Edo Jidai Trivia

[Elizabeth]

I took the picture below in Nihombashi. It is a historical map of Edo in the 17th century. We see that Asakusa or Fukagawa were clearly outside the city itself.

I don't know when this map was drawn, but at least in the case of north-east Asakusa, roughly bounded by the Sumida, was reclaimed and incorporated by the 1650's. Of course that was still strictly "Wild West" Edo and of the so-called low districts/commoner neighborhoods beyond Daimyo Lane, were scrunched into flat areas of Kanda and Nihonbashi such that nothing outside the Kanda R. would have been particularly considered Shitamachi until the end of Meiji....

[Dogen Z]

Great thread! I didn't know it existed.

During the Edo period, the Tokyo Bay shoreline was much further inland. In the Hiroshige print shown below, the shoreline comes almost up to the Old Tokaido Highway at the Shinagawa Outpost, which was very close to what is now the JR Shinagawa train station.



During this time, a person needed official approval to enter and leave the city (or any other city) so the outposts were heavily guarded.

[Elizabeth]

The wasteland Shinagawa station and surrounding cultural/prostitution quarters became from about mid-Meiji till after the 1923 earthquake is a sad story, but prosper by the post road and die by refusing to modernize traffic patterns. Shinjuku became the new Shinagawa. Extreme conservatism meant being cut off from the Shimbashi-Yokohama railroads and basically a wholesale transfer of the population west. A revamped Tōkaidō highway for the automobile age brought back some importance by the old "mouth" but was basically too little too late.


Interesting catch with Hiroshige, Dozen Z ! I don't think Shinagawa was actually fully reclaimed from Tokyo Bay until the time Yokohama development took off in the 1950s.

[Dogen Z]

If you want to know more about the outposts along the Old Tokaido Highway, you could take a trip to Hakone. A faithful restoration of a guard outpost along the Old Tokaido Highway has been built on the exact spot it occupied along the lake. Racks of weapons used and even an outhouse are included. (It looks like a movie set.) And an Edo style teashop is located next to it where you can buy refreshments and take a brief rest.



Easy to get to, just do the Hakone loop tour. Info at this link

http://www.hakonesekisyo.jp/english/main/main.html

[Elizabeth]

If you want to know more about the outposts along the Old Tokaido Highway, you could take a trip to Hakone. A faithful restoration of a guard outpost along the Old Tokaido Highway has been built on the exact spot it occupied along the lake. Racks of weapons used and even an outhouse are included. (It looks like a movie set.) And an Edo style teashop is located next to it where you can buy refreshments and take a brief rest.

Easy to get to, just do the Hakone loop tour. Info at this link
http://www.hakonesekisyo.jp/english/main/main.html

Thanks for the link, Dogen-Z ! That's exactly the experience that has a real historic, type feel.

And if it's a lovely central mountainous area you're looking for, Magome and Tsumago are two restored and preserved Edo-period way stations on the Nakasendo route running through Kiso Valley, Gifu and Nagano prefectures that I've also done stops along. It was more of a disappointment, but like all major organized tourist attractions in Japan, there is an ugly commercial side, and a small rustic, beautiful, traditional side for those who take the time. And the authenticity is there -- sometimes you just have to look at little harder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakasend%C5%8D