In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the land and terrain where we live. It is said that the formation of the terrain in Chuo-ku was centered on a peninsula-shaped sandbar called Edo Maejima, and then the surrounding area was reclaimed.
This historical walk is a course where you can explore the historic sites along the road twice in April while walking near the periphery of Edo Maejima. Sponsored by the Chuo-ku Cultural Properties Supporters Association of Chuo-ku Town Walking Volunteer Guide
→We are currently accepting applications! Specifically, please see "news center of ward" March 11 issue. Here>>
(left figure) "Edo's prototype" (written by Masao Suzuki, "Edo was built in this way", Chikuma Gakugei Bunko version, published in January 2000, p21 to part) (Right figure) (Land condition map" from the Geographical Survey Institute's electronic national land portal site and "Low humidity map of the early Meiji era".
Let's take a look at Edo Maejima and modern terrain.
In the figure on the left, the central peninsula area is called Edo Maejima. Located south of the Hongo Plateau, which is marked Ochanomizu, it is also called the Nihonbashi Plateau. Is the nun shop near Nihonbashi, and Masakado Shuzuka around Otemachi? To the west of Edo Maejima is the Hibiya inlet, and to the east is the sea.
It is said that Edo was built based on the topography of Edo Maejima. Kadoyama will be reclaimed to reclaim the Hibiya inlet, and the former Hirakawa will be headwater on the outer moat and Nihonbashi River. The old Tokaido is said to have passed through the ridge of Edo Maejima. The state of the town in the early Edo period is described by the pictorial map "Edoshozu, Toyoshima-gun, Bushu".
The figure on the right shows the latest data on topographic structures recently published. The yellow place that is bent in the center in the direction of "ku" is a fine terrain classified as "sand bar", indicating that it almost overlaps with Edo Maejima on the left. The area around Tokyo Station is slightly different, but it is consistent that the area around Shimbashi is the southern end of Edo Maejima. The figure on the right shows Chuo-ku during the early Meiji period, that is, the late Tokugawa shogunate period. The waterway is stretched, and Tsukishima does not exist yet.
If these two figures are superimposed, it can be said that the center of Chuo-ku today was born from a sandbar called Edo Maejima. So, are there any traces of it now? Looking at the altitude difference between Harumi-dori St. and Eitai-dori St. at east-west points, the ridge of Edo Maejima and the current Chuo-dori are higher than the surrounding area (altitude). The ruins of outer moat and Kaedegawa are thought to be near the outer edge of Edo Maejima.
This historical walk is an unprecedented new attempt to explore the origins of the topography formation in Chuo-ku and look at the history of Edo and Tokyo. @ Akira Makibuchi
