In Koto City many
canals were excavated vertically and horizontally during the Edo period that
contributed to the urban development of the City of Edo, the Tokugawa
shogunate capital.
The urban design
of Koto City started with the town planning of Edo when Ieyasu Tokugawa, the
first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate commenced.
In the old days,
this area largely consisted of sm
all islands and sandbars shaped by
sedimentation of a huge amount of earth and sand washed down by such rivers as
the Tone River and the Arakawa River.
When Ieyasu first
came into Edo 400 years ago, Edo and its surroundings are for the most part
wetlands or marshland where no crops were grown. There were no suitable
residential area either.
Many rivers flooded
so often. Above all the Tone River caused great damage to this region. Before
the Edo period, it was flowing into the Tokyo Bay.
The Tokugawa
shogunate carried out construction works to change a flow of the river Tone at
almost 90 degrees angle so that it runs toward the Pacific Ocean via Choshi.
The Tokugawa Government also gathered up rivers for flood control. It took the
Government about 60 years in construction.
Moreover, there
was a small bay called the Hibiya Inlet in front of the Edo Castle about 400
years ago. The present Hibiya and Marunouchi were both below the surface of the
sea. This inlet was reclaimed by cutting through a hill called Kandayama. Along
with earth and sand, even household wastes were used as materials for
reclamation. The past 400 years are referred to as a history of land
reclamation.
Tokugawa Ieyasu
also took pains to excavate many canals indispensable for distribution of daily
commodities. Even now we can see these canals running vertically and
horizontally. They are retaining traces of those canals.
The 4.6km-long
Onagigawa Canal was first constructed to carry salt from Gyotoku to Edo.
Nowadays,
expressways go above most of these canals but some of them are still seen. Of
course, it was a vital issue to secure a clean water during the Edo period. In
the Edo region, water drawn from the well was salty.
Accordingly the
Edo Shogunate commenced civil engineering works in 1590 to construct the Kanda
aqueduct and to lay wooden water pipes underground. After the completion of
such works, the so-called clean water was made available not only for the Edo
Castle, daimyo’s residences, samurai houses but also townspeople’s living
quarters.
Subsequently the
Tamagawa aqueduct was also constructed in 1654. It was another important
waterway as well as the Kanda aqueduct.Isn’t it
interesting to explore the waterfront in Koto City? by K.T.
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