hachiōji officially became a city on september 1, 1917, but it has been an important point on the kōshū highway, the main road that connected edo (the old name of tokyo) with western japan since before modern times, especially during the edo period. for a short period of time, a castle, hachiōji castle (八王子城; hachiōji-jō) was in the area. it was made in 1584 by hōjō ujiteru (北条氏照), but was soon broken in war by toyotomi hideyoshi in 1590. in the meiji period, hachiōji grew larger because of silk and silk textiles. however, the industry became less popular in the 1960s. today, hachiōji is home for many tokyo workers.