Hanyū

Hanyū is a city in the most northern part of Saitama Prefecture, Japan, with the Tone River along its northern border. Before the river was redirected to its present course to control flooding it flowed through the city, and it served as a major shipping route for locally produced textiles and goods from further up river, which helped Hanyū flourish as a stopping point on the road toward Tokyo. Today only an irrigation channel remains near the old river path. Hanyū became a city on 1 September 1954 by merging with the neighbouring villages of Shingō, Sukage, Iwase, Kawamata, Iizumi and Tegobayashi, and it annexed the village of Chiyoda in 1959. Textile dyeing and clothing production were its traditional industries, and the area was famous for indigo in the Edo period. The city had an estimated population of 54,304 in 2021 and covers 58.64 square kilometres. It has a humid subtropical climate with warm summers and cool winters, and its attractions include the Saitama Aquarium.