Hanes

[The 48th Excursion Series] To Mei Ishiura, a land related to Akashicho


Hello. I'm Hanes, an active correspondent.
Suddenly, what do you think of Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku?
Isn't the image of the exotic Meiji period, such as the Tsukiji settlement and St. Luke's International Hospital?

It is such Akashicho, but it was originally a small town facing Edo Minato, and it is described as "Akashicho" in the National Diet Library Digital Collection "[Edo Kirie] Tsukiji Hachimachi Hori Nihonbashi Minami-Ezu" (published from 1849 to 1862). It is.
In the Edo period, there were a number of daimyo residences, including the upper residence of the Asano family of the Akaho clan, and Akashicho still has historical sites that show this.

[The 48th Excursion Series] To Mei Ishiura, a land related to Akashicho


So why did you come to be called "Akashicho" in the first place?
According to the website of Chuo-ku, there is a theory that a fisherman from Akashi in Banshu (Hyogo Prefecture) emigrated to this area during the Edo period, and a theory that the scenery resembled Akashiura.
I wanted to know more in detail and referred to "Our Town Tsukiji 6-chome 7-chome Akashicho" (1972, Tsukiji 6, 7-chome, Akashicho Memorial Magazine Publishing Committee), and found the following description .

"The fact that landfill was built using pottery after the Great Edo Fire in 1657 is the same as Odawara-cho, but it seems that landfill was completed somewhat earlier than the Odawara-cho side, and the coast of Akashicho in the early Kanbun seems to have been inhabited by fishermen, albeit slightly." (p. 85).

"The scenery overlooking Tsukuda Island in front of the mountains of Awa far away is like a view of Awaji Island and the mountains of Shikoku from Aki Ishiura, and the people of Banshu-Ako emigrated to the built Akashicho, probably because it resembles the scenery of the hometown, it is assumed that the name of Akashicho is 0.

Now I can't see the mountains of Awa from Akashicho, but suddenly I came to mind and visited Akashiura (Akashinoura) in Akashi City, Hyogo Prefecture, which has been a pillow since the Manyoshu era.
This is a photograph taken from around the area where the Akashi Ishiura Fishery Cooperative is located, and you can see the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in the distance.
At the back of the boat is Awaji Island. In the Edo period, Awaji Island could have been overlooked without any obstruction.

[The 48th Excursion Series] To Mei Ishiura, a land related to Akashicho


By the way, here is the scenery that currently overlooks Tsukuda from Tsukuda-ohashi Bridge (Minato, Chuo-ku, Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku).
While the venerable Tsukudani shops and traces of people's horoscopes remain, high-rise apartments have been built and landfills have been created and maintained around the area, which has undergone a major transformation since the Edo period.
The scale of the strait and the river is different, but the scenery seen on the opposite bank during the Edo period may have something similar in Akashi and Akashicho.

[The 48th Excursion Series] To Mei Ishiura, a land related to Akashicho


In the afternoon, you can see Tsukuda from Akashicho and think about the fishermen who overlap the scenery from the hometown of Akashi to Awaji Island.
The records of Akashicho during the Edo period are not often left in books, but I decided to continue to investigate why Akashi fishermen lived there.