Preface
TOKYO has been a major city for centuries, surpassing in size the great capitals of Europe since the seventeenth century. It is a city which, prior to 1868, had seen the pageant of the shogunate as the daimyo, the great lords of Japan, progressed in state behind their retainers along the Tokaido Road to their sumptuous mansions in the shadow of the shogun's castle. In more modern times, the city has seen the manipulations of the military in their attempt to make Japan a world power by employing the same, and sometimes more brutal, imperialistic means as used by the nations of the West. It has faced as well devastation by earthquakes and by the "Flowers of Edo," those all-consuming fires which have periodically swept over Edo, old Tokyo, and left it but ashes and a memory.
The Edokko, the sons of Edo (and they were mostly sons since men until recent times have always outnumbered women by two to one) have always risen to the challenges which have rained upon the city either by the forces of nature or by the actions and laws of those who ruled over them. Despite the destruction in the twentieth century which has leveled much of Tokyo, first in the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and then in the fire-bombing raids of the spring of 1945 (which in each case left more than 100,000 dead and saw a city of wood disappear in flames), there is a history and a continuity of tradition which has not died. Tokyo since the 1950s has been a rising phoenix. It is a city which offers to visitors one of the most modern facades and boasts towering skyscrapers which, it is claimed, can withstand future earthquakes. Yet past traditions are retained despite all the modernism of the second half of the twentieth century.
It is the intention of this volume to explore present-day Tokyo through a series of "tours" that have a view on the past, whose memory still lingers in the urban life of this ever-changing city. This guide is designed to explore the various intriguing areas of Tokyo on foot, describing the buildings and the history behind them. It does not offer a compendium of restaurants (which can be found at every hand) or shops, with their infinite variety of fine or inexpensive wares. On a few occasions particular department stores or specialty shops will be mentioned, for these cannot be ignored in areas such as Ginza, Shibuya, or Shinjuku, but the listing is not meant to be comprehensive. Museums are noted in the course of a tour, but many of these require a separate visit in order to enjoy their extensive holdings. Each tour is so organized that one may leave it at a specific subway station and then return at another time if a tour is longer than desired.
Part of the pleasure of walking in Tokyo comes from viewing the architectural variety expressed in many of the unusual structures within the city. In the last quarter of the twentieth century, Japanese architects (and some foreign architects with Tokyo commissions) became more imaginative and daring in their architectural designs. Experimentation, innovation, creativity, and sometimes even extravagant conceptions have appeared on the face of the city. Witness the facade on one building on Meiji-dori near Togo Shrine which has a jagged crack built into its construction, as though it had been damaged by an earthquake. Or view the building near Ebisu Station whose lower facade is seemingly missing, again as though a cataclysmic stroke had exposed a portion of the inner building.
The purpose of Tokyo: A Cultural Guide is to bring to life the continuing pageant of historic Edo which lives on in today's Tokyo and which can always surprise and delight those who are willing to explore it on foot and by subway. In some cases a tour can be covered in more than one visit. On the other hand, more than one of these tours can be combined, depending on the time one spends along the way. Before striking out into "unknown territory," one can always purchase sandwiches from the many convenience stores in order to have a picnic lunch en route at a park or shrine. These stores can also provide food for breakfast or dinners should one find restaurant or hotel dining too expensive.
No book on Tokyo, nor any individual who is interested in the capital of Japan as a living city with its roots in the past, can afford to ignore the scholarly yet popular volume by Paul Waley in his Tokyo Now and Then or Edward Seidenstecker's Low City, High City and Tokyo Rising, or Sumiko Enbutsu's Old Tokyo. These volumes are essential reading for anyone wishing further information on a most fascinating city. Additional reading materials are listed in the Bibliography at the end of this volume.
Introduction
Tokyo and Its Heritage
IN 1590, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the powerful warlord of eastern Japan, was beholden to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the military ruler over all the nation. Hideyoshi, anxious to remove Ieyasu from Kyoto and the center of political power, offered to exchange certain of Ieyasu's territorial holdings near Kyoto for a grant of extensive lands in the underpopulated area in eastern Japan. Ieyasu's followers were aghast at their leader's acceptance of the isolated land at Edo Bay in exchange for his more valuable lands near the imperial capital. Ieyasu, however, had a vision he had not as yet shared with them. Here at the tiny village of Edo (Mouth of the River or Estuary), where the Sumida and other rivers poured into an almost completely encircled bay at the edge of the great Kanto Plain, he would create a mighty civil capital, and from here he and his heirs would rule all of Japan.
With the passage of time, with patience, with guile—and with force—Ieyasu would bring this vision to reality. By 1598 Hideyoshi was dead, and, in the ensuing struggle among the contesting daimyo, the feudal lords who coveted power, Ieyasu had by 1603 conquered all who stood in his way and now ruled as shogun over all Japan. As victor, Ieyasu moved the seat of civil and military power from an effete aristocratic court in Kyoto to the land at the head of the large and sheltered bay where he would build his capital. Thus Edo, the future Tokyo, began its modern existence. Here as shogun he ruled overJapan in the name of the powerless emperor and over the 176 Inside Lords (Fudai Daimyo) who had sided with him before his decisive and victorious battle at Sekigahara in 1603. He also ruled over the 86 Outside Lords (Tozama Daimyo) who had not been farsighted enough to be his allies.
Ieyasu forced both the inside and the outside daimyo to supply labor, materials, and funds for the construction of an impregnable castle in Edo. The work of creating moats, canals, walls, and a fortified residence went on until 1640. From 1603, and for the next 265 years, Ieyasu's successors as shoguns were to rule the nation with unparalleled control from the Edo Castle.
Both to control and financially to weaken any possible contenders for power, Ieyasu enforced the rule of sankin kotai (alternate attendance) on his vassals. Alternate periods of two years had to be spent by the leaders of the great clans at their Edo residence. Thus the great daimyo made their compulsory biennial passage from their domains to Edo, a progression with all the panoply and display as required by the Tokugawa shoguns. It was an ostentatious progress which would keep them sufficiently impoverished. At the end of the period of attendance on the shogun, their return to their territorial homes took place with the same pomp. One half of the Outside Lords had to make their journey to Edo in March of each year while the other half returned to their homes that month. The Inside Lords made their biennial journey in alternate years in August.
In Edo, custom and honor forced these daimyo to live in splendid mansions befitting their rank. On their return
