Kitatama District, Tokyo

In 1878, the Meiji government made the first step to introduce modern administrative divisions on the municipal level: The districts (gun) were created from the pre-modern districts (gun or kōri) with their towns and villages.

Four years later, in 1893, the three Western Tama districts were transferred from Kanagawa to Tokyo.

In the 1930s and 1940s many villages in the district were elevated to towns, and beginning in 1936 when Kinuta and Chitose (in the present-day special ward of Setagaya) were integrated into Tokyo city the district started to lose territory.

In 1940, Tachikawa became a city and after World War II, large parts of the district followed when the cities of Musashino, Mitaka, Chōfu, Koganei, Fuchū, Kokubunji, Akishima, Kodaira and Higashimurayama were created.

By 1967, Kitatama District only consisted of five towns and it ceased to exist in 1970 when the remaining area was consolidated into the cities of Komae, Kiyose, Higashikurume, Higashimurayama and Musashimurayama.