is an illustrated guide describing famous places and depicting their scenery in pre-1868 Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, then known as Edo

Edo

, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...

. It was printed using Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese woodblock printing techniques

Woodblock printing in Japan

Woodblock printing in Japan is a technique best known for its use in the ukiyo-e artistic genre; however, it was also used very widely for printing books in the same period. Woodblock printing had been used in China for centuries to print books, long before the advent of movable type, but was only...

 in 20 books divided among seven volumes. Initially published in 1834 (volumes 1–3, 10 books) and republished in 1836 (volumes 4–7, all 20 books) with slight revisions—i.e., all during the late Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 (1603–1867), it became an immediate hit and prompted a “boom” in the publication of further meisho zue (“famous site guides”).

History

Edo Meisho Zue took form over a span of more than 40 years. It was conceived by Saitō Yukio Nagaaki (1737–1799) who, influenced by the proliferation of famous site guides about places in Japan’s Kansai region, decided Edo needed one, too. He is thought to have begun work around 1791 and is known to have gotten permission to publish and written a foreword, but he died before he could finish. From this point forward, Yukio’s son-in-law Saitō Yukitaka Agatamaro (1772–1818) began work, undertaking new research to add new sites and re-researching other information; but he, too, died suddenly shortly before he could complete his task. Yukitaka’s son, Saitō Yukinari Gesshin (1804–1878), was only 15 at the time, so he was not able to take up immediately where his father had left off; nonetheless, Yukinari was determined to complete his father’s and grandfather’s labor of love. When he finally managed to bring all the research, writing, editing, and correcting to fruition in 1834, he delivered to the public an innovative and highly detailed human geography

Human geography

Human geography is one of the two major sub-fields of the discipline of geography. Human geography is the study of the world, its people, communities, and cultures. Human geography differs from physical geography mainly in that it has a greater focus on studying human activities and is more...

 that even today serves as a valuable resource for academic and hobby historians of late–Edo-period Tokyo.

Edo Meisho Zue was illustrated by Hasegawa Settan

Hasegawa Settan

Hasegawa Settan was a Japanese painter who lived during in the late Edo period, born in Edo. Hisfirst name was Munehide , and his pseudonym Gengakusai Ichiyōsai . He was commonly called Gotō Uzaemon . His was originally a wood sculptor, and he carved the woodblocks for many ukiyo-e prints. The Edo...

 (1778–1843). His illustrations are credited with contributing as much to the work’s fame and long popularity—people still refer to it today for walking tours of historical sites—as does the prose.

Content

Edo Meisho Zue starts by explaining the history of Musashi Province

Musashi Province

was a province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo Prefecture, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province encompassed Kawasaki and Yokohama...

, the settlement of Edo, and the founding of the Edo Castle

Edo Castle

, also known as , is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan. It is located in Chiyoda in Tokyo, then known as Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Tokugawa shogunate here. It was the residence of the shogun and location of the shogunate, and also...

, then it moves on to describe the city and its surroundings block by block, town by town, in a manner reminiscent of a walk-through of each area with stops at famous sites. The descriptions often include information about the origins of the place or site’s name and its history, as well as quotations from well-known works of literature (such as Matsuo Bashō

Matsuo Basho

, born , then , was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as a master of brief and clear haiku...

’s haiku

Haiku

' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...

) that mention it.

In overall scope, Edo Meisho Zue goes beyond the confines of the Edo proper and includes descriptions and illustrations of surrounding areas as well, venturing as far away as today’s Hino

Hino, Tokyo

is a city located in central Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. As of 2010, the city has an estimated population of 182,092 and a population density of 6,610 persons per km². The total area was 27.53 km².-Geography:...

 to the west, Funabashi

Funabashi, Chiba

is a city located in northwestern Chiba Prefecture, Japan. As of February 2011, the city had an estimated population of 609,157 and a population density of 7110 persons per km². The total area was 85.64 km². It is the 7th most populous city in Greater Tokyo....

 to the east, Ōmiya

Omiya, Saitama

was a city in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. In 2001 it merged with two other cities to form the city of Saitama. Since 1 April 2003, the area of former Ōmiya city is Kita-ku, Minuma-ku, Nishi-ku, and Ōmiya-ku of Saitama city.-Origin and pre-modern history:...

 to the north, and Yokohama

Yokohama

is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...

 to the south.

External links

• A walk-through of scenes in Edo Meisho Zue with scans of the original work, accompanied by photos of the same places today
• Scans of various manuscripts at the Waseda University Library
  Waseda University Library
  The library of Waseda University is one of the largest libraries in Japan. It was established in 1882, and currently holds some 4.5 million volumes and 46,000 serials.-History:...
  
  : 1, 2, 3, 4

Sources

• The Japanese Wikipedia article on Edo Meisho Zue
• Ichiko, Natsuo and Suzuki, Ken’ichi, eds. Shintei Edo Meisho Zue (Edo Meisho Zue, revised edition), volumes 1–6. Chikuma Gakugei Bunko pocket book series, Chikuma Shobō, 1996–1997. ISBN 4-480-08311-1–4-480-08316-2
• Ichiko, Natsuo and Suzuki, Ken’ichi, eds. Edo Meisho Zue Jiten (Edo Meisho Zue dictionary). Chikuma Gakugei Bunko pocket book series, Chikuma Shobō, 1997. ISBN 4-480-08338-3