Sumida, Tokyo southeast; Taitō to the west; Chūō to the southwest; and Kōtō to the south. The ward was founded on March 15, 1947. It was previously the (ordinary) wards Honjo and Mukojima. Mukojima, formed in 1932, contained the former town of Sumida, which along with the river gave the ward its name. As of 2005, the mayor is Noboru Yamazaki. The council consists of 34 members. Public elementary and middle schools are operated by Sumida. Public high schools are operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education. In addition, the metropolitan school district also operates a metropolitan junior high school:
Yamanote and Shitamachi certain "conflation" of the two terms, and those born in Shitamachi are typically considered true Edokko, children of Edo. This conflation is evident in the Edo period habit of saying "I am going to Edo" to mean going from the area around Fukagawa in Kōtō ward to anywhere east of the Sumida river. While the Yamanote grew west on the Musashino Plateau, in time the Shitamachi expanded east beyond the Arakawa river, and now includes the Chūō, Kōtō(Fukagawa), Sumida, and Taitō wards, plus part of Chiyoda ward. The center of Ueno in Taitō lies at the heart of the old