The river plain now containing the city centre was originally settled as a castle town around the seat of the lords of Tosa Province, K?chi Castle. The castle site was chosen by Lord Yamauchi Kazutoyo in 1601. The city takes its name from that of the castle. As the centre of administration for the province, and the prefecture which succeeded it, the town rapidly grew to become the largest settlement of the region.
During the time of the Meiji Restoration, K?chi became famous as a centre of pro-imperial ideology, and later for incubating democratic and human rights movements.
The city was incorporated on April 1, 1889.
Tram service began in the city on May 2, 1904, and the city was connected to the national rail network on November 12, 1951.
On April 1, 1998, the city was designated as the first core city on Shikoku.
On January 1, 2005 the villages of Kagami and Tosayama, both from Tosa District, merged with the city, and on January 1, 2008 the town of Haruno from Agawa District also merged with the city.
WWII air raid
K?chi was selected as a target by the United States' XXI Bomber Command because of the city's status as a prefectural capital, and the fact that it was a center for industry and commercial trade. On July 3, 1945 at 6:22 PM (JST) 129 Aircraft took off to bomb K?chi. 1060 tons of incendiary bombs were dropped on K?chi, destroying 48% of the built up areas of the city
