Saitama (city) city boundaries. The western portion of the city lies on the lowland created by the Arakawa River along with those created by small rivers such as the Moto-Arakawa River, Shiba River, and Ayase River. The rest of the area mostly resides on the Ōmiya Plateau lying in the north-south direction. Dispersed in this region, major rivers flow southward, almost paralleling to one another. Saitama has ten wards ("ku"), which were assigned official colours as of April 2005: Saitama's economy is principally constituted by commercial business. The city is one of many commercial centers of the Greater Tokyo area and serves
Sumida River being manufactured by Korean prisoners of war. Sandra Andacht wrote in 1987, "Sumida gawa wares have found great popularity with collectors, dealers and investors. The motifs conform to the general Western concepts of what Oriental designs are expected to depict; writhing dragons, Buddhist disciples, mythological and legendary beings and creatures. Thus these wares are sought after and prices (here in the States) are quite high, even for pieces in less than perfect condition." The "Noh" play "Sumida-gawa", which the British composer Benjamin Britten saw while visiting Japan in 1956, inspired him to compose "Curlew River" (1964), a dramatic work based