Inventing Edo, Rethinking Edo-­Tokyo: Water and the City

Edo, which experienced an extraordinary spatial and demographic expansion since its construction the end of the XVI century, is an emblematic example of how the differentiation of economic activities, and the growth of a massive consumption economy previously unknown in the country, transformed the city that had been built by and for the shōgun into a metropolis which, at the beginning of the XVIII century, functioned in fact as a modern capital city of over a million people. From the very beginning, the urban space organisation reflected the social hierarchy of the whole society, with most of the solid hilly regions (yamanote) granted to the military class members, while merchants, craftsmen and other labourers required to build, serve and supply the city living in the flatlands along the coast and rivers. This article illustrates how water became a key element of territorial identity in the overcrowded shitamachi (low city) where the townspeople forged a peculiar urban and popular culture, as well as a kind of brand in the territory’s iconography. It also highlights the several aspects of Edo’s popular culture and aquatic identity which survived the dissolution of feudal society and the designation of Edo as the new capital of Japan in 1868.