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CHAPTER 1

The shgun’s city rises from the marshes

Founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu¹ on reclaimed marshland near the mouth of the Sumida River and far from the imperial court in Kyoto, the city of Edo eventually became the cultural and economic center of all Japan. The skills of feudal workers and craftsmen, brought in to build the castle and town for the new government and its administrators, grew continuously more sophisticated under the pressures of stiff competition. Under the rule of the Tokugawa shgunate² (military government), Edo prospered as merchants traded in rice, oil, salt, lumber, and fertilizer to meet the demands of the burgeoning population. With that growing population, an increased demand for entertainment and leisure activities produced new and exciting art forms for enjoyment by both aristocrats and commoners alike.

The area was first fortified in 1457 when Ota Dokan, a Hj family retainer, built a small castle on a hilltop in the midst of a strategically located and swampy area where the Sumida River empties into Edo Bay. Toyotomi Hideyoshi³ ultimately defeated Hj Ujimasa in the siege of Odawara during the summer of 1590. He then seized all the Hj family property, including the small castle and the Kanto, a broad and fertile plain surrounding it. This small castle town located in what is known as the Kanto region would eventually become the metropolis of Edo.

As a reward for his help in defeating the Hj clan, Hideyoshi offered the newly confiscated property in the Kanto region to Ieyasu in exchange for his current land holdings. More than a simple prize for his support in the campaign against the Hj, though, this grant was also a strategic decision. In what was doomed to become a spectacular foreign policy failure, Hideyoshi had already launched his first invasion of Korea with hopes of eventually conquering China. To personally supervise his generals, Hideyoshi built another castle and was for the time being residing in Kyushu, the southernmost island of Japan. Although closer to Hideyoshi’s invading troops and the fighting, Kyushu was still far from his own home castle in Osaka.

Rewarding Ieyasu, already a powerful daimy (landowner) in his own right, with control of the confiscated Kanto region provided a prospective rival with a larger empire overall and potentially more influence and power. Yet it also successfully put Ieyasu far away in the east, busy with a new domain. Preoccupied with supervising the invading troops from his temporary base in Kyushu, Hideyoshi hoped to maintain control of the government reins by keeping Ieyasu isolated and far removed from his own castle in Osaka and the court in Kyoto. With Ieyasu busy fortifying his new castle and organizing the new eastern domain, it would be difficult for him to mount an effective challenge to Hideyoshi’s rule.

Ieyasu had previously visited the small castle built by Ota Dokan and knew it had marshes on three sides and a deep moat dug on the fourth side. With the castle thus completely surrounded by water, he recognized the potential for building it into an impregnable fortress. So in 1590 Ieyasu, along with his entire family and all of his retainers, moved into the dilapidated castle surrounded by a small town consisting of two rows of tiny houses along the shore of Edo Bay.

The country was still embroiled in the final years of civil strife and warfare of the Sengoku jidai⁴ (warring states period), so the new tenants immediately began erecting walls of stone and widening the moats to reinforce the existing defenses. They leveled the surrounding hills and filled in the shallow mudflats along the bay shore, creating dry land east of the castle where Ieyasu’s retainers and troops built their own residences. They constructed a broad, imposing stone wall around the city’s exterior and extending all the way to the bay. Where the Tkaid, a highway between Osaka and Edo, entered the city from the south, they built a massive wooden gate called the Takanawa okido (great wooden gate). Along with another similar gate at Yotsuya, the stone walls and okido (gates) formed the first line of defense to protect their new domain from external aggressors.

After years of nearly constant civil war, Tokugawa Ieyasu was eventually successful in defeating his enemies and establishing himself as the shgun⁵ (Japan’s military government leader). Bolstered by the brilliant military campaigns led by the preceding shgun, Oda Nobunaga,⁶ and later by Hideyoshi, Ieyasu managed to unify the country under one central authority. The remaining few rival warlords were either eliminated or forced to submit to his authority after his decisive victory in the battle at Sekigahara in 1600. Tokugawa Ieyasu was named shgun in 1603. Although Japan’s emperor and his court remained in seclusion at the imperial capital in Kyoto under the theoretical protection of the new military leader, the regime Ieyasu commanded was actually the real power behind the throne.

The shgunate was responsible for administration of most aspects of feudal society during the next two hundred sixty-five years of relative peace.⁷ The areas outside of the Kanto were either han, independent geopolitical regions ruled by the feudal lords known as daimy, or tenry, territories managed by governors appointed by the shgunate. Although the shgunate closely monitored the military activities of each han, the daimy were granted independence in their other domestic and economic policies. Each daimy was given complete power and authority to administer all criminal justice operations within his own han. This right often extended to jurisdiction over the samurai of the han even when serving outside their respective territories.

By deciding to keep the government center in Edo and far removed from the political intrigues surrounding the imperial court in Kyoto, Ieyasu was shifting the center of administrative power. Almost immediately, Ieyasu allocated specific construction improvements on his castle and the surrounding city to all the remaining daimy. Each daimy was hard-pressed to show his loyalty and impress the new shgun with completion of his assigned tasks rather than to risk Ieyasu’s displeasure.

To transport the huge stones and other materials necessary for improving Edo castle, a very large canal called the Dosan-bori was dug from the shore of Edo Bay to the front of the shgun’s new residence. This waterway continued to be used to carry provisions to the castle. Edo eventually became crisscrossed by a series of man-made moats and canals. Along with the natural rivers, the network of canals, dug in a grid pattern, was much more efficient for transporting goods than the confusing and narrow streets that developed within the sprawling city—a city that eventually stretched from the Tama River in the southwest to the Ara River in the north and east.

Edo’s new residents

Under the Tokugawa shgunate, very specific legal positions and appropriate functions were firmly defined for various social classes. These were issued in various detailed pronouncements. The Kuge Sho-hatto (Aristocratic House Ordinances) governed the imperial court and aristocratic families. The Buke Sho-hatto (Military House Ordinances) created rules for members of the military class. Religious orders were regulated by the Jin-hatto (Religious Ordinances), while the Gy-hatto (Village Ordinances) defined rules and regulations for farmers. The Edo-machij-sadame (Edo Town Rules) further defined the roles and expectations for Edo townsmen and, by extension, residents of any other town. These regulations and restrictions played a distinctive role in the development of the new capital of Edo.

Ieyasu instituted a system of sankin-ktai⁸ (alternate attendance), requiring all daimy to spend a period of time living in Edo. This allowed the shgunate officials to keep a close eye on any potential dissention or unrest. The expense of maintaining two residences as well the huge costs for frequent travel between Edo and their home domains also drained the personal treasuries of the major landowners, money that they could not otherwise use to finance an armed insurrection. During the period when they were allowed to return to their own domains, their wives and children remained in the city as potential hostages in the unlikely event of rebellion.

To maintain their dignity, many of the daimy built large and expensive manors on the low, flat-topped plateau left over after the large hill, Kanda-yama, adjacent to Edo castle was leveled. Known as the Kanda district, it is located along the southwest fringe of the yama-n-te, the hilly half of the city, and close to both the shgun’s castle and the burgeoning castle town center. For this reason, many daimy and other high-ranking government officials selected sites here for their personal residences.

The sankin-ktai system was initiated by the first Tokugawa shgun. This obligation later became mandatory under the Buke Sho-hatto⁹ issued by the third shgun, Tokugawa Iemitsu. In addition to requiring alternate attendance for major landowners and territorial leaders, the Tokugawa shgun further required certain high-ranking daimy to permanently reside in Edo. These included the heads of the three main Tokugawa families¹⁰ and other close relatives¹¹ as well as daimy appointed to various important government posts. Obligated to reside within the new capital city of Edo, these upper-class society members also required a large population of direct retainers as well as general laborers and craftsmen to support their lifestyle and to serve their everyday needs.

Edo quickly gained many new samurai-class residents—retainers of the various daimy required to live within Edo as well as hatamoto (banner men) and gokenin (household retainers), direct retainers of the shgun. The hatamoto appointed to government offices and other officials who could afford to maintain an upper-class lifestyle built estates in the yaman-te, the remaining hills to the north and west of the castle. The majority of the middle- and lower-ranking hatamoto did not receive any specific civil service appointments in the Tokugawa shgunate after the battle of Sekigahara. Unemployed hatamoto¹² and gokenin were often forced to subsist on small annual stipends granted by the government. The minimum salaries provided were so small that many hatamoto often suffered serious financial struggles. With stipends that did not provide enough money to maintain a household, they were often forced to borrow money or seek other employment.

The once small castle town had to feed and house a surprisingly large population of commoners as well. Laborers and craftsmen flocked from all over Japan to build the new center of government and Japanese society. Recognizing the potential profit to be made providing material goods required by the growing population, merchants also rushed to open Edo-based branches of their provincial stores. As their respective businesses prospered, an ever-increasing retinue of clerks and apprentices was needed to staff the stores and meet the increasing demands of the new urban residents.

The swelling ranks of laborers and craftsmen that flocked to Edo lived in tenements called naga-ya (long houses) and tiny row houses built throughout the low-lying area near the shore on land mostly reclaimed from shallow tidal flats and marshes when the hills around the castle were leveled. Roughly two-thirds of Edo’s population lived and worked in the hundreds of neighborhoods separated by the network of rivers and canals flowing through this area known as shita-machi (lower town). Because the craftsmen and merchants were located in this area, it also became the key commercial district and an important center for the city’s burgeoning economy.

Community centers of Edo

Each of the za (wards) in the city was largely a self-contained community, organized with its own local leaders along the same lines as the rural villages. The nomin (farmers) in rural villages were governed by a system of local leadership and collective responsibility called the gonin-gumi (five-person group). Each group of five families selected one kumigashira, a formal headman. The kumigashira in turn reported to a group of local leaders called the toshiyori (village notables or elders). The toshiyori were usually members of locally prominent families called shya. Finally, the leader of the toshiyori, referred to as the nanushi (village headman), reported to the gundai, or local military government representative.

Under the gonin-gumi system in the city of Edo, households were arranged in groups of five, each responsible for checking and reporting on the others. One household leader was selected as responsible for the group and reported to the machi-doshiyori (town elders). Although these ward officials were not members of the buke (military class), their senior positions were often hereditary. The machi-doshiyori in turn reported to the machi-bugy (town magistrate).

Unlike the nomin, who were specifically restricted to their mura (village) or their allotted farmlands, chnin, or city dwellers, were allowed much more personal freedom for travel and even in their choice of residence. Although considered at the bottom rung of society, many merchants were often able to purchase respect from the upper classes with their newly found wealth and to live reasonably well. For the most part, though, the vast number of chnin dwelled in relatively cramped and overcrowded conditions.

Wards were divided into small blocks called machi (town) or ch (city-block-size area). The ch were further subdivided into about a dozen ban (blocks) usually consisting of an area of two streets or larger surrounded by either natural barriers, such as a river or canal, or large walls and fences with a single community gate. Most ban included five to ten naga-ya, long two-story buildings with up to hundred individual apartments. The naga-ya were typically built around a central square with a freshwater well at one end and a public toilet at the other. With families of seven or eight often packed into a single room, the naga-ya were most often used only for sleeping, with all everyday tasks performed outside.

In the mornings, the local residents would wash their faces and brush their teeth at the central well. During the day, the women would gather there to wash rice and vegetables, prepare fish, and wash clothes. In the evenings, people gathered in the small squares, sitting on thin straw mats and gossiping with their neighbors. To prevent the spread of disease as well as to maintain security from roving bands of troublemakers, the gates to each local neighborhood were tightly sealed at night. Local citizens took turns as neighborhood watchmen, closing the community gates and maintaining guard at night over their respective areas.

Most of the neighborhoods were named after the nearest hashi (bridge) linking the intricate system of rivers and canals. Thus, such areas became known as Edo-bashi, Take-bashi, Asakusa-bashi, and so on.¹³ The bridges usually had a wide square at either end that served as both a marketplace and meeting area for the local residents.

These busy squares often included clusters of chaya (teahouses), small restaurants, and portable food stalls selling refreshments and snacks. Because the climate made it difficult to store food (other than pickled vegetables or dried grains such as rice) and the housing tended to be rather small and cramped with limited cooking space available, most Edo residents ate many of their meals at such establishments. The variety of food and entertainment available in these small businesses depended on the location and their clientele.

The major avenues through the shita-machi were fairly broad and lined with a variety of different stores and shops. Between and behind these buildings, though, the narrow back alleys twisted and turned through the workshops and homes of various artisans, skilled craftsmen, merchants, and common laborers. Most craftsmen and laborers tended to gather in the same areas as others involved in their trade, so many such small districts were also named by the kind of workers living there. Thus, some neighborhoods consisting of complicated back alleys and narrow side streets became known as Tatami-machi (tatami- or straw-mat-maker town), Oke-machi (bucket-maker town), Daiku-machi (carpenter town), or Kaji-machi (blacksmith town).

Edo no hana (flowers of Edo)

Most buildings were constructed primarily of wood and paper. For heating and cooking, people depended on charcoal braziers and stoves. Oil lamps with open flames were often used for indoor lighting. As a result, there were many fires. In fact, fires were so common, they were known as Edo no hana (flowers of Edo).

During the early years, the various daimy involved in building Edo and fortifying the castle also organized firefighting units, called the daimy hikeshi (firemen), to protect the castle and their own manors. Later, the shgun’s retainers, the hatamoto, operated the sada-bikeshi, a similar group of firefighters, primarily to protect the castle. After more than one hundred thousand perished (nearly one-quarter of the city’s population) and most of the city was destroyed in the Meireki fire during the first month of 1657, however, the responsibility for protecting citizens and property from fire was shifted the following year to the Edo machibugy (town magistrate). Edo’s firefighters were organized as the machi-bikeshi (town firemen).

To prevent future disasters and to guard against urban fires, the Tokugawa shgunate erected a number of high wooden watchtowers, called hi no ban, throughout the city and organized kumi (units) of professional hikeshi. Because the work was so dangerous, though, only the lowest classes of Edo’s chnin—the homeless, the unemployed, former criminals, and so on—were initially willing to enter this trade. Under supervision of the machi-bugy, the newly recruited hikeshi in each kumi were divided into smaller units and assigned to various geographical jurisdictions.

In case of a building fire, the hikeshi were mainly concerned with containing damage and preventing the flames from spreading to other structures. Thus, the hikeshi primarily employed a number of tobi-ninsku¹⁴ (building construction specialists) to quickly tear down the burning structure and any surrounding houses or buildings to create firebreaks. In addition to the tobi-ninsku, the kumi members also included matoi-mochi (banner holders), hashigo-mochi (ladder holders), and hira (runners and porters) for carrying equipment. Finally, local helpers known as gaen cleared roads, dispersed crowds, and held back bystanders.

Frequently seen leading the processions in local festival parades, the matoi was much more than a simple unit banner. A matoi consisted of many strips of either very thick paper or soft cloth strung from a single pole. During a fire, the hikeshi would use a small hand-operated pump called a ryudosui (dragon spitting water) to soak the matoi strips. Then the matoi-mochi would station themselves on the peaks of nearby buildings and spin the matoi by twisting the pole back and forth. Burning embers rising in the heated air would either be trapped in the matoi and extinguished by the water-drenched strips or be pushed back to the source by the gusts created by the spinning strips.

Replacements would line up on the roof peak behind the person turning the matoi. Should the first matoi-mochi succumb to smoke inhalation or heat from the fire below, the next in line would replace him. As each individual matoi-mochi collapsed and fell from the roof, another would assume responsibility for spinning the matoi until the fire was extinguished by fellow hikeshi working below.

Known for their acrobatic skill and athletic abilities, the hashigo-mochi would station themselves in strategic locations around the fire. Bracing a ladder upright with several sasumata, long wooden poles with a U-shaped iron appendage, one hashigo-mochi would then climb to the top. After noting the wind’s direction and speed from his perch high above on the ladder, the hashigo-mochi would then assume a predefined acrobat-like position to signal the wind conditions to those below. Based on their observations of several hashigo-mochi stationed on temporarily erected ladders around the fire, supervisors on the ground could then judge the fire’s direction and decide on the best locations for creating firebreaks to stop it from spreading.

In return for these services, the respective neighborhoods provided hikeshi with a small salary and a suit of clothing made of a special thickly woven cotton. When doused with water, this heavy clothing provided limited protection from burns. Although admired greatly by the common people for their courage and personal sacrifice, the city’s firefighters also quickly earned a reputation for their course language, quick temper, and rough-and-tumble manners.

Feudal life on the road

Highway travel was common during the feudal era, or Edo period. There were three main roads between Edo and the former capital city of Kyoto: the Tkaid, the Kiso Kaid, and the Nakasend. Because the latter two pass through steep mountain passes, the Tkaid became the most frequently used of the three. The highway was scene to a nearly constant flow of merchants, villagers, and the many religious pilgrims visiting the principal temples and shrines in western Japan.

Because wheeled vehicles were banned, for fear of providing rapid transport of arms and troops in case of revolt, travelers either walked, rode on horseback, or were carried in kag, a sort of one-person carriage carried on the shoulders of bearers. Made of split bamboo, the kag consisted of a single woven bamboo seat hung from a long pole. The bamboo pole was carried on the shoulders of two men, one in front and one behind. In mountainous regions, additional runners frequently used straw ropes to help pull the kag up the steeper grades. Passengers rode in a recumbent position with their feet doubled under them. Sometimes the kag included a light roof with a cotton cloth hung on one side to provide shade.

Wealthier clients often rode in norimon, a larger version of the kag. Larger and more stately, the norimon had highly lacquered latticed sides to provide both shade and privacy. The norimon were typically highly decorated with brightly painted family crests and finely wrought metal fastenings.

To maintain control and to prevent smuggling of illegal weapons or untaxed goods, the shgunate established a series of seki (barrier stations) at strategic locations along all major highways. All travelers were forced to stop at each seki, where shgunate officials checked travel permits and searched for contraband. They also maintained watch for known criminals and any daimyfamily members attempting to flee Edo.

In addition to the seki, a series of shuku-ba (inn or lodging) towns¹⁵ was established at short intervals along major highways, each with official permission granted by the shgunate government. The shuku-ba towns offered food and other provisions as well as lodging for travelers. These official shuku-ba towns also served as centers for the government’s network of transportation, communication, and administration.

For example, the residents and businesses in each shuku-ba town were required to provide a specific number of horses and riders to carry official messages and commercial goods. They were also expected to maintain the road within their jurisdictions, as well as provide lodging for officials and important visitors. Official government business travelers and parties accompanying the daimy on their elaborate biannual round trips between their home domains and Edo were housed in either a special inn, honjin (main lodging), or one or more lesser inns, waki-honjin (secondary lodging). The honjin and waki-honjin proprietors then applied for compensation for services from a complicated series of government bureaucratic offices.

Lesser officials and wealthy commoners would spend the night in a variety of hatago (lodging houses). Services and accommodations in these hatago varied considerably based on the patrons and the amount charged. Poorer travelers could choose from cheaper inns called kichin-yado. For a much lower price, the kichin-yado usually offered only a simple room or even shared sleeping accommodations and possibly a common area for cooking food.