Edo Culture: Daily Life and Diversions in Urban Japan, 1600-1868

Chapter 1. Edo: The Warrior's City

23 Topography and the City’s Layout When Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542–1616) came to Edo in 1590, he inherited little more than the vestiges of a castle built long before by Òta Dòkan (1432–1486). With the implementation of Tokugawa political rule, this sleepy, historic area was destined to become the capital of all Japan. By the start of the eighteenth century, roughly one century after the establishment of the Tokugawa bakufu, the city of Edo already boasted a population of around one million inhabitants. The appearance of a city of such size was an event unprecedented in Japanese history. The city’s development commenced in earnest once Edo became the castle town of Ieyasu, then merely the daimyo of the eight Kantò provinces. This era lasted for roughly a decade, ending with Ieyasu’s decisive victory at the Battle of Sekigahara (1600) and his subsequent promotion to the position of shogun. When the Tokugawa bakufu was established in 1603, plans were drawn up for constructing a castle worthy of the nation’s capital and a city for the general populace. Today Tokyo bristles with skyscrapers, and one can hardly imagine the city’s original geographical position. After the air raids of World War II, however, Tokyo was reduced to a charred wasteland, and the impregnable position of Edo castle once again became visible . Topographically speaking, the Musashino Plateau, on which Edo stood, was a diluvial plain with deep valleys carved away by erosion . Five adjacent terraces remained, spread out like the fingers of the hand. The ends of these terraces were named the Ueno Terrace, the Kanda Terrace, the Kòkyo (Palace) Terrace, the ShibaAtagoyama Terrace, and the Shinagawa-Goten’yama Terrace. The central Kòkyo Terrace was itself partitioned into five smaller terraces : from the west, the Kioi-chò Terrace, the Sannò-Hie Shrine C H A P T E R 1 EDO: THE WARRIOR’S CITY 24 Edo: The Warrior’s City Terrace, the Kasumigaseki Terrace, the Nishinomaru (“western enclosure”) Terrace, and the Honmaru (“main enclosure”) Terrace. Òta Dòkan had built his castle on the Honmaru Terrace; Ieyasu was to follow suit, supplementing the main enclosure with a shrine (the Momijiyama Tòshògû) and a “western enclosure” on the Nishinomaru Terrace. Edo castle was thereby ensconced in a nearly invulnerable position. A further advantage of this site was that unlike the other four major terraces, which extended to the Musashi Plain, the Kòkyo Terrace bottlenecked around the Yotsuya Approach (mitsuke), isolating it from the surrounding areas. To ensure the unassailability of its stronghold, the bakufu skillfully utilized the Sumida and Kanda rivers to serve as large-scale moats. Tremendous construction projects were carried out. The Sumida and Kanda rivers were joined by moats excavated from around Iidabashi to Shòheibashi, passing through the waters of what is now Ochanomizu. A particularly deep trench was dug at the Yotsuya Approach, the only point where the Kòkyo Terrace was connected directly to the Musashi Plain. The strategic use of the Sumida Map of Edo. Edo: The City and Its Culture 25 and Kanda rivers caused the Edo castle moats to describe an unusual spiral shape, drawing ever nearer to the castle. Moving in the direction from the Sumida River to the center, the moats began around Ryògokubashi and proceeded to Asakusa-gomon (at Asakusabashi) (1), Sujikaibashi (2), Koishikawa-gomon (3), Ushigome-gomon (4), Ichigaya-gomon (5), Yotsuya-gomon (6), Kuichigai-gomon (7), Akasaka-gomon (8), Toranomon (9), and Saiwaibashi (10).1 From Saiwaibashi a deep moat ran from Yamashita-gomon (at Soto-hibiya) (11) through Sukiyabashi (13), Kajibashi (14), Gofukubashi (15), Tokiwabashi (16), Kandabashi (17), Hitotsubashi (18), Kijibashi (19), Shimizu-gomon (20), and Tayasu-gomon (21). From here to Hanzòmon (22) the moat was called Chidorigafuchi. Next came Soto-sakuradamon (23), Hibiya-gomon (24), Babasakimon (25), Wadakuramon (26), Òtemon (27), Hirakawa-gomon (28), Takebashi (29), Uchi-sakuradamon (30), Sakashita-gomon (31), and finally Nishinomaru-òtemon (32). From Saiwaibashi (10) a moat extended past the Hamaòte-gomon (12) all the way to the ocean. The inner area of Edo was designed to lie between the Yotsuya– Akasaka–Tameike–Toranomon–Saiwaibashi–Hamòte-gomon line of castle moats, on the one hand, and the segment of the Sumida River extending from Ryògokubashi to the river’s mouth on the other. This was the most important area of the city, and...