Official

First of all, cross the Kamejima River to Shinkawa.
The canal, Shinkawa, which is said to have been excavated by Zuiken Kawamura in 1660, flourished as a wholesaler for descending sake brought from the famous sake brewery and above during the Edo period.
Although it is an area with few tourists in Chuo-ku, it has introduced the Seven Wonders of Rei Kishijima, the ruins of Echizen moat, Oiwa Inari Tamiya Shrine, the tide station and the first level point, canals, Shinkawa and descending sake wholesalers. As you have said, Shinkawa is also a treasure trove of interesting episodes.

The site of the discovery of the reserves in the Shinkawa area was the site of Kashima Hondana, which Nisshin Oil Mills (now Nisshin Irioo Group) bought to expand the headquarters building!

Nisshinoilio Group Head Office Building

Kashima Honten is a wholesaler of Edo Kitetsu, which is inherited by Kashima Seibei.
Although it prospered as an Australian merchant, the 8th generation Seibe (adopted by son-in-law) married Nobu, a traced daughter, is so called "the three major indemnities in the Meiji era."
After his adoption was resolved due to a number of problems, Nofu took over the eighth generation and abolished the hereditary system, and the eighth generation Seibe became the taboo of the Kashima family.
After that, the ninth generation had no management ability and closed in 1932 due to changes in the world.
Even the 8th generation Seibe and Nofu's grandson Minoru Kashima, born in 1927, are surprised because they did not know about the 8th generation Seibe for a long time.

But it's still fast!
Approximately 30 years after the store closed, in late August 1963 (1963), about 20,000 Tenpo era red gold (both 30,000 pieces) were discovered by Taisei Construction, which had been undertaking the construction of the Nisshin Oil Mills headquarters building!
According to the discoverer, there were three glass containers filled with red gold in a 70 cm square brick enclosure with beautiful sand.
Furthermore, on September 3, 1900 Tenpo era ovals and about 50,000 red gold were excavated, and it was crowded with a combined market value of 60 million yen (all of which have been verified).

Sake Komono barrel, dedicated to Masaru Shinkawa Jingu Shrine

What is worrisome here is who filled these reserves?
A newspaper on September 2 states that the descendants of the Kashima family claimed to have been buried by their ancestors, and it is believed that the fourth or fifth generation Seibee Kajima was buried in the times.
Originally, only the owner and wife of generations knew the information, but Nofu did not tell the ninth generation who was poor, but informed the three daughters of the branch family.
While these reserves were returned to the successor to the head office (10th generation), one oval and two red gold were donated to Nisshin Oil Mills as thanks.

This time, I didn't know why many ovals were filled, but I might have prepared for the emergency at home.
I would like to continue to study this.

Next, we went to Ginza 6-chome, which is lined with many famous shops.
The Komatsu Store, which opened in 1946, also became a hot topic.

At that time, on May 11, 1956, the groundbreaking ceremony on the site where the old store was demolished was over, and the construction of a new store building began.
Digging 10 to 15 meters with a power excavator, soil for 50 trucks was transported to a landfill in Koto-ku every day.
Komatsu store founder Takeo Kosaka told Takenaka Corporation's chief Nonaka, "This is the site of a mansion from the Tokugawa era, so it may be about a small size."

I thought that it would end with a joke, and found that the worker Mamoru Takahashi casually picked up and brought back while working at the landfill, and submitted it to the nearest Joto station.
When the department asked an antique dealer living nearby for an appraisal, it turned out that it was a Keicho era oval!

Ginza Comatsu East Building

The next day, both the radio and the newspaper were held in this news, saying "From Ginza, Oval Zakuzaku".
Other laborers also picked up ovals, so we started full-scale searching for ovals with a system of 10 people, and finally a total of 208 ovals (48 Keicho era, 53 Masanori, 107 Kyoho) ), A total of 60 (11 Keicho era, 11 dry, 73 Masanori characters) came out.

Mr. Kosaka abandoned the ownership of the case if the name of the Komatsu store could be sold in this news.
When a part of the excavated oval was borrowed and a commemorative sale was held, it was reported that the effect was enormous.
Eventually, the government will hold an oval as a buried cultural property, and they are currently stored at the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno.

The West Building of Ginza Comatsu

And the most important thing is the owner of this oval and the background of the burial.
According to Kosaka's father and relatives, his grandfather, who was a merchant of the Shogunate in Ueno, was burned down in the rebellion of Kanei-ji Temple during the Meiji Restoration, and settled in Ginza, which was an open space at the time of Meiji 2 (1869).
Mr. Kosaka has heard that when he was a child, his aunt had escaped with only gold coins from his life, and since these ovals came out of the place where he used to be a storehouse, his grandfathers It is reasonable to think.

This time, I introduced the reserves from Shinkawa and Ginza in Chuo-ku, how was it?
Approximately 400 years ago, during the Edo period, there were many clan residences in Chuo-ku, and the number of merchants who made goods increased.
With such a background in mind, it is not strange that the oval is unearthed, but when it comes out together, I'm worried who filled it for what reason.

Redevelopment is progressing every day in Chuo-ku, and some archeological sites have been newly excavated in recent years.
Perhaps there is still a reserve of Edo that sleeps underground without knowing it.
If you think so, you will not be able to keep an eye on future excavations.♪

[Aside]
By the way, the 8th generation Seibee Kajima, who appeared this time, was a model of "Hyaku Monogatari" written by Ougai Mori.
In fact, Ougai also attended the Hyaku Monogatari Meeting, which was realized in the last year when the 8th generation was insulated from Kashimaya Honten.
In addition, the eighth generation is enthusiastic about performing arts, phantom lights, photography, etc., especially contributing to the era of photography.
He was a noisy person, but his photographs are still attracting attention and sometimes photo exhibitions are held.

[Documents]
Masayuki Sato "TOKYO Shinkawa Story: 100 Years of Waterfront" Japan Kyoronsha, 1991.
Eriko Takezawa "Flower Hiraku: Four Seasons of Ginza Comatsu Komatsu Store 60th Anniversary" Komatsu Store Co., Ltd., 2006.
Yutaka Mochizuki "Shinkawa Monogatari: The rise and fall of sake wholesalers", Bungei Shunju, 2010.

[Website]
Komatsu Store Co., Ltd. Blog “Unfortunately Incident” (October 7, 2010)
http://www.ginza-komatsu.co.jp/blog/archives/112 (viewed on June 6, 2022)
The National Museum of Tokyo, "Excavated Edo gold coins"
https://www.tnm.jp/modules/r_exhibition/index.php?controller=item&id=4544 (viewed on June 6, 2022).