During the relative stability and peace of Tokugawa rule, Edo grew rapidly both in size and economic strength. By the early 1700s, the population had reached one million, and to find space for the ever-growing populace hills were leveled, marshes reclaimed and estuaries filled. In Dokan’s day, areas such as Ginza and Nihombashi would have been under water, but during the Edo era they would both begin to flourish, Ginza initially as the location for the shogunate’s main silver mint and Nihombashi as a commercial center and the point from which all distances from Tokyo would be measured. Edo grew in all directions, even taking large chunks out of Tokyo Bay, but even amid such rapid growth the rigid social lines of Tokugawa rule were never blurred. The samurai classes had their parts of town and each level of merchant and worker had theirs. Today, in some parts of Tokyo you can still see distinctions between the “high city” of the samurai and the “low city” of the common man.
The classic view of the Imperial Palace (page 40) in central Tokyo combines the Fushimi Yagura guard tower and Nijubashi Bridge.
Many major traditional festivals, such as the autumn and spring festivals at Tosho-gu Shrine in Nikko and Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu Shrine in Kamakura, feature processions in historical costumes like this samurai armor.
Tradition, though important, can be tinkered with, especially when it comes to fashion. In this case, zori sandals meet platforms.
Decorative hagoita at the annual Hagoita-Ichi fair by Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa. A hagoita is a flat wooden racket used for playing the traditional New Year’s game hanetsuki, although ones like these are used as good luck charms.
A ukiyo-e (woodblock print) depicting an Edo-era kabuki actor.
You can still see rickshaws in Asakusa, although only as a tourist attraction nowadays.
Dolls on a souvenir stall.
With Tokugawa rule ended by the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Edo went through a series of dramatic changes. When the 17-year-old Meiji Emperor moved from Kyoto to briefly take up residence in Edo Castle (it burnt down in 1873 and the site is now home to the current Imperial Palace), he renamed Edo the “eastern capital”, Tokyo. The Meiji Government also set about modernizing Japan. With help of foreign expertise previously kept out of the country by Edo-era isolation policy, Japan developed its railways and industries. From the 1880s onward, much of central Tokyo also underwent a Western-style facelift, European architects and later their Japanese students erecting brick buildings. Horse-drawn carriages replaced rickshaws. Gas street lights appeared. The Meiji Emperor even took to wearing Western clothing. Tokugawa’s former power base had become the modern mega city of its day.
A statue of the legendary 14th-century samurai Kusunoki Masahige near the Imperial Palace.
A glimpse of old Edo courtesy of the master ukiyo-e artist Hiroshige.
Performing the tea ceremony. Sado or Chado, as it is most commonly known in Japanese, is still a popular and very well-respected pastime.
Decorative saké barrels (kazaridaru) at Meiji Jingu Shrine. Although the ones on display are always empty, shrines often use saké in parts of their rituals.
TOKYO’S COLORFUL FESTIVALS
Year round, Tokyo’s calendar is marked by festivals of all shapes and guises, from local street fairs to ancient parades and from midsummer fireworks displays to seasonal flower festivals, a collection of matsuri (festivals) woven into the fabric of Tokyo life.
Dancing in the streets at one of Tokyo’s numerous summer festivals.
In early spring, the focus of the city’s festivities is the fleeting wave of cherry blossom (sakura) that arrives in Tokyo in late March and early April as it sweeps northeast over Japan, with it signaling the start of hanami (cherry blossom viewing) parties and picnics in parks and alongside river banks all over the city. In Ueno Park, hanami manifests itself in thousands of saké- and beer-fueled parties on a sea of blue tarpaulin picnic sheets under delicate pink blossoms, while in other places the viewing is a more peaceful, contemplative affair, the lawns of Shinjuku Gyoen and a row boat on the picturesque Chidorigafuchi moat by the Imperial Palace being two of the most attractive and tranquil viewing spots in Tokyo.
As spring begins to warm with the approach of early summer, the first of Tokyo’s grand festivals begin. Taking place in odd-numbered years, the Kanda Matsuri in mid-May features processions of men in Edo-era costumes, bearers of mikoshi (portable shrines) and priests on horseback, while a week or so later the Sanja Matsuri in Asakusa attracts almost two million onlookers who come to watch hollering teams of bearers bounce highly decorative mikoshi through the teeming streets in honor of the 7th-century founders of Asakusa’s Senso-ji Temple and take in the parades of floats and food stalls.
The procession of samurai at the Tosho-gu Grand Spring Festival.
Picnicking under spring cherry blossoms. A favorite annual event in Japan, hanami (blossom viewing parties) take place all over Tokyo when the sakura is in bloom.
Paper lanterns at temple and shrine festivals can look mystical but often just bear the names of people who have given donations.
When the heat and humidity of summer arrives in July and August, matsuri madness reaches its peak. Illuminating Tokyo’s eastern skies on the final Saturday of July, the Sumidagawa Hanabi Taikai is the largest of dozens of summer hanabi taikai (fireworks displays) that take place in Tokyo, in this case with 20,000 rockets painting a rainbow of colors above the Sumida River. Despite the often oppressive heat, outdoor dance
