Shall we walk around the waterfront area in Koto City?

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.

Would you like to know more about our “Koto City in the green”?

If so, please join our free walking tour!