Nakayama is in between Narita And Haneda International Airport

Edo / The Summary Of The Great Edo

Edo is the old name of Tokyo by the Meiji Restoration in 1868. However, its area was smaller than Tokyo's now. Ogu in Arakawa-ku and Senju in Adachi-ku were the northern boundary, Kameido in Koto-ku was the east (sometimes, Yokojukken-gawa River is the boundary), Shinjuku (Yotusya in Shinjyuku-ku) was the west and Osaki and Minami-Shinagawa were the South. So Edo was located on the centeral part of Tokyo now.

In old ages, Edo was registered in a part of Toshima-gun (Toshima County) in Musashi Province. Late Heian Period, the Edo Clan, one of the collateral branch of the Heishi Clan at Chichibu in Musashi province, settled iand built their castle at Edo near the Imperial Palace now built. One of the leader of the clan, Shigenaga Edo appears on Azuma-Kagami that was the records of the Kamakura Bakufu (the Kamakura Shogunate).

In 1457, Dokan Ota, a samurai worrier in Muromachi Period, built Edojo castle. This is the first event that Edo appeared on the history of Japan. Before that, it was very tiny village beside the Tokyo Bay. At that time, Edo had no adequate land to cultivate, eastern area of Edo was called Katsushika where Arakawa River, Watarase-gawa River and Tone-gawa River flowed through, then there had been flood frequently.

His son named his direct descendant family Edo Ota Clan, and he based in Edo. In 1524, Suketaka Ota surrendered to Hojo Clan in Odawara (Kanagawa prefecture) and opened Edo-jo castle In 1564. After that, the descendants of Dokan Ota served Hojo in Odawara, Satomi in Awa-no-kuni (The southern Chiba prefecture)and Satake in Hitachi-no-kuni (Ibaraki prefecture), finally the Ota served Tokugawa in Edo. In 1590, Hideyoshi Toyotomi won the Siege of Odawara, the Hojo Clan ruined, the Satomi declined, the Satake moved to north, so Ieyasu Tokugawa moved to the Edo castle, and he gained the position of the Shogun who was the military leader of samurais could control Japan, so he founded the Bakufu (the Edo Shogunate)in Edo. The Ota served Tokugawa through the Edo Period, then the Ota had kept the position of Daimyo (the lord) until Meiji Period, and the family received a viscount.

Under the controlling of Tokugawa, Edo was developed rapidly to be the center of Culture, Politics and Samurais society in Japan, and to be one of the biggest cities in the world, so its population is over a million in 18th century. Moreover Ieyasu planned to change the flow of Tone-gawa River from south to east, so the river flowed into the Tokyo Bay in early Edo period. At that time, Ara-kawa river, Tone-gawa river and Watarase-gawa river flowed in the Bay together, so the land they flowing had frequently been flooded. Then Ieyasu Tokugawa planned it to get much harvest and protect his province firmly, so he commanded to the big construction project such as the changing flow of Tone-gawa river to east to Choshi (the east of Chiba prefecture) . In 1683 (or in 1622-43), the range of Edo (Tokyo) was changed with the construction. The boundary between Edo (Musashi) and Shimousa (Chiba prefecture) moved to east, from Sumida River to Edo River. So the boundary between Chiba and Tokyo was registered since then.

In 1868, after the Meiji Restoration, the Meiji government changed its name Tokyo, and it became the Capital of Japan. Now its population is over 13 millions.



参考
デジタル大辞林
明鏡国語辞典
ブリタニカ国際大百科
クロニック戦国全史
日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)
ウィッキペディア

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