistoric times. “Saitama” is a local place name within Gyōda, and is recorded in Nara period documents. During the Sengoku period, Oshi Castle famously withstood a siege by Ishida Mitsunari in 1590. During the Edo periodTokugawa shogunate, the castle was the center of Oshi Domain, ruled by a branch of the Matsudaira clan until 1871, during which time the castle town prospered from its location on the Nakasendō highway. The town of Gyōda was created within Kitasaitama District, Saitama with the establishment of the municipalities system on April 1, 1889. On April 1, 1937, Gyōda annexed the neighboring villages of Nagano, Hoshikawa and Mochida. It was elevated to city status on April 23, 1949. From 1954–1955, the city expanded by annexing the neighboring villages of Araki, Suka, Kitakawahara, Saitama, Hoshimiya, and Ōi. On January 1, 2006, the village of Minamikawara was merged into Gyōda.
Economy
Gyōda has a mixed economy of agriculture and light manufacturing, especially for automobile components. SHOWA Corporation, a global manufacturer of automotive, motorcycle and outboard suspension systems, is headquartered in the city.
Saitama Kofun Park is a historic park dotted with large ancient tombs, including the Maruhakayama Kofun, one of the largest round burial mounds in Japan. At Shogunyama Kofun, a key-hole shaped long burial mound that is square at the head and rounded at the foot, there is a display room of its interior where the stone cave hut and excavated articles have been restored to their original conditions in the 5th to 7th centuries.
Ancient Lotus Park has lotuses that were grow from seeds estimated to date back 1,400 to 3,000 years which had been found by chance during excavation for the building of a waste disposal facility. After a few thousand years of dormancy, they awoke and germinated. The large pink blossoms bloom only in the morning for about a month from mid-July after the close of the rainy season.
Oshi Castle is a 1988 reconstruction of the third yagura tower of Oshi Castle. The daimyō Narita Akiyasu built Oshi Castle near the end of the 15th century using the natural levee of the surrounding marshlands and river. It was considered impregnable. When it was attacked by the 20,000 man army of Ishida Mitsunari in 1590, it did not fall even when it was flooded by water drawn in from the nearby river, leading to the rumor that it floated on water. The existing turret was reconstructed in 1988. The castle grounds are also the home of Oshi Tōshō-gū shrine.
Culture
Zeri Furai is a local speciality consisting of fried bean curd, carrots, onion, and potato. There are many shops which sell it around town, especially during the warmer seasons.
Gyōda is also quite well known for the making of traditional tabi socks, worn with kimono. Gyoda still makes half of the tabi made in Japan.
