When Tokugawa Ieyasu took control of the provinces around Tokyo Bay in 1590 as part of an exchange of territory, he decided to make the insignificant Edo his headquarters. Edo was now the political center of Japan, Kyoto remained the formal capital of the country as the seat of the Tenno. The large-scale castle, surrounded by the “Inner Trench” (Uchibori) with its branch trenches and more than 20 gates, was supplemented by the “Outer Trench” (Sotobori) with 10 gates. The city expanded significantly before the Outer Rift and occupied an area that is now enclosed by the Yamanote Line, to which the areas beyond the Sumida were added. Yamate / Yama-no-tem, “Mountain side” (山 手 / 山 の 手) refers to the hills in the west and north of the city.
In this area, the urban structure is determined by the fact that roads were laid along the heights or along the valleys and that these were connected by hillside paths (sakamichi). Many sakamichi had (nick) names, which are remembered today with inscribed wooden pillars. The plain towards the sea (including the areas extracted from the sea) formed the “lower town” (下町, shitamachi).
After the shogunate was dissolved in 1868, the new government renamed the city Tokyo (“eastern capital”) and moved the seat of the young emperor in 1869 from Kyoto to Tokyo, turning the city in a global metropolis with a very dynamic culture influenced by Eastern tradition and western modernity. The city was badly damaged by the Kantō earthquake (1923) and almost completely destroyed in the Second World War . As such, the city was rebuilt twice and the city structure was changed by new streets, but if you look carefully you can still see the old Edo under today’s Tokyo.
In a talk, scheduled for 29 May 2021 we will highlight how Edo became Tokyo, how the city changed under the new Meiji government and which traces of Edo Tokyo can be found until today. More details follow soon.