Official
It seems that the baked sweet potatoes from Nihonbashi are delicious, aren't it?
Morisada, the National Diet Library
Speaking of buying baked potatoes in the Edo period, it was like a shop with the right corner of the picture above, "Banjin hut". However, this is actually a place to protect the safety of Edo townspeople, and the shop was a side job.
The safety of the townspeople town in Edo was protected with the power and concentric of Hatchobori under the control of the town magistrate, but there were only a dozen or more people concentric around the city. Then, it seemed that I didn't mind, and the townspeople first made a "Kido" at the corner of the street for self-defense and closed it at night or in case of emergency to block traffic. It is written "Kido" at the entrance from the main street in the picture above to the alley.
It is the guard in the guard hut that opens and closes "Kido". It is also called "Bantaro." Bantaro was working in a house. Kido closed four nights at 10 p.m. If there is a person who really wants to pass, enter and exit the dive door next door and Kidoban (Bantaro) hits a clap and informs the next town Kidoban that the passerby is heading there. This prevented suspicious individual from being lost in town and leading to crime. Then, do you close at ten o'clock at night? It seems that Tomoi and Yotaka soba were open late at night. By the way, in the morning, Kido is opened at dawn six (6:00 am).
Bantaro's other job is to ring a bell in the event of a fire. The place surrounded by a fence on the roof of the guard hut in the picture is written as "Fire View". There seems to be no half bell here, so the fire viewing in this picture will be a place where you can see if there is no fire or far away. It looks like a water tub (a tub that stores fire water in case of fire).……。 What about it?
Bantaro's salary was low, so he also sold daily necessities, baked potatoes, and candy. That's what the products are lined up in the picture above. Let's take a look at what we were doing in the next chapter and see what the "self-bansho" opposite the "banjin hut".
The "self-bansho" is called "banya". It tends to be confused as a guardhouse, but "self guardhouse" is "banya". It was like serving as a "police box" and "police station" now. There was one by one in each town, and at first landlords and town officials were taking turns, but later they began to put people called professional masters.
If you have sticks or stabs and catch a criminal, you will first take you to the "self-bansho" and concentric and Okahiki will investigate. It seems to have been used to keep drunk until morning. It seems that it was used as a hangout for concentrics and Okabiki, as well as for neighborhoods in the town.
Let's take a look at what they sold in addition to baked potatoes at the Banjin hut.
A convenience store in town
Daily necessities such as sandals, candles, sandals, brooms, nose paper, tiles, braziers, etc. were easily purchased at the guardhouse. It seems that there were few shops selling sandals and sandals in the store because they could buy sandals and sandals here. Seasonal items are "baked potatoes in winter" and "goldfish in summer". There are also sweets that children love. It's said that he sold four sweets. This candy seems to be commonly called "bantaro confectionery". What kind of candy was it? It seems that it was a cheap snack made of brown sugar. Even if brown sugar is cheaper than white sugar, it contains vitamin B group and has a fatigue recovery effect. It was a sweet that my body was happy. If there was something missing, it was a little like a convenience store in a guardhouse.
Word of mouth of baked sweet potatoes
In winter, baked potatoes were sold at any guard hut (bantaro's shop). Even if it was not a guard hut, there seemed to be baked sweet potato shops everywhere. I'm wondering where to buy it. It's cold in winter and it's hard to go far away, so I think many people wanted to do it in a nearby guard hut. Don't you want to eat delicious potatoes because it's a great deal?
There was. The word of mouth in modern times. Kenichiro Ike (Hiroshige Utagawa, the fourth generation) wrote a shop that sells delicious roasted potatoes in "Picture Book Customs Traffic". "In the winter of Edo city, there was no baked sweet potato shop, and baked sweet potatoes were always sold at the guardhouse near Kido (bantaro's shop). The yakiimoya, located at the outskirts of Mikado, is always large, and the signboard oriental lamp, which has a large and round, is huge. The baked sweet potatoes in this large shop have a coarse taste and a thin scent. The price is also low. The baked sweet potatoes in the erected town near Nihonbashi are always sweet and fragrant. Kawagoe's authentic potatoes are used and the price is high. (Hereinafter referred to as below).
Only this literature was found about the reputation of baked potatoes, so it was a word of mouth according to Kenichiro Kikuchi's preference, but the baked potatoes in Nihonbashi seemed to be delicious using potatoes from Kawagoe.
Even now, the sweet potatoes from Kawagoe have a good reputation. In today's Miyoshi-cho, which was the territory of the Kawagoe Domain, it seems that "Tomi no Kawagoe Imo" is made by traditional agriculture that plant trees to grow flatland forests and ferment the collected fallen leaves into compost. . If I lived in the Edo period, I definitely wanted to go to Nihonbashi to buy it.
Scenery with a baked sweet potato shop
Hiroshige Utagawa "Famous Edo Hundred Views Bikunihashi Snow" National Diet Library Digital Collection
It is near the current Ginza 1-chome Nishi Ginza JCT.
Bikunibashi was a bridge over the Kyobashi River, just before joining the outer moat. After the Great Kanto Earthquake, the bridge was renovated and the name of the bridge was changed to Jobe Bridge. It seems to be derived from the fact that along the outer moat around here was called the castle riverbank. outer moat is on the right side of the picture where you can see pine and stone walls. The other side of the pine and stone walls is Daimyokoji, the residential area of the daimyo. There is also Minamicho magistrate's office. Is the fire tower seen beyond the bridge near Sukiyabashi Gomon? It's like an oden shop that is trying to cross the bridge by carrying a box with a balance rod. They also sold hot sake along with Dengaku and stewed oden. I'm glad on cold days. "Yama Whale" in front of the left is a wild boar pot shop called Owari-ya. The right hand side is a grilled sweet potato shop. The signboard oriental lamp's "Yayaki" is a potato baked as it is. "Jusanri" represents Kawagoe, a famous sweet potato production area from Edo to Jusanri, and it is a sweet potato called Jusanri. It is also said to be "from chestnut (Kuri) to (Shiri) delicious Jusato (Kuri + Shiri = Jusato)". But even if it is written as Jusanri, it may not always be from Kawagoe. What was the taste of the baked sweet potatoes at Hikanibashi?
References
Mr. Morisada Kitagawa
"Picture Book Customs Traffic" Kenichiro Kikuchi Ao Frog Selection Book
"Machi magistrate" Tatsuji Yokokura Yuzankaku
"News from Local Archives" No. 168 Chuo Ward Kyobashi Library