Chuo-ku Tourism Association correspondent blog

Happy New Year
It's Hanes, a new correspondent!
Everyone, did you eat New Year's Eve soba at the end of the year? And did you go to new year worshipping on New Year's Day?
This time, we will introduce the traditions and culture of the Edo period related to the year-end and New Year holidays.
I would like to deliver a New Year's scenery in Chuo-ku.


(Left: Ginza Mitsukoshi, right: Ginza Ukaitei)

■A story near the Edo period
It is now a soba that has become established as a food to eat at the end of the year.
Did you know that soba was actually popular in the Edo period?
It is said that night stalls called "Yataka Soba" flourished, and at its peak, nearly 4,000 soba shops lined up in Edo City!

At first, I was soaked in soba juice, but during the Genroku era (1688-1704), a way to eat juice was devised.
From this time, "Kake" (with hot juice) and "Mori" (with conventional juice) have been distinguished.
Since the Meiji era, "Zaru" (dispersed glue on "Mori") appeared.
And late Tokugawa shogunate came out of "Okame soba" (a few kinds of ingredients arranged on the side like a kame mask).

I'm worried about the differences between each soba shop lined up in Edo city.

■The story of the fish market in the Edo period
On the New Year's Day of the Edo period, it was customary to rest both the shopping street and the fish market.
It is said that the fish market clerks celebrated the adult day on New Year's Day, ate zoni, and spent sleeping.
However, some young people seemed to have gone to Eho-san (the prototype of new year worshipping) or to see the play.

At night, the Japanese lantern was hung without gaps so brightly that it was said to "blow the daytime."
We arranged seafood on a board boat and prepared for the first sale starting at 0 o'clock on the 2nd.
The first sale was so crowded that it was difficult to walk, but it seems that a lion dance called Ichibun lion that excites the mood sometimes entered.

Just listening to the story, it seems that the excitement of not pushing and pushing is floating in my mind.

■Kabuki
At Kabukiza, the first day will be celebrated on the 2nd.





The birthplace of Edo Kabuki is also located in Chuo-ku.
It would be nice to try the traditional performing arts early in the New Year.

■<Aside> The story of a building in Chuo-ku in 2019
Chuo-ku, a construction rush, including Olympic athlete villages (later HARUMI FLAG) and numerous hotels and condominiums.
The environment for accepting foreign visitors to Japan will be enhanced, and the number of residents is expected to increase.
On the other hand, the preparation and construction of cultural facilities that are good for existing residents seems to be progressing one after another.

In July 2019, a high-rise building called Museum Tower Kyobashi (MUSEUM TOWER KYOBASHI) is scheduled to be completed on the site of the former Bridgestone Headquarters Building.
The Bridgestone Museum of Art later changed its name and entered the lower floors as the Artizon Museum (ARTIZON MUSEUM).
This will be a new base for cultural arts, and a lively atmosphere will be created in the (tentative name) Art Square, a plaza that will be maintained on the ground.



Also, in Shintomi, a complex facility such as a library (tentative name) Honnomori Chuou is scheduled to start construction in July 2019 (scheduled to open in 2022).
Please come and visit Chuo-ku, where the topic is constantly growing and every day this year.
Chuo City will never cease to amaze us :)