History Buried in Downtown Edo/Tokyo

Sakae Taniguchi(Curator, Katsushika City Museum)

‘Edo was not Built in a Day’
Downtown Tokyo, which is situated in the eastern part of the city, is a low-lying area containing numerous rivers that was reputed to have been ‘an area that flooded frequently’ and is also said to be ‘reclaimed from the sea’, so it is generally considered not to possess much history. Accepted wisdom states that the area was not developed until TOKUGAWA Ieyasu moved his capital there in the sixteenth century, but is that really true? In this session I would like to introduce the history of the establishment of the modern city of Edo/Tokyo, from the viewpoint of transport, and to consider why Ieyasu decided to position his capital where he did. ]

Language: Japanese
Recording date: October 25th (Thurs)