Chuo-ku Tourism Association correspondent blog archive

▲Picture of Shirakiya
Created by Yoshiichi Ito, "Edo Town Corner"

Shirakiya is one of the three major kimono shops in Edo, located at Nihonbashi 1-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo. It is a pioneer of Japanese department stores and is one of Japan's leading department stores. The corporation itself continues as the current Tokyu Department Store Co., Ltd., and in 1967 (Showa 42), both trade name and store name were changed to Tokyu Department Store Nihonbashi Store. After that, the store closed on January 31, 1999 due to sluggish sales, and ended with a long history of 336 years since Shirakiya. Coledo Nihonbashi was built on the site and opened on March 30, 2004 (2004).

▲Edo Sewage System

When the Warring States period ended and the territory of various daimyo was decided, there was no need to worry about relocation, and town planning under the castle and development of farmland with open waterways became popular nationwide. Ieyasu Tokugawa entered Edo in 1590 (Tensho 18). It was only after Ieyasu became a general and opened the Shogunate in 1603 (Keicho 8) after the Sekigahara war ended.
During the Kanei era (1624-1644), town planning was particularly advanced, but in 1657, most of Edo was destroyed by the Great Fire of the Meiryaku era. The Shogunate immediately started rebuilding Edo, and during the Manji period (1658-1661), the headquarters and Fukagawa were developed.

Sewage (at that time, large and small waterways that drain rainwater and sewage were called "sewage") was also created when building the city. By this time, the sewage has been well maintained.
There were many tenement houses (back shops) in the city with the sewage of Edo, but the drainage from the sink of the tenement flows into a ditch built in an alley, from which it flows to the sewage created on the road. Was. Rainwater flowed through rain gutters from the roofs of the houses, and drained into rain drained sewage under the eaves.

There are names such as large sewage, small sewage, etc., but this does not necessarily represent the size of sewage, but uses what the local people called like as it is.
At the end of the Tokugawa period, foreigners came to Japan, and I was impressed by the cleanliness of the streets of Edo. He points out that there is no garbage in the city. In the castle town of Europe, both royal palaces and private houses were built in a narrow area surrounded by walls around the city. As a result, the population density was high, and sewage and garbage were scattered on the streets. Once infectious diseases such as plagues and cholera occurred, they quickly spread throughout the castle, so they have experienced many miserable situations.
There were no walls in the castle town of Japan, and the houses were placed outside the castle. At that time, logistics mainly relied on water transportation, so the city of Edo had four small rivers and moat splits. Also, in the town of Edo, there was quite a large amount of land that was cut down on the mountains and landfilled with the generated residual soil. As a result, rainwater and sewage could be removed naturally or via sewage into waterways. Because most of the land created was lowlands, it was easy to get wet and it was very important to remove rainwater. In that sense, it can be said that the city of Edo had a good match between the economic system and environmental hygiene.

The common people of Edo kept the city clean by cleaning the road in front of the house and spraying water in summer. There were plagues, but rarely experienced such harsh experiences as pandemics. E. Mohs, who excavated the Omori Shell Mound, and British diplomat R. Allcock, wrote with surprise.

When Edo opened and the wave of modernization rushed in and the population surged, waterways were reclaimed to make roads and residential lands in order to create a modern city. As a result, the environment of the city deteriorated, and at the same time as the opening of the country, extremely malignant infectious diseases such as cholera were brought in from overseas, so when entering the Meiji era, a new sewer with cholera measures as its main role, increased the need to develop a modern sewer system.

Excerpt from report of the Study Group on Human Waste and Sewage - Date:　January 14, 2005 (Friday) Lecturer: Katsuaki Nakamitsu (Chuo-ku, Tokyo Board of Education) Title:　"Sewage of Machiya seen in Edo ruins"

The target archeological site is 1-chome and 2-chome Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, and 1-chome is the place where the parking lot of Shirakiya Department Store (later Tokyu Department Store) used to be. Chuo-ku is a place where Ieyasu Tokugawa was built since his arrival in the Edo period, and there are pictorial drawings and ancient document in the times and times.

On the east side of the Nihonbashi River, there is still a wholesaler on the side where Mitsukoshi is present, there is a Nihonbashi riverbank in the Edo period, there is a machiya, sewage, and artifact and sewage that seemed to have been living in the times and times as they dug down from theremain.

When asked if there was anything unusual about the excavated items, he found an admission ticket for the playhouse. It is very rare because it was written in ink on a piece of wood.

Looking at the slope of the excavated sewage remains, etc., it is not heading in the direction of Nihonbashi River, so excavation only at this place has garbage pools, etc., but it is not clear what the future is.

At the 1-chome archeological site, site boundaries that cannot be heard from literature are identified based on the excavated drainage-related remains.

At the 2-chome site, the mansion split was subdivided as the age declined by the remain centered on sewage gutters, and the ruins of the building, which had a clear land business, disappeared and transformed into a building like a tenement house. Nakamitsu said that the increase in sewage gutters could be seen. 　

Sewage of Machiya seen in the Edo ruins: centering on Machiya in Nihonbashi-

Katsuaki Nakamitsu　

In Chuo-ku, there have been a track record of Hatchobori 2-chome, 3-chome, Hatchobori on the Keiyo Line, Nihonbashi 2-chome, same-chome, Kyobashi 2-chome archeological site. Here, we introduce the archeological sites around Nihonbashi among the recently surveyed townhouses, and the sewage detected there.

Because Chuo-ku is a lowland, the remains of woody parts are good, and it was confirmed that wood was used in a considerable amount of remain. In particular, excavations were conducted around Nihonbashi, where the wood of sewage gutters, which were often corroded and lost at the archeological sites on the plateau, were well preserved, and the Nihonbashi 1-chome archeological site (hereinafter abbreviated as 1-chome archeological site) and Nihonbashi 2-chome archeological site (hereinafter abbreviated as 2-chome archeological site).

From Nihonbashi, the starting point of the Tokaido, Chuo-dori (formerly Nihonbashi-dori) extends north-south, and the Sumida River flows about 1.3 km east. The Nihonbashi River, which spans Nihonbashi, is an important canal for water transport at the time connecting the mouth of the Sumida River and the inner moat of Edo Castle, and Chuo-dori is the main street of Edo at that time. For this reason, the area around Nihonbashi is located in one of the best places in Edo, and it can be said that it flourished as a commercial area throughout the Edo period.

1 Ground history of archeological sites

Most of the areas of Chuo-ku are located on the Nihonbashi Plateau, which is made up of dip. This plateau is covered by alluvial layers, and is located 2-3m higher than the area on the east bank of the Sumida River.

The Nihonbashi Plateau is a top buried wave food stand (buried plateau) in terms of topography, and the altitude around the archeological site is around 4.5m. On the north side is the Asakusa Plateau, which is also a buried plateau, and the Nihonbashi Plateau is the south side of Showa-dori Valley, which is the buried valley heading from Shinobazunoike toward Tsukishima. 　

The area around Nihonbashi is a sandbar called "Edo Maejima", where alluvial layers are deposited on the Nihonbashi Plateau and landed. Edo Maejima is a peninsula-like microaltitude extending south from Hongo, but the detailed range is still unclear. In the old days, it has been pointed out that it may be "Maejima-mura, Edo-go, Toshima-gun, Musashi-kuni" as seen in the letter of Shigecho Hirashige in the "Kanko-ji Temple Document" of Hironagamoto (1261).

　Chuo-ku is almost in its current form due to the creation of Ieyasu Tokugawa after entering Edo in 1590. As the government city is being implemented, the Takee Chronological Table shows a description of the town policy in the section of Keicho 8 (1603). After digging the entrance, the deep soil was piled up on the edge of the moat, and the townspeople who gathered from various countries and divided the town gradually picked up the soil, leveled it, and turned it into Machiya.

2 Outline of the archeological site

(１)　Overview of Nihonbashi 1-chome Site

　The 1-chome archeological site is located at 1-4-6, Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku [House Indication]. This survey was conducted in Part 6, and it was a townhouse called Yorozucho throughout the Edo period. Yorozucho was established by emigrating Soga Kozaemon and others in Odawara along with former Yokkaichimachi and Aonomachi when entering Ieyasu. There were many wholesalers, such as a fixed-legged wholesaler, a dry wholesaler, a tea wholesaler, a paper tobacco wholesaler, a pot wholesaler, a dried confectionery wholesaler, a medicine shop, a brush inkstone master, and a soy sauce vinegar wholesaler. Rather than being lined with retail shops, it seems that it was a commercial area where wholesalers were concentrated.

　Excavations at the 1-chome archeological site were conducted from December 2000 to July of the following year. The survey area is approximately 1,000 m2. This archeological site was embanked in the early modern era, and has been raised repeatedly thereafter. The ruins began to be found around 1m below the surface of the site. The confirmed life aspect was 14 in the early modern era and 1 in modern era, and was deposited from 0.5m to 4.0m above sea level.

Approximately 500 remains were detected, and sewage from stone revetments, which are thought to be related to the town split, and garbage reservoirs for sedimentation of sewage, were detected so that they could lead to sewage gutters. In addition, there are 32 Anazo and 19 Tozo sites, which show a very dense distribution, symbolizing the center of the commercial area of Edo. Article 3 of the sewage from the Ishigumi revetment was confirmed, and it was found that the archeological site corresponds to No. 4, 5, and 6 in Yorozucho. 　The survey site was a town area throughout the Edo period, and it is a rare archeological site where the transition from the early to modern times was investigated.

(２)　Overview of Nihonbashi 2-chome Site

The 2-chome archeological site is located at 2-7 Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku [House Indication]. It can be seen that the archeological site is a corner of the entrance that was formed after around 1612 (Keicho 17). Iribori was reclaimed from Kanei 9 (1632), where its existence can be confirmed in pictorial drawings, to Kanei 15 (1638), when the Hisashi Hon-style family worshiped as a town. The site of the Shikibu family immediately after the worship was recognized as a corner of Nihonbashi-dori 2-chome.

In the wake of the great fire of Meiji 3 (1657), I set up a path to penetrate my premises into Nihonbashi Odori. Since then, the archeological site has been known as a street 2-chome new road. Hisashi's main ceremony was 300 stones of Chiyuki, which was originally priest in outer shrine at Ise-jingu Shrine, turned to a doctor. When he worshiped the archeological site, the head was Tsunera, the second generation of the Shikibu family, and Dr.

Hisashi's main ceremony family continued to own the archeological site until replacing the Meiji New Government, but as the times went down, the site was subdivided, and as the rental land progressed, it became a townhouse where townspeople lived. 　The excavation survey was conducted from November 1999 to February of the following year, targeting approximately 800 m2. The ruins began to be found around 1m below the surface of the site.

The confirmed life surface was 10, and it was deposited from 0.5m to 3.0m above sea level, and an entry was detected at the lower level. Approximately 300 archeological sites were confirmed, and unlike the 1-chome archeological site, only a small number of archeological sites and caves were detected. It was confirmed that the sewage gutter detected in each life reflects the house layout in the town layout. In addition, the garbage pool was detected in a state connected to a sewage gutter.

3 Classification of detection remain and positioning of sewage facilities

The remain detected at the 1-chome and 2-chome ruins is classified according to character. When Machiya is restored from archeological sites in the future, it is organized for the work. When considering sewage, we believe that it will become clearer by positioning it as an archeological site while comparing it to the remain detected in the surrounding area rather than collecting sewage itself. 　

remain said it was "drainage-related." However, remain, which is believed to be related to sewage, was recognized as well as remain, which was related to wastewater. This, except for buildings and toilets, does not form a direct living space, is considered to be a trace of cognitive practice assuming the boundaries of social groups as the minimum unit in the human world. It reflects the way land use should be on the premises.

　Sewage functioned mainly for applications such as (1) domestic wastewater, (2) rainwater treatment, and (3) site classification. Here, I would like to focus on the three site divisions. Regarding the site division Regarding the discussion on the handling of sewage gutters and sewage branch gutters, there is an example of prior research from the viewpoint of restoring the empty question of Machiya.

The sewage gutter was used by Tetsuo Tamai to collate the town split at the archeological site in Hitotsubashi High School in the "Remains in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area", and as a result of conducting a restoration study, certain results were obtained. Regarding sewage branch gutters, Hiroki Goto focused on the regular arrangement of "Iwamotocho 2-chome archeological site" and expressed his view that the sewage was laid in the kitchen of each house.

4 The detected sewage of Machiya

(１)　Sewage and site boundary of Nihonbashi 1-chome Site

　Ishigumi revetment at the 1-chome archeological site appears just before the Great Fire of the Meiryaku era on the twelfth side. During the investigation of this archeological site, a gu ticket picture copy of the archeological site, Yorozucho, was discovered. Based on the map of the gu ticket, the map of the gu ticket in 1873, and the current status of the land and archeological sites, it was found that the archeological site corresponds to No. 4, 5, and 6 in Yorozucho. However, in the gu ticket map, only the line was drawn, and it was unclear where the actual site boundary was in the archeological site.

There is no doubt that it is around the stone revetment / sewage ditch, but it is not specified whether it is the center of the ditch or which part of the east-west stone revetment is located. In general, it is said that there is an obligation to dodge, so either east or west landlords must bear this cost across this sewage.

It is hard to imagine that the site boundary is the center of the ditch because it causes the lawsuit. According to the facts obtained from the excavation survey, 1, the stone group on the east side may be broken into the storehouse foundation, 2, the stone group on the east side shows movement to the east and west, and the stone group on the west side is 12 It was found that it hardly moved from the surface to the modern age, and this turned out that the site boundary was a crane line of the stone group revetment west side on the west side.

(２)　Transition of sewage and plane composition of Nihonbashi 2-chome

　I would like to see the transition of the plane structure at the 2-chome site, along with the drainage-related remain. It is the eighth side of Phase III that sewage clearly appears at the 2-chome archeological site. For this reason, it is limited to changes from the stage III. ⅢPeriod: In the wake of the great fire of the Meiryaku era in the first half of the previous fiscal year, a new road passes east-west direction outside the southern survey area. A change appears in the layout of the mansion, and in the ninth and third quarters, the ruins of the alley, which is considered to be the boundary of the mansion, pass through.

The 9th and 3rd, 8th and 7th pages are the main term, from around 1657 to around the middle of the 18th century. 　The boundary of the house layout due to the alley ruins seen in the ninth and third periods moved outside the survey area on pages 8 and 7. The boundary of this position will be seen again by sewage through this position during stage IV.

The ruins of the building are seen in a relatively clear form, and sewage is also passed through. Sewage runs east-west and north-south in line with the shape of the town split. The sewage gutter with the west side of the wooden floor is only on the west side, but as seen later, it is recognized that the survey area has already been divided into north and south. ⅤCompared to the period and the VI period, it still appears to have a more comfortable plane structure.

ⅣPeriod IV is the sixth aspect, and it will be in the middle of the 18th century, centered on the 1750s. 　A sewage gutter that crosses east and west is recognized on the south side, and the mansion that had moved outside the survey area on the south side during Phase III can be seen again.

ⅢThe major transformation from period to stage IV will lead to the emergence of sewage gutters that cross the center of the survey area from east to west, and the absence of water-related remain with water pipes. This sewage gutter greatly divides north and south. In addition, few buildings such as the eighth floor of the previous term were found, and the fragmentation of the house layout by buildings such as tenement houses may have started at this time.

Wooden sewage gutters have been confirmed since this period, and as mentioned in the previous term, this archeological site is slightly behind the new road. If the subdivision of the mansion has begun from the south side, wooden sewage gutters may be seen only on the south side. 　On the east side, sewage from Iwagumi revetment has been seen since the first half of the year. In this period, there is a large pool well on the west side of this sewage, and a storehouse site is also recognized on the east side.

ⅤIn the period, the arrangement and shape of the sharding pits are different in this area, and the size and platebed of the branch gutters are different, so the land use situation is different from east to west in this area, and there is a possibility that some highly regarded residents may have. . ⅤPeriod: Phase 5 and Phase 4, Phase 1 and 2 are defined as Phase V. This period will be in the late 18th century from the 1750s to the 1960s. The 4th phase and 1st phase of the pottery mine is thought to be cleared after the great fire of Meguro Gyojinzaka in Meiwa 9 (1772), and is expected to trigger a major change in land use at archeological sites .

It seems that the positional relationship between the sharding mine and the sewage gutter immediately after this was relatively well matched, and that alleys have already been seen in the north-south direction on the fifth side, greatly changing from the previous mansion split. , Collected in this term. 　

ⅣA major transformation from stage to stage V may be that there are sewage gutters detected vertically and horizontally, and many sewage branch gutters poured into them. ⅣIn the period, it was a long and narrow mansion in the east and west, but in this period, alleys or sewage gutters run in the north-south direction and divide it. In addition, there will be no ruins of buildings where tataki-like, foundation stone and Yokogi can be detected simultaneously.

It seems that the house split has been further subdivided from the previous term, and it is probable that the settlement by a building like a tenement has progressed considerably in the house split except for the southwest side. ⅥPeriod: The 3rd to 1st will be the main term. From the end of the 18th century to around Meiji 10 (1877). 　The mansion layout captured in the previous term is further subdivided into the short-term question in the current term and returned to its original state, indicating a very active use of land.

Since the disturbance was intense and no clear phase difference was captured, it was included in this period. The first and second phases are clearly modern abolition, but as can be seen in Chapter 6, Section 3 and Section 3, major changes were not confirmed by the estimated age of abolition, around 1877.

It seems that the Machiya of the archeological site may have been used in a certain degree of continuous land use from the Edo period to the modern era. 　ⅤIn the four and two phases of the period, robe buried remains were detected concentrated on the southwestern plastered land, but in this period it will be dispersed again around the sewer gutter. This was not due to time differences, but rather to the southwest side of the mansion in the fourth and second phases, there was no building like a tenement house, which was higher than other mansions.

remain's density is low, and only one sewage gutter is found.

We looked at the ruins of Machiya in Nihonbashi and identified them based on the drainage-related remain, which was discovered at the 1-chome site boundary that could not be seen from the literature. At the 2-chome site, it was seen that the house split by remain, centered on sewage gutters, was subdivided as the age went down.

With the subdivision, the building welfare, which has a clear ground work, disappears, and the increase in sewage gutters turns into a tenement building. 　The Edo ruins around Nihonbashi are located in the center of Machiya in the government city of Edo. These ruins of Machiya in Nihonbashi may be one indicator when investigating Machiya at the Edo archeological site in the future.

In this way, the survey and research by Katsuaki Nakamitsu can see the streets of Edo in relation to sewerage. Chuo-ku will continue to change significantly due to urban development. I hope that if you find remain, you will be able to understand more about how sewage was involved in the lives of the people of Edo.

(I was interviewed by the Chuo Ward Board of Education General Cultural Property Mitsuaki Nakamitsu, Research Instructor.)