means rice field. The earliest document on record which refers to Sanda is from 1477. Sanda Castle was erected during the Muromachi period. A castle town later developed during the Azuchi-Momoyama period, and under the Edo Period Tokugawa shogunate. Sanda was the center of the 36,000 koku Sanda Domain, ruled through most of its history by the Kuki clan. Following the Meiji restoration, the town of Sanda was established with the creation of the modern municipalities system. The town prospered thanks to the completion of a railroad system which connected the town and the surrounding areas. In 1956, the towns of Miwa, Hirono, Ono, and Takahira merged into the town of Sanda. Finally, Sanda annexed Aino, itself a merger of towns Ai and Honjō, in 1957. Sanda was upgraded from a town to a city on July 1, 1958. Government Sanda has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 22 members. Sanda contributes two members to the Hyōgo Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is within Hyōgo 5th districts of the lower house of the Diet of Japan. General hospitals Sanda City Hospital/Keyakidai Hyogo Chuo Hospital/Ohara Economy Sanda has a mixed economy of commerce, light manufacturing and agriculture. It is increasingly a commuter town for Osaka and Kobe. Industries Mitsubishi Electric (Melco) has a large R&D and production campus in Sanda. Many large industries in Sanda city are concentrated in the Hokusetsu Sanda Technopark. The industries represented primarily include pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food, and distribution. Some specific companies based in the Technopark are: Iris Ohyama (Plastics/chemicals) Morita (fire engine manufacturing) Asahi Foods (food) Soft99 Corporation (car wax/chemicals) Nippon Polyester (polyester/chemicals) Hayashi (tower/chemicals) Kishida Chemical (chemicals) Tamapori (polystyrene/chemicals) Kiribai Kobayashi (drug-manufacturing, disposable heating pad/chemicals) Hokuseisha (printing) Sastech (stainless steel) Ueno Drug (drug/chemicals) Education Sanda has 20 public elementary schools, nine public middle schools and four high schools operated by the city government, and four public high schools operated by the Hyōgo Prefectural Board of Education. In addition, the prefecture also operates two special education schools for the handicapped. The Minatogawa College, a junior college, is located in the city High schools (grades 10-12) Arima High School Hokusetsu Sanda High School Sanda Seiryo High School Sanda Shounkan High School Sanda Gakuen High School (private) Sanda Shosei High School (private) Junior high schools (grades 7-9) Keyakidai Junior High School Yurinokidai Junior High