VOL.1: Transportation Guide (Part 1) Destination: Edo Minato during the Keicho Period

I never realized how much fun it is to walk through the streets of Tokyo, following the traces of history. I have come to believe this after walking along a river trail, which is one of the most popular ways to walk around the city, with a guide who is well versed in the history of the area. Tokyo’s towns seem to have been completely overwritten with concrete, but it is difficult to find places where the memory of time still remains. An easy clue is the names of places with “bridge” attached. Kyobashi and Shinbashi are both names of towns and stations. Kajibashi is the name of an intersection or street. A minor example is the name of an expressway tollgate, such as Shiraugobashi Tollgate.

As Edo is often referred to as the “water city,” canals and waterways ran through the city. As the name suggests, at the end of the 16th century, when Ieyasu Tokugawa entered Edo, the area from present-day Nihonbashi to Kyobashi, Ginza, and Shinbashi was a peninsula-like lowland called Edomaejima, and on its west side, from present-day Hibiya Park to near Otemachi Station, a shallow channel called Hibiya Inlet entered the area. The area to Shinbashi was a peninsula-like lowland called Edomaejima.

It was not until after the Edo shogunate was established that a circular moat was built around Edo Castle and a huge urban area was formed. The urban development of Edo progressed rapidly through “Tenka Fuchin,” in which the feudal lords were ordered to provide labor, materials, funds, and even technology to carry out civil engineering works.

Along with the construction of the castle, the Hibiya Inlet was reclaimed using the leftover soil, and became the residence of the feudal lords. The outer moat was also excavated to protect the castle and provide flood control and boat transport. Furthermore, a waterway leading from the moat to the sea was constructed, forming a riverbank. In this way, the town has repeatedly expanded into the sea and reclaimed land. Each time the land was reclaimed, a new flow of water was created.

While building the castle, the town was built, and the castle became more powerful by using the newly opened waterways. The construction of Edo Castle and the development of the city center gradually became inextricably linked, and it was the canals and waterways that were constantly being modified and expanded that supported Edo as a major consumer city with a population of one million.

Edo’s bold infrastructure development. Let’s start our journey by tracing the evolution of a certain river, which gives us a glimpse of this development.

A river called Kaede-gawa (Maple River) used to flow along the Metropolitan Expressway Ring Road from the Edobashi Junction to the Kyobashi Junction. It is a 1.2 km long stream that branches off to the south from the Nihonbashi River and joins the Kyobashi River and the Sakura River (Hachimachibori).

Along the west bank, there was a main lumber riverbank where lumber was unloaded from the early Edo period, and it was crowded with craftsmen and merchants who processed and sold the lumber. In the early Showa period (1926-1989), a canal was constructed to connect the area with the Tsukiji Market, which was newly built after the Great Kanto Earthquake, and the boat route has been active for a long time. However, the postwar period and the acceleration of motorization ended its role, and reclamation began in 1960, and by 1965, it had completely disappeared.

An expressway runs along this river channel, and many bridges are still in place to span the expressway. The old river has now become a road, with cars passing by instead of boats. It is easy to imagine the river as it was in the past. But what if we were told that this was the border between the river and the sea at the beginning of the Edo period (1603-1867)?

The transformation of the former sea into a river was initiated by a single command from the Shogun. In 1611, the second Shogun, Hidetada, ordered the construction of the Funairi moat.

Funairibori refers to a so-called wharf where boats are towed into a dug channel to berth. The reason why a funairi-bori was necessary was to transport construction materials for the castle. Needless to say, transporting heavy materials on the water was more convenient than on land in an era without cranes. Of course, there had been riverbanks for unloading stones and lumber for castle construction on land before that time. For example, at the “Kamakura river bank,” which is said to have been located in present-day Uchikanda 1-2-chome, stones and lumber from Izu Province and Sagami Province were unloaded from the time Ieyasu arrived in Edo (the name comes from the fact that lumber merchants from Kamakura were in charge of the river bank).

But as construction progressed, they probably needed a bay facility that could transport the goods more efficiently. So they turned their attention to the east side of Edo Island, along the coast facing the open sea. However, the shallow waters of the Edo harbor made it difficult for large vessels to approach the land. Therefore, he ordered the construction of a boating moat and modifications so that materials could be brought by boat as close to the construction site as possible.

At the same time that the Funairi moat was excavated, a nearby sandbar was also reclaimed using the sand and earth from the moat. The area thus created was the present-day area from Kabutocho to Kayabacho and Hacchobori, and the Kaede River was left to fill in between the two areas and became a canal. The reason why we know this is because the map “Bushu Toshima-gun Edo shouzu” (commonly called Kan’ei Edozu), which is said to have been drawn in 1632 and describes the early Edo in detail, shows the Maple River and the comb-shaped funairi moat that was excavated there.

The number of moats, which are hard to see due to severe deterioration, is a whopping nine. The longest moat in the center of the river is called “Momiji-gawa,” and a bridge called “Naka-bashi” was built in the middle of it. Risei Suzuki, in his book “Edo wa Koushikara Kosakaete” (Edo was built this way), speculates that when the Funairi moat was first excavated, nearly half of the other moats were as long as the Momiji-gawa River, and reached the outer moat. It is a spectacular sight to think now that wharves lined the Yaesu side of Tokyo Station from Nihonbashi to around Kyobashi, with boats coming and going incessantly.

Thus, the former coastline became a river and was transformed into a huge bay facility. Building materials brought in from the sea began to be unloaded one after another at the Funairi moat on the Kaede River via the Hachimachi moat, which was developed at the same time.

The whole area must have been filled with the hustle and bustle of laborers dispatched from all over the country, speaking their own languages, from early in the morning until nightfall. The most difficult cargo to unload was the “Hyakunin Hani no Ishi,” a stone in Izu Province that was said to require 100 laborers to move. To unload the stone, it had to be placed on a wooden sled called a “shura,” which had to be wound up with a human-powered wheelbarrow. Once landed, the stone is rolled on a log or split bamboo pole covered with seaweed to make it slippery. Some pull the “shura,” others push it from behind, and still others lead the “yakuza” from the side. The “Shura” makes a dull roar, the logs rattle, and the rhythmic shouts of the jinbo join in. Nearby, the sound of chisels and hammers may have been heard by craftsmen working the lumber and stone that had just been brought in.

It is not clear what life was like for these laborers who left their hometowns and spent their days doing hard labor in the harbor. However, there is a picture that gives a glimpse of their lives. It is “Chikujo Zu Byobu (owned by the Nagoya City Museum), produced in the latter half of the Keicho period (1596-1615), and is thought to depict the construction of Sunpu Castle, which began in 1607. In this painting, not only are the men busily carrying stones and lumber and piling up stone walls, but they are also depicted fighting and having a drink at a teahouse. Udon noodle shops, temporary playhouses, and performers spinning plates are also depicted, confirming that services such as food, drink, and entertainment had already been established for the benefit of the laborers. Since the jinnyaku were often paid in rice, it is likely that they cashed in the rice to purchase daily necessities or to enjoy a brief respite from their work. It is always the same in any age that when people gather, businesses are born on the periphery, which in turn attracts more people, and the market turns into a cycle of expansion. It would not be surprising if a similar scene unfolded along the Maple River, which later led to the development of the town.

The Funairi moat is thought to have been completed by the end of the Keicho era, four years after the idea was conceived. The bayfront facility was the catalyst that brought people and goods together to create the city of Edo, but the end of the project was surprisingly short-lived. If Mr. Suzuki’s observation is correct, land reclamation had already begun during the Kan’ei period (1624-1644). In fact, the reclamation of the land gradually progressed after that, and the land was swallowed up by the townspeople’s land. And by 1845, the few remaining areas of the Momiji River had completely disappeared.

If it is necessary, we will build it even if it is a little too much. If it is no longer needed, it is rebuilt each time. Especially after the modern era, as motorization progressed, some rivers were reclaimed for the reconstruction projects of the Great Kanto Earthquake and the rubble disposal of World War II, while others were reclaimed and removed for public health reasons during the period of rapid economic growth. And even though there are no rivers or bridges there anymore, the fact that there was once a stream of water is inscribed in the name of the place.

The landscape of the Maple River site, with its highway and sooty soundproof walls, is also an extension of Edo’s urban development. Continuous change is the only thing that has remained unchanged since this area began to develop as a city. (Continued in the second part)

In cooperation with: National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management, Construction Technology Research Institute Co.
References:
Chuo Ward Chronological Table [Edo Period, First, Middle, and Second], Kyobashi Library, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, 1985.
Suzuki, Risei, Edo wa Koushiteiru Koushiteiru Hundred Years of Phantom History, Chikuma Gakugei Bunko, 2000.
Risei Suzuki, “Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rivers and Waterways in Edo and Tokyo,” Kashiwa Shobo, 2003.
Kenji Sugawara (ed.), Guide to Edo and Tokyo from River Ruins, Yosen-sha, 2011 Koji Suzuki, “Chizu de yomitoku Edo/Tokyo no ‘topography and economy’ no shikumi,” Nihon Jitsugyo Shuppansha, 2019