Official

Even now, it is great that the remnants of Edo can be seen in Nihonbashi, and I would like to applaud the former mayor Ozaki who made that decision.
In order to find out what kind of person the former mayor Ozaki, who left the Edo element in Nihonbashi today, and what kind of relationship it has with the current Chuo-ku, he followed the Nihonbashi-based Koshu Kaido and went to his birthplace, which is now a memorial hall.

The Ozaki Gakudo Memorial Hall, which I visited this time, was built on the site of the Ozaki family's residence (Matano, Midori-ku, Sagamihara-shi) to let many people know Yukio Ozaki (Takudo), which was said to be the "god of Kensei". Was done.
(When I took up the meticulous level, I mentioned a little about the site of the Kensei Memorial Hall (Chiyoda-ku) where his statue is located.)
The memorial hall was open for free, and we were able to discover more points of contact with Chuo-ku than expected.

This time, from his interesting life, I will briefly take up the mayor of Tokyo and the last time along with the materials from the memorial hall that had permission to shoot.

During the nine years from the unanimous appointment of the second mayor of Tokyo by the Tokyo City Council until his resignation, his main work was to revise the city (maintenance of the city), build a port in Tokyo (improvement of the Sumida River), expand the water supply (measures against water cutoff), expand and pavement of roads (measures against dust and mud), plant trees (street trees), donate trains and merge with Hiya libraries, and merge with Hiya libraries.

First of all, I would like to delve into a little more about the revision of the municipal system and road expansion.
In the early 20th century, when the Edo period remains, Tokyo was filled with small wooden houses in narrow alleys, and when a fire broke out, it was already a catastrophe.
I think it may be easy to imagine from the great fire of the Meiryaku era, which represents the Edo era, and the word "fire and fight are Edo no Hana".
The road is said to be dusty when the weather was good, and when it rained, it turned like a muddy field, and people could not even walk properly.
It is no exaggeration to say that there is now Tokyo and Chuo-ku only with Ozaki's achievements in improving them and building the urban infrastructure in Tokyo.
However, even with the influential members of the city council who visited the road conditions in Europe and the United States, it seemed difficult to gain an understanding of road improvement (road expansion and pavement).

The biggest reason for this was the difference in culture.
While Westerners wear shoes regardless of the weather or location (including inside the house), Japanese wear sun clogs on sunny days, clogs on rainy days, and clogs off in the house .
In addition, it seems that there were about 10,000 clogs in Tokyo at that time, but if the road is paved, the teeth of the clogs will not decrease, and if the clogs can not be sold, the clogs will continue as a matter of life and death of business continuation It is said that the opposition movement has occurred.
At that time, I thought that improving the road to be more convenient and easy to walk was welcomed by everyone, but in fact there was a close relationship between roads and footwear that could not be cleared by convenience alone .
Isn't it a lesson that leads to the present age that it is important not only to create a town that considers physical changes but also to sometimes consider invisible cultural aspects to gain the understanding of citizens? .

In addition, it is said that the tree planting of street trees and the municipalization of trains could not be easily understood, and there were some opposition movements.
Due to the Great Kanto Earthquake and the Great Tokyo Air Raid, Tokyo before that was not widely known at present.
However, even though I couldn't understand easily at that time, I wanted to be aware of Ozaki's thoughts and achievements in urban infrastructure in the future when walking around.

In addition, did you know that he invested enormous funds to secure the vast mountains of Okutama to secure drinking water for Tokyo citizens?
Even the people at that time wouldn't have thought of a large-scale concept of the city buying and owning a mountain that would serve as a water source?
The mountain owned by Tokyo City in such a background is the forest of Tokyo in Hinohara Village, just like the forest of Chuo-ku!

When I visited the Tomin no Mori, the octagonal clock of Seikosha (Seiko Holdings) I found by chance was not just the forest! It is introduced in "Chuo-ku" found in Hinohara Village.

In this way, securing drinking water, which was regarded as important even in the early Meiji era, is to remember those planning to take the Chuo-ku Tourism Test next year at the famous water Shirakiya on the site of COREDO Nihonbashi Annex. Well.
I will omit the details this time, but in both the Edo period and the subsequent times, it was important to secure good water and drinking water.♪

Regarding Tokyo's construction port (improvement of the mouth of the Sumida River), an economist Ukichi Taguchi before Ozaki said, "Many foreign big cities have ports. Tokyo is also thinking of building a port."
As a result, landfill began, and the first landfill in Tsukishima was completed in 1892 and the second landfill was completed in 1894.
Although it has not been reached in this article, if you delve into Ozaki's achievements, I think that the Sumida River flowing in Chuo-ku may be related to it.

As mentioned above, Ozaki, who greatly contributed to the development of urban infrastructure in Tokyo, was awarded the title of Honorary Member of the House of Representatives in July 1954 in recognition of his efforts to maintain constitutional government and establish parliamentary democracy. Was.
And in October of the same year, it ended in the life of 97 years old (95 years and 10 months old).
On November 3, at Tsukiji Honganji Temple, a funeral by the House of Representatives was held grandly, and Their Majesties The Emperor and Empress at that time expressed his deepest condolences.

Such Ozaki wrote such a tanka before his birth.
"If you know that all the past is the preparation of the work of the future, you will be precious and regretful."
"You should be a sign of the way you can save and see tomorrow."
"It should be a light that illuminates the way you go."

It is a mistake to regret that you have lived a wasteful life, and the failure to date is a test and preparation for success in the future.
Living thinking, "The main stage of life is always in the future," may have become his vitality.
His achievements and views of life are very interesting, and I decided to continue to look into it.

[References]
Keizo Nishikawa, "The Life of Gakudo Yukio Ozaki" (Ronsosha, 2009)
You can borrow it at the Kyobashi Library in Chuo Ward.

・In 1885, he became the youngest member of the Tokyo Prefectural Assembly from Nihonbashi Ward.
・When the first general election under the Meiji Constitution was held along with the opening of the Diet, Ozaki, who had learned by looking at the United States and British parliaments, ran as a candidate for a member of the House of Representatives from Mie Prefecture, his father's mission, I decided to walk as a politician. So why did you run from Mie Prefecture instead of Tsukui in your hometown?
・The hometown ran for Tsukui and the candidate for the lower house of the Diet was Ozaki, which was not very familiar with Tokyo, Mie Prefecture, but following his appointment as mayor of Tokyo, he said that there was a recommendation from a friend . Behind it is the thought of Toru Hoshi, a former political enemy, who was assassinated by an assassin.
If you are worried about those details, please take a look at this book.