Ōta, Gunma

Ōta is a city in the extreme southeastern part of Gunma Prefecture in the northern Kantō Plains, bordered by Tochigi Prefecture to the east and Saitama Prefecture to the south. It lies between the Tone and Watarase rivers, roughly 80 kilometres northwest of Tokyo and 30 kilometres east of the prefectural capital Maebashi, on lowland that rises from 30 metres in the south to about 70 metres in the northwest. The city takes its name from Ōta-shuku, one of two post towns on the Nikkō Reiheishi Kaidō in the Edo period. Ōta Town was created on 1 April 1889 and became a city on 3 May 1948, growing by absorbing neighbouring villages in 1940, 1943, 1957 and 1963. On 28 March 2005 the old city absorbed the towns of Nitta, Ojima and Yabuzukahon to form the new city of Ōta. As of 2020 the city had an estimated population of 224,358 in about 109,500 households.