Edo Castle and the Making of Tokyo
At the beginning of the 17th century, Japan’s political center shifted dramatically eastward. While the emperor and imperial court remained in Kyoto, Tokugawa Ieyasu established his shogunate in Edo in 1603, making it the seat of samurai government.
Building Edo Castle entailed far more than raising walls and gates. The shogunate exercised its nationwide authority to mobilize daimyo, powerful regional lords, for massive public works. From across Japan came stone, timber, skilled stoneworkers and carpenters, and the resources needed to build on an extraordinary scale. Roads, waterways, land development, and other infrastructure spread outward from the castle project, helping Edo grow into a metropolis of more than one million people.
Today, the moats, stone walls, and urban structure around the Imperial Palace still hint at that transformation. Tokyo’s extraordinary scale began with Edo learning how to build a city around power.
[Image Source]
- Top:https://archive.library.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/da/detail?tilcod=0000000002-00006932&utm
- Bottom:KATSUSHIKA Hokusai “Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji: Nihonbashi, Edo” (Edo-Tokyo Museum) Source: Tokyo Museum Collection
(https://museumcollection.tokyo/en/works/6249455/)
