The 11th Research Meeting of History Project
" Reading Waterfront Space in Edo"

Date: 16 Nov. 2005 (Wed.) 18：30-21：00
Place: Meeting Room B, 25th Floor, Boissonade Tower, Ichigaya Campus of Hosei Univ.

"Waterfront of Edo and Daimyo Yashiki"
Shinsuke Kaneyuki
This report focused on the visual relationship between daimyo yashiki (daimyo's residence) and water, through old pictures and photos.
Many mansions of daimyo were built along the waterfront and along the Sumida River in Edo. Many of them were shimo yashiki (a spare residence of daimyo located in the suburbs) with gardens, where the view toward the ocean or a river was important as borrowed landscape (shakkei) of the garden. For example, Hamayashiki of Sadanobu Matsudaira (Fig.1 Fukagawa) was built for water view from a shed called Shogetsusai, by borrowing the ocean view as the pond in the garden. In other mansions for daimyo, creative spaces for water view were commonly found such as a kind of lookout tower and tsukiyama (artificial hill in a garden). Meanwhile, the mansions with water view were not limited to waterside shimo yashiki; mansions on the upland of Yamanote (High City) had often the view of the bay of Edo.
The third storey lookout tower in a daimyo yashiki was based on the awareness of water view. Naka yashiki of the domain of Shimabara (Shimabara han) of Mita had three- storey building called "Tsukinami-rou", which was compared to Tungting lake (洞庭湖) and Yueyang tower (岳陽楼) in China ("Views of famed edo spots"). Other three-storey buildings were naka yashiki of Matsuyama-han on the north side of the Tsukinami-rou, Shimoyashiki of Shibata-han (Fig.2 Kobikicho), and kami yashiki of Hitotsubashi-Tokugawa family (wthin the Hitotsubashi-mon (gate)). The characteristics of "culture of view" in Edo focusing on the visual relationship with "water" can be seen in the locations or buildings of daimyo yashiki.
On the other hand, the buildings of daimyo yashiki composed the view of urban space of Edo. Though excluded from the list of notable spots, daimyo yashiki had been the original architecture of the Capital, Edo, attracting attentions of people by their magnificent facade. While daimyo yashiki can rarely be found in pictures, they had been often drawn in combination with water; e.g., kami yashiki of Saga-han (within the Yamashita-mon) painted in "Edo Shokei" by Hiroshige Ando, kami yashiki of Hikone-han (Fig.3, Sotosakurada) and kami yashiki of Nobeoka-han (Fig4, Toranomon). The waterside mansions were painted as a beautiful notable spot, and the water provided the spatial spread highlighting the architecture.
In the Meiji era, mansions of nobility often took over former daimyo yashiki along the Sumida river, such as Hakozakitei of Yamauchi family (former lord of Tosa-han) (Fig.5 Shimo yashiki of former Tayasu-Tokugawa family). These residences had gardens and buildings with scenery, obtained by famous feudal domains in the early years of Meiji. This fact may show that water view had been considered as one of the values of a residence.

"Water Specter in Edo-Seven Wonders of Honjo"
Yasuko Yokoyama
In the Edo era, people often talked about mysterious stories of Honjo area. Those stories had been referred to as "seven wonders in Honjo" at that time. This report focused on the formation of the story and its changes based on the characteristics of Honjo.
Already in the Middle Ages, seven mysterious stories were often summarized as "Seven Wonders". However, because Edo was a new city, seven wonders story did not exist in the early Edo era. In the mid-Edo period, the intellectuals in Edo began to collect mysteries close to their daily lives, which were recorded as seven wonders of Edo. Besides Honjo, Fukagawa, Senju, Bancho and Azabu had seven wonders stories. Seven wonders of Honjo were recorded in the essay of "Kasshi Yawa" by Seizan Matsuura, and became one of the popular themes of literature; for example, included in the "Nanafushigi Katsushikatan (seven wonders in Katsushika)" edited by second-generation Tanehiko Ryutei. Depending on the document, contents of seven wonders differ, besides "Oitekebori" and "Katahano Yashi".
Influenced by civilisation and enlightment, mysteries were not seriously believed in the Meiji era; however seven wonders of Honjo remained to be a local legend. The story was recorded in maps and topographies and often used to explain desolate scene of old Honjo area in literary works. Ryunosuke Akutagawa who had been brought up in Ryogoku, described that he believed seven wonders of Honjo in his work, "Shonen".
The story has often become the subject of public entertainment; professional storyteller, Hakuchi Matsubahashi used the theme, Goro Kadono made film, "Kaidan Honjo Nanafushigi (Scary Story, Seven Wonders of Honjo)" in the 32nd year of Showa, etc.
Since the short story, "Oitekebori" was written by Kido Okamoto in the Taisho era, various period novels were created on seven wonders of Honjo. One of the representative examples is "Honjo Fukagawa Fushigi Zoshi" by Miyuki Miyabe published in the 3rd year of the Heisei era. The book was remade into a TV drama, which lead to get the seven wonders story well known.
Recently, the shopping mall of Kinchicho has revitalized town using "Oitekebari" as key word. The seven wonders of Honjo has been cherished as the local cultural property. The consciousness of the local level may serve to the famousness compared to other seven wonder stories in Edo.