Edo 10191 223003558 2008-07-02T03:32:21Z DocWatson42 38455 Cleaned up formating and other matters. {{ otheruses4|the history of the city now known as [[Tokyo]]|other meanings of Edo or EDO|EDO}} <!-- Infobox begins --> {{Infobox Settlement |official_name = Edo |other_name = Yedo |native_name = 江戸 <!-- for cities whose native name is not in English --> |nickname = |settlement_type = Former&nbsp;city<!--For Town or Village (Leave blank for the default City)--> |motto = |image_skyline = |imagesize = |image_caption = |image_flag = |flag_size = |image_seal = |seal_size = |image_shield = |shield_size = |city_logo = |citylogo_size = |image_map = Location TokyoJapan.jpg |mapsize = |map_caption = Former location of Edo and Present location of Tokyo |image_map1 = |mapsize1 = |map_caption1 = |image_dot_map = |dot_mapsize = |dot_map_caption = |dot_x = |dot_y = |pushpin_map = <!-- the name of a location map as per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Location_map --> |pushpin_label_position = <!-- the position of the pushpin label: left, right, top, bottom, none --> |pushpin_map_caption = |pushpin_mapsize = |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = Japan |subdivision_type1 = |subdivision_name1 = |subdivision_type2 = |subdivision_name2 = |subdivision_type3 = |subdivision_name3 = |subdivision_type4 = |subdivision_name4 = |government_footnotes = |government_type = |leader_title = |leader_name = |leader_title1 = <!-- for places with, say, both a mayor and a city manager --> |leader_name1 = |leader_title2 = |leader_name2 = |leader_title3 = |leader_name3 = |leader_title4 = |leader_name4 = |established_title = Castle Built<!-- Settled --> |established_date = 1457 |established_title2 = Capital |established_date2 = 1603 |established_title3 = Renamed Tokyo |established_date3 = 1868 |area_magnitude = |unit_pref = <!--Enter: Imperial, if Imperial (metric) is desired--> |area_footnotes = |area_total_km2 = <!-- ALL fields dealing with a measurements are subject to automatic unit conversion--> |area_land_km2 = <!--See table @ Template:Infobox Settlement for details on automatic unit conversion--> |area_water_km2 = |area_total_sq_mi = |area_land_sq_mi = |area_water_sq_mi = |area_water_percent = |area_urban_km2 = |area_urban_sq_mi = |area_metro_km2 = |area_metro_sq_mi = |population_as_of = 1721 |population_footnotes =<ref name=Sansom/> |population_note = |population_total = 1000000 |population_density_km2 = |population_density_sq_mi = |population_metro = |population_density_metro_km2 = |population_density_metro_sq_mi = |population_urban = |population_density_urban_km2 = |population_density_urban_sq_mi = |population_blank1_title = |population_blank1 = |population_density_blank1_km2 = |population_density_blank1_sq_mi = |timezone = |utc_offset = |timezone_DST = |utc_offset_DST = |latd= |latm= |lats= |latNS= |longd= |longm= |longs= |longEW= |elevation_footnotes = <!--for references: use <ref> </ref> tags--> |elevation_m = |elevation_ft = |blank_name = |blank_info = |blank1_name = |blank1_info = |footnotes = }} <!-- Infobox ends --> [[Image:Edo l12.jpg|thumb|right|250px|View of Edo, left screen from a pair of six-panel folding screens, 17th century.]] [[Image:Edo 1844-1848 Map.jpg|250px|thumb|Map of Edo as of 1840's]] {{nihongo|'''Edo'''|江戸}}, literally: [[Headlands and bays|bay]]-[[door]], "[[estuary]]", {{pronounced|edo}}), once also spelled '''Yedo''' or '''Yeddo''', is the [[Geographical renaming|former name]] of the [[Capital of Japan|Japanese capital]] '''[[Tokyo]]''', and was the seat of power for the [[Tokugawa shogunate]] which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868. During this period it grew to become one of the largest cities in the world and the site of a vibrant urban culture centered on notions of the "[[ukiyo|floating world]]".<ref name=Sansom>Sansom, George. ''A History of Japan: 1615–1867'', p. 114.</ref> ==History== The site of the city, on what is now known as [[Tokyo Bay]], had been settled for several centuries, but first became historically significant with the building of [[Edo Castle]] in 1457 by order of [[Ōta Dōkan]]. [[Kyoto]] was the site of the Japanese emperor's residence and the capital of Japan for many centuries, until the Tokugawa shogunate was established in 1603 and Edo became its seat of government. ===Edo magistrates=== * [[Ishimaru Sadatsuga]], 1661.<ref>Encyclopedia Britannica (1911): [http://books.google.com/books?id=HlQEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA200&lpg=PA200&dq=tokugawa+silver+monopoly&source=web&ots=eqkS55Nu4Y&sig=AMzWc1M42xuBnir6p695ePcVKeI&hl=en#PPA201,M1 "Japan: Commerce in Tokugawa Times," p. 201.]</ref> From the establishment of the Tokugawa ''[[bakufu]]''''s headquarters at Edo, Kyoto remained merely the formal capital of the country. The ''de facto'' capital was now Edo, because it was the center of real political power. Edo consequently rapidly grew from what had been a small, virtually unknown fishing village in 1457 to a metropolis of 1,000,000 residents by 1721, the largest city in the world at the time.<ref name=Sansom/><ref>Gordon, Andrew. (2003). ''A Modern History of Japan from Tokugawa Times to the Present'', p. 23.</ref> Edo was repeatedly devastated by fires, with the [[Great Fire of Meireki]] in 1657—in which an estimated 100,000 people died—perhaps the most disastrous. During the [[Edo period]] there were about one hundred fires, typically started by accident and often quickly escalating to giant proportions, spreading through neighbourhoods of wooden ''[[machiya]]'' that were heated with charcoal fires. Between 1600 and 1945, Edo/Tokyo was leveled every 25–50 years or so by fire, earthquakes, tsunami, volcanic eruptions, and war. In 1868, when the [[shogun]]ate came to an end, the city was renamed ''Tokyo'', meaning "eastern capital", and the emperor moved his residence to Tokyo, making the city the formal capital of Japan. * '''''Keiō 4''''', on the 17th day of the 7th month ([[September 3]], [[1868]]): [[Edo]] was renamed "[[Tokyo]]," i.e. meaning "Eastern Capital."<ref>Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1956). ''Kyoto: the Old Capital, 794–1869,'' p. 327.</ref> * '''''Keiō 4''''', on the 27th day of the 8th month, ([[October 12]], [[1868]]): [[Emperor Meiji]] is crowned in the Shishin-den in Kyoto.<ref name="p328">Ponsonby-Fane, p. 328.</ref> * '''''Keiō 4''''', on the 8th day of the 9th month ([[October 23]], [[1868]]): The [[nengō]] is formally changed from ''Keiō'' to ''Meiji;'' and a general amnesty is granted.<ref name="p328">[see above]</ref> * '''''Meiji 2''''', on the 23rd day of the 10th month (1868): The emperor went to Tokyo; and Edo castle became an Imperial palace.<ref name="p328">[see above]</ref> ==Government and administration== During the Edo period, the Shogunate appointed administrators called ''machi bugyō'' to run the police and, from the time of [[Tokugawa Yoshimune]] onward, the commoner [[fire department]] (''machibikeshi''). The ''machi bugyō'' heard criminal and civil suits and performed other administrative functions. ==Geography== The city was arranged as a [[jokamachi|castle town]], around Edo castle. The area immediately surrounding the castle, known as the "Yamanote", consisted largely of ''[[daimyō]]'' (feudal lords') mansions, whose families lived in Edo year-round as part of the ''[[sankin kōtai]]'' system; the ''daimyō'' themselves made journeys in alternating years to Edo and made use of these mansions for their extensive entourages. It was this extensive [[samurai]] (noble warrior class) population which defined the character of Edo, particularly in contrast to the two major cities of Kyoto and [[Osaka]], neither of which were ruled by a ''daimyō'' or had any significant samurai population. Kyoto's character was dominated by the Imperial Court, the [[kuge|court nobles]], its numerous Buddhist temples, and its traditional heritage and identity, while Osaka was the country's commercial center, dominated by the ''[[chōnin]]'' merchant class. Other areas further from the center were the domains of commoners, or ''chōnin'' (町人), literally "townsfolk." The area known as [[Shitamachi]] (下町, lit. "lower town" or "downtown"), to the northeast of the castle, was perhaps one of the key centers of urban culture. The ancient Buddhist temple of [[Sensō-ji]] still stands in [[Asakusa]] and marks the center of an area of traditional "low-town" culture. Some of the shops in the streets before the temple have been carried on continuously in the same location since the Edo period. The [[Sumida River]], then simply called the Great River (大川), ran along the eastern edge of the city, along which one would find the shogunate's official rice storage warehouses<ref>Taxes, and samurai stipends, were paid not in [[money|coin]], but in rice. See ''[[koku]]''.</ref> and other official buildings, along with some of the city's most famous restaurants. The [[Nihonbashi|Edo Bridge]] (江戸橋, ''Edo-bashi'') marked the center of the city's commercial center, an area also known as ''Kuramae'' (蔵前, "in front of the storehouses"). Many fishermen, craftsmen, and other producers and retailers operated here, as did shippers who managed ships to and from Osaka (called ''[[tarubune]]'') and other cities, either taking goods into the city, or simply transferring them from sea-routes onto river barges or onto land routes such as the [[Tōkaidō (road)|Tōkaidō]], which terminated here. The area remains the center of Tokyo's financial and business district today. The northeastern corner of the city, regarded as a dangerous direction in traditional ''[[onmyōdō]]'' (cosmology/geomancy), is guarded from evil spirits by a series of temples, including Sensō-ji and [[Kan'ei-ji]]. Just beyond these lay the districts of the ''[[burakumin|eta]]'' or outcastes, who engaged in unclean vocations and were thus separated from the main sections of commoner residences. A long dirt path extended west from the riverbank, a short distance north of these ''eta'' districts, leading along the northern edge of the city to the [[Yoshiwara]] pleasure districts. Previously located within the city proper, close to Asakusa, the districts were rebuilt in this more distant location after the Meireki Fire of 1657. ==Gallery== {{wide image|Panorama of Edo bw.jpg|1666px|Edo, 1865 or 1866. Five albumen prints joined to form panorama. Photographer: [[Felice Beato]]}} == See also == *[[1703 Genroku earthquake]] *[[Edokko]] (native of Edo) *[[History of Tokyo]] *[[Iki (aesthetic ideal)|Iki]] (a Japanese aesthetic ideal) == Notes == <references/> ==References== * Gordon, Andrew. (2003). ''A Modern History of Japan from Tokugawa Times to the Present.'' Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]]. ISBN 0-195-11060-9/ISBN 978-0-195-11060-9 (cloth); ISBN 0-195-11061-7/ISBN 978-0-195-11061-6. * Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1956). ''Kyoto: the Old Capital, 794–1869.'' Kyoto: Ponsonby Memorial Society. * [[George Bailey Sansom|Sansom, George]]. (1963). ''A History of Japan: 1615–1867''. Stanford: [[Stanford University Press]]. ISBN 0-8047-0527-5/ISBN 978-0-804-70527-1. * Alternate spelling from [[1911 Encyclopædia Britannica|1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'']] article. 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