EDO castle town

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The town of Edo, Ooedo, Great Edo, Old Edo
江戸　大江戸　
has always fascinated me a lot.
I will try to find material to introduce it in more detail.


. Welcome to Edo 江戸　! .
This is the new Edo Blog since 2013.





More Photos of Old Edo
江戸名所図会


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Backup only from January 2013





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Edo, The City That Became Tokyo
An Illustrated History
Akira Naito
Illustrations by Kazuo Hozumi
Translated by H. Mack Horton



From 1603 to 1868, the city of Edo was the seat of power of the Tokugawa shogunate and the political center of Japan. In 1868 the city was renamed Tokyo and made the official capital of the nation. Both literally and figuratively, present-day Tokyo rests upon the foundations of Edo, and much of what is now thought of as traditional Japanese culture (woodblock prints, kabuki, sumo, haiku poetry) found its final form in Edo. In this book, through over 200 black and white drawings and an insightful text, old Edo is brought vividly to life—its planning, its construction, and the cultural energy that made it one of the most exciting, and populous, cities on the face of the earth.


. . . Mitsuke Gate of Edo Castle


Edo was nothing more than a village on the edge of Edo Bay when Ieyasu Tokugawa chose it as the site for a castle from which he, as shogun, could administer the country. The castle was of utmost importance because Japan had just emerged from a hundred years of civil war, and Ieyasu was determined that the power he had gained should not be wrested from him by antagonistic warlords.

The castle, of course, had to be supplied with the necessities of everyday life, and thus a town had to be built where merchants and artisans could live. It is the planning and construction of Edo Castle and the town that would support it that lie at the core of this book. In fact, the construction of the city would be an ongoing process throughout its –year history, in the wake of repeated devastation by fire and earthquake and under the pressure of an ever-expanding population.


. . . Quarters of the Townspeople

Another aspect of the book concerns Edo's cultural life, which moved over time from classical conventions dominated by the samurai to the more popular and lively forms favored by the merchants and artisans. Featured here are temples and shrines, festivals, bath houses, pleasure quarters, kabuki theaters, street gangs, the poet Basho, sumo wrestling, side shows, ukiyo-e prints, barbers, and much more.
http://www.kodansha-intl.com/books/html/en/9784770027573.html

This is a most informative book. Once I even tried to translate it into German.

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Hi there!
My name is Edoreki Gakushimaru,
and I live in the city of Edo (you probably call my city "Tokyo" -- that's the modern name for Edo). I'd like to take you on a trip through my city, to see what it was like when it was still ruled by the Shogun, when samurai walked the streets, accompanied by beautiful women wearing silk kimono. There are lots of sights to see and plenty to learn about ancient Japan. But first, you have to travel back in time about 200 years.
Are you ready?

Edo Japan, A Virtual Tour


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Flower Viewing at Shinobazu Pond
『江戸名所図会』 不忍池 蓮見

More about Edo in Japanese
©　www.cleanup.co.jp


MORE !
My own Reference about EDOGabi Greve

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People of Edo, by Maki Bokusen 牧墨僊



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Look at more here:
source : hatsuzawa


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Hana no Oo-Edo, the flourishing town of Edo
花の大江戸 and HAIKU


5 hokku including the name EDO

. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .


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......................... Haiku by Kobayashi Issa
Tr. David Lanoue


江戸江戸とえどへ出れば秋の暮　
edo edo to edo e izureba aki no kure

when heading to Edo
Edo, Edo!
autumn dusk　

The normally exciting prospect of visiting the Shogun's great capital is overshadowed by a sense of the year's (and life's) approaching end.


.

時鳥花のお江戸を一呑に
hototogisu hana no o-edo o hito nomi ni

oh cuckoo--
swallow blossom-filled Edo
in a gulp!

.

江戸の雨何石呑んだ時鳥
Edo no ame nangoku nonda hototogisu

rain in Edo -
how much of it did you swallow
little cuockoo ?

.

掃溜の江戸へ江戸へと時鳥
hakidame no edo e edo e to hototogisu

"I'm off to that rubbish heap
Edo! Edo!"
the cuckoo

...


藤棚の隅から見ゆるお江戸哉
fuji tana no sumi kara miyuru o-edo kana



from a wisteria trellis
nook I see...
Great Edo

...


かはとりも土蔵住居のお江戸哉
kawahori mo dozô sumai no o-edo kana

the bats, too
live in a storehouse...
Great Edo!

Kobayashi Issa


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Asakusa Kannon　浅草観音
Temple Sensooji　浅草寺 Sensoji
fujikoo　富士講 Fujiko , Fuji pilgrims

Edo Castle ... more details !

Nihonbashi 日本橋 "Japan Bridge" in Edo / Tokyo 　　

Echigoya 越後屋 and Mitsui　三井

Edo Patterns

Puns, dajare 駄洒落　ダジャレ, だじゃれ of Edo

Puzzle pictures, Rebus of Old Edo, hanji-e　判じ絵

Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of Edo (1543 - 1616)

Umewaka Memorial Day and Temple Mokubo-Ji (Umewaka Ki)



. WKD : Edo Sanza 江戸三座
the three famous Kabuki theaters of Edo .


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本町や夷の飯の横がすみ
Honchoo ya Ebisu no meshi no yoko-gasumi

Old Quarter--
food for the God of Wealth
in mist

Kobayashi Issa

On the 20th day of Tenth Month (old calendar), a festival was held in honor of Ebisu, god of wealth. In the haiku, food offerings to the god meet a bank of mist.
The "Old Quarter" Honchoo was in the Nihonbashi section of Edo, today's Tokyo.
Tr. and comment by David Lanoue

. Ebisu and related KIGO 　


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梅さくや先あら玉の御制札
ume sake ya mazu aratama no o-seisatsu

plum trees will bloom
but first the new year's
edicts

Kobayashi Issa

A subtly anti-government haiku. Literally, Issa suggests that "before the plum blossoms of spring can bloom, we will be subjected to the government's new year's edict signs posted everywhere."
Tr. and Comment : David Lanoue




制札 seisatsu, goseisatsu, koosatsu 高札
fure, o-furegaki, o-fure お触書
Wooden plaques with the edicts of the government, placed at crossroads along the city streets. Many people could not read and someone read them for all.


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. Hana no Miyako 花の都 - Kyoto and Edo .


. Tookyoo jusha 東京十社 ten shrines of Tokyo .


. Edo shigusa 江戸しぐさ the manners of Edo .


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quote
Venturing into the zone on Showajima
Industry — most of it hot and heavy — is what this Ota Ward island's chiefly about
By KIT NAGAMURA

Take Showajima (Showa Island) in Tokyo's Ota Ward, for example. Zoned exclusively for heavy industry, it has no shops, dwellings, schools or restaurants, and unlike the backstreets I usually frequent for this column, access requires contacts and appointments.

The Hamamatsucho-to-Haneda Tokyo Monorail bifurcates Showajima into eastern and western halves. At the manmade isle's eponymous station, I leave by the East Exit and proceed between a chain-link fence on one side and sheds that bump and grind with activity on the other.

Read more here:
source : www.japantimes.co.jp

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Yuki no Edogawa 雪の江戸川　
Evening Snow at Edo River


Kawase Hasui 川瀬巴水 (1883-1957）


これきりと見えてどっさり春の霜
kore kiri to miete dossari haru no shimo

it seems as if
this will be the end of it　-
severe frost in spring

Kobayashi Issa


The Edo River (江戸川, Edogawa) is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It splits from the Tone River at the northernmost tip of Narita City, crosses through Nagareyama and Matsudo, and empties into Tokyo Bay at Ichikawa. The Edo forms the borders between Tokyo, Chiba, and Saitama prefectures. Its length is 59.5 km.

The course of the Edo River was previously the main course of the Tone River. It was diverted from the Tone in 1654 by the Tokugawa shogunate to protect the city of Edo from flooding. The Edo was used to transport large amounts of cargo from Chōshi and other cities on the Pacific Ocean coast inland to the capital. Before industralization the river was also used to cultivate lotus roots.

Edogawa (江戸川区, Edogawa-ku) is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. It takes its name from the river that runs from north to south along the eastern edge of the ward. In English, it uses the name Edogawa City.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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EDO Castle

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. Famous places of Edo .
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. Shiro - Japanese Castle Legends　お城と伝説　 .

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Edo Castle, Edo joo, Edo-jō 江戸城

. Welcome to Edo 江戸　! .





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quote
Edo Castle
by Aria Murasaka

The History of Edo Castle:
The Edo clan was the first to establish its base in the area, where would later be established the honmaru and ninomaru parts of Edo Castle a few centuries later, but soon disappeared. It's a man called Ota Dokan, carrying the order of the Uesugi clan, who built the original Edo Castle in 1457. It is thought that it was the same man who also started to redirect the course of rivers, most notably the Hirakawa river, to prevent floodings in the Edo Bay area. Soon though, the castle fell into the hands of the Hojo clan - their base would, however, remain Odawara. It's at the end of its siege in 1590 that they would be defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his allies, one of whom, Tokugawa Ieyasu, received the six provinces of the Kantô plain and elected Edo Castle as its base and living quarters

However, when he arrived at Edo, the view that welcomed him was less than comforting: Edo Castle, as built by Ota Dokan, was in shambles. One of his first tasks when he became shogun in 1603 was to launch the reconstruction of the castle and make it the appropriate base for the shogun and for the administration of an unified Japan. It took more than 40 years and the work was only finished under the third shogun, Iemitsu. At the time, it was simply the biggest castle in the world, with an outer defensive perimeter of 10 miles.

Unfortunately, the castle wasn't to remain intact for long: in 1657 broke the great Meireki fire, which left an enormous scare not only on the city itself, but also on the castle by destroying the tenshukaku (central keep) which dominated the main enceinte (see below, Edo Castle's plan). Meireki fire was only the greatest of a series of fires that plagued the structure, starting as early as the first decades of the 17th century, during its construction, until the 1860s, when several fires left little of the splendor of the Tokugawa's Edo Castle standing when the Emperor Meiji came to Edo, to be renamed Tokyo. On its grounds was established the imperial residence now named Kokyo. Some remains of the Edo Castle still stand in various areas, but are few and far between



Edo Castle's structure:
As mentioned previously, Edo Castle was the biggest castle when completed with a superficy of 957,000 square meters and a outer defensive perimeter of 16 kilometers. The naikaku (inner defensive perimeter) was of 6.4 kilometers and encompases 4 areas "subdivided by lesser moats and walls". The very heart of the castle was the main enceinte (honmaru　本丸, the citadel). In that part were located the Ooku (Great Interior), the women's compounds, a succession of rooms and corridors where the shogun's womenfolk lived, the Nakaoku (Middle Interior), where the shogun himself had his quarters, and the Omote (Exterior), which was every bit as much of a maze than the Ooku, but which served as offices for the shogun's officials.

Southwest of the main enceinte was the West Enceinte, where were located the heir apparent's quarters, themselves a half-scale replica of the the shogun's. The nearby Momijiyama (Maple Mountain) hosted shrines dedicated to former shoguns and ceremonies to their memory were regularly held. Those two enceintes were bordered east by a series of officials' residences and west a "green area" of gardens and woods called Fukiage; its purpose was also to protect the castle from conflagrations that regularly occured in the city.

The innermost is where is now located the East Imperial Garden (Higashi Gyoen), and the whole area once occupied by Edo Castle is now refered to as Imperial Palace since the 1960s. The current imperial quarters have all been built very recently.
© www.ancientworlds.net


. 江戸の大火 Edo no Taika "Great Fires of Edo" .
Great Fire of Meireki 明暦の大火 - March 2–3, 1657
The 天守閣　tenshukaku tower of Edo castle was also lost during the Meireki fire.
It was not rebuilt any more, to express the lasting peace of the Tokugawa bakufu and the money was spent to rebuilt the town. The gates at the bridges of Edo were also kept open for free transportation and trade in Edo, thus improving the life of the citizens. This also expressed the now lasting peace of the Tokugawa Bakufu, showing that a castle for war defense was no longer needed.

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Honmaru, the "Main Circle" 本丸



Usually the innermost compound of a Japansese castle, where the Lord and his retainers were best protected in times of war. This enclosure was the core area of a castle. Later new enclosures were added, like the "second enclosure" (ni no maru　二の丸) and the "third enclosure" (san no maru　三の丸).
The center of this inner citadelle was the tower-like structure of the keep (tenshuu　天守), similar to a donjon in European castles. The walls of the tower were usually painted in white. The second Shogun, Hidetada, had the tower painted in black, though. The main tower of Edo castle was lost in a great fire in 1657 and has never been rebuilt since then.

Here is an illustration of the tower of Edo castle, which was later lost. It had an initial hight of about 44 meters with five levels outside and seven floors inside.



©　www.tsukudojinja


MORE !
My Reference about Edo Castle

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- quote -
The Ōoku (大奥, "great interior")
refers to the harem of Edo Castle, the section where the women connected to the reigning shōgun resided. Similar areas in the castles of powerful daimyōs, such as the Satsuma Domain, were also referred to by this term.
- History
The Ōoku was built inside the Honmaru enceinte of Edo Castle in 1607 by Tokugawa Hidetada,^ who passed a special law for the Ōoku which was completely separated from the outside world. Therefore, noblewomen living in the Ōoku could not leave the castle without permission, and that no women within the Ōoku can have a relationship with man. This system lasted for nearly 200 years.
- Structure
- Organisation
- Notable persons
Kasuga no Tsubone
- In popular culture
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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. Shiro Shoin 白書院 and Kuro Shoin 黒書院 .
More details about the rooms of the castle


. jookamachi 城下町 Jokamachi, castle town .
Edo, a town "below the castle"


- Reference - Guide to Japanese Castles
- source : www.jcastle.info

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- Legends around Edo castle -

In the year 1823 on the 22nd day of the 4th lunar month at the 西の丸 Nishi no Maru of Edo castle, there was the location of the shoinban 御書院番 body guards. One samurai, Matsudaira Geki 松平外記 (? - 1823) suddenly became mad, pulled his sword and killed some people. On the New Year Day of this year, a stray dog had brought a severed head of a person and placed it at the front door of the Matsudaira clan home.
This was the foreboding omen 前兆 of the death of Geki.

Once all the shachihoko しゃちほこ bronze decorations from the gates, from 虎御門 Toranomon to 小石川御門 Koishikawa Gate had been removed.
Then suddenly strong winds did not blow any more and no rain fell. This was due to the 龍の仕業 Dragon curse. This phenomenon is also called tsunjikaze つんじかぜ .


- source : yokai database nichibun -


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江戸城の本丸はここ辛夷咲く
Edo joo no honmaru wa koko kobushi saku

Endo Kazuyoshi 遠藤和良

here it is,
the citadel of Edo Castle -
magnolias in bloom

©　www.endo-kazuyoshi.com
(Tr. Gabi Greve)

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Castle, a haiku topic

. WKD : Welcome to Edo 江戸　! .

Ota Dokan, Oota Dookan
. Dookan Ki 道灌忌 (どうかんき) Dokan Memorial Day 　

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. Joonan 城南 Jonan, south of the castle .
and
Joohoku 城北 Johaku, north of the castle
Joosai 城西 Josai, west of the castle


. tenshukaku 天守閣 castle tower of Edo .

. Shiro - Japanese Castle Legends　お城と伝説　 .

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- #edocastle #edojo -
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stepping stones

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zen temple - stepping stones leading to a different life

. My PHOTOS from Japan .


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. WKD : Steppingstone, stepping stones - KENYA .
step-stone bridge



fumi-ishi, tobi-ishi 踏み石, 飛び石
steppingstone, stepping stone
topic for haiku


Japanese Temples and Haiku


Read my Haiku Archives

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