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Is the vast site of Tsukiji Market the origin of inbound acceptance?

From the intersection of Ginza 4-chome, follow Harumi-dori St. toward the Sumida River, and the site of the Tsukiji Central Wholesale Market, surrounded by white plate walls, spreads out on the right hand side in front of Kachidokibashi. On the explanation board along Harumi-dori St., along with the old map, the notation of "warship training center ruins" is written. It is said that the Edo Shogunate, who was in a hurry to visit the Kurofune, handed down navigation and artillery to the Shogunate elite for the establishment of a Western Navy.

At the end of the explanation, a short sentence was that after the relocation of the training center to another place, "Tsukiji Hotel Building, Japan's first Western-style hotel, was built" in this area. The hotel was built to prepare for the pressure of the powers in naval education, with the aim of attracting a thousand guests from overseas to enrich the country through trade.

Explanation board showing the birthplace of the original hotel

 Starting with the "Japan-US Osamu Good Commerce Treaty" in 1858 (1858), the Shogunate decided to open a new port or open a market, providing foreign settlements and accommodations in these new lands was an urgent task. . The shogunate made a white arrow to American architect R.P. P. P. P.Prigens, who lives in Yokohama as the designer of the inn at the knee, and ordered the construction to Kisuke Shimizu, the son-in-law of the current founder of Shimizu Corporation. The Shogunate lent land free of charge, and the private sector built and operated buildings with its own funds.

Although the total construction cost was estimated to be 30,000, Kisuke initially prepared 2,500 cars. The rest was an attempt to create a fellow union to collect the shortfall from shareholders, but in the summer of 1867 (1867), the Shogunate returned to the government in just two months. In the spring of the following year, when the government army performed a bloodless castle in Edo, the Shogi Corps soon rebelled in Ueno, and the sound of the cannon resounded along with the hammer of the hotel construction. Kisuke was at the mercy of the sudden change of owner, but when he breathed back with a new borrowing from the new government, he finally completed the hotel in August 1868 (1868).

The United States, Britain and other foreign national flags flutter (Kyobashi Library Collection)

 The exact opening date of the hotel is poorly recorded, so we can only consider it after completion, but if we look at the scale from several materials, a two-story main building is symmetrically built on a land of about 7,000 tsubo. The total floor area is about 1600 tsubo. In the center there is a lobby and an oboshiki "hall", and it seems that there was a tower with a windy pointed tower just above it. It is said that the tip of the tower is 94 shaku, so it may have been about 30 meters high.

There is also a one-story annex, with a total of more than 100 guest rooms, and it seems that the hotel could accommodate about 100 guests. However, Samuel Mosman, an Englishman who visited the hotel at that time, wrote in his book that 300 people could stay in Western Europe at this scale. By the way, the accommodation fee is 3 dollars per night (9 minutes) per night with meals, according to him, "reasonable" price.

The majestic mix of traditional Japanese techniques and exotic hobbies shows that visitors are endless (Kyobashi Library Collection)

 There are more than 100 kinds of Nishiki-e depicting the hotel hall only in the new famous places that would have surpassed the Japanese people. Among them, the “Namako Wall,” which is often found in storehouses, has made the impression of the hotel building, and the outer wall, with black tiles arranged and white plaster on the joints, played a role in sealing the gaps that foreigners are not good at. artificial hill and bonsai in the garden, the sea behind it, and the Samurai residence-style nagayamon (later converted into an arch gate) at the entrance of the fence surrounding the hotel.……。 The fact that there is a large space inside the gate is proof that the hotel building also serves as a place of trade.

Initially, it was planned to be able to enter the museum from the sea by boat, but it was canceled for safety reasons (Kyobashi Library Collection).

 On the other hand, there is also a dining room and billiard room inside the room, the walls are painted white in plaster, the windows are curtains, and the staircase railings are painted in Shunkei. Although the bath and toilet seem to be shared, there is a fireplace in the room, and in the world, a mad song was born, saying, "A foreigner who drinks a fireplace (stove) in the Bifukan and sleeps in a hotel (lighting)." The eccentric and dynamic building, which mixes ancient Japanese traditions and buttery smells, seems to have been a focus of attention to the high-ranking people.

On the veranda with Western-style handrails, there is a Chinese-style lamp (collected by Kyobashi Library).

 Futaro Yamada's mystery "Meiji Crossingdai" incorporated this exotic stage into the novel. It is a setting that a bloody body was rolling in the hall of the Tsukiji Hotel Building. The characters are mixed with French Miko, legendary female figure Tanosuke Sawamura, and Kanzou Uchimura, a boyhood, and so on. In connection with the investigation, the writer's fantasies flutter at hotels where there are many unclear points, such as scenes where the protagonists look down at the settlement from the tower of watching.

Wine-like bottles are also available at the dining table (Kyobashi Library).

 The contents of the service as well as the structure are full of mystery, but looking at the picture of the dinner scene that remains today, it seems that they enjoyed wine etc. British diplomat Ernest Sato's "Meiji Restoration Seen by One Diplomat", he said, "I feasted a first-class dinner at a hotel" and "After that a late lunch was brought in from the hotel." In addition to eating and drinking, he also used catering.

One of the people involved with this hotel was Sen Tsuda, the father of an educator Umeko Tsuda, who became the face of a new 5,000 yen bill this year. Born as a child of a middle-class samurai in Sakura in Shimousa no Kuni (now Chiba Prefecture), Sen studied Dutch studies and English studies in Edo and became a translator (interpreter) of the Shogunate in 1867 (1867), accompanied the delegation to the United States. . The party had an audience with the US president, purchased warships, weapons ammunition, books, etc., and returned home five months later, but Sen was impressed by the high status of farmers in the United States, especially in the United States. It is said that he worked to obtain seeds and seedlings of vegetables and fruits in anticipation of agricultural development in Japan.

After returning to Japan, he worked as a director at the newly established Tsukiji Hotel Building for about two years. When the hotel was having trouble procuring fresh Western vegetables for foreign guests, Sen seemed to have sowed seeds from the United States and other countries in their own vegetable gardens and provided them to guests.

Floor plan of the hotel (Kyobashi Library)

 In this way, it was the first authentic hotel to take in different cultures while groping, but the end of the hotel will come without exception. In fact, the bustle of the settlement itself is not as good as Yokohama, and the hotel guests did not gather as much as expected, and as early as the summer of 1870 (1870), the hotel was closed. In February 1872 (1872), the hotel building turned into ashes due to the great fire of Ginza, while repeating further trial and error under the replaced manager and finally changing the shape from half-government to private management and aiming for a revival. It was a short life of just 4 years.

Nevertheless, the remnants of the "phantom hotel" where our predecessors searched for hospitality in a new era in a Japanese-Western eclectic mansion that is not limited to mere imitation will continue to live in the future.

▽Major Reference Materials

"Japanese Hotel Koji" Minoru Muraoka Nakakou Shinsho

"Nippon Hotel Monogatari" President Takashi Hasegawa

"Hotels and Passports in late Tokugawa shogunate and Meiji," Takeshi Oshika Tsukiji Shokan

"The Meiji Restoration as Seen by a Diplomat," Ernest Sato (translated by Yu Suzuki) Kodansha Academic Bunko

"Meiji Crossing Tower" Futaro Yamada Tsunogawa Bunko

"Sen Tsuda Reputation-A People Aiming for Another Modernization" Soji Takasaki Sofukan

"Heritage" 4th to 6th "Tsukiji Hotel Building" Followed by pictorial drawings" Shimizu Construction History Museum

https://www.shimzarchives.jp/heritage/