Subscription journal ISSN (Print) 0391-2248 - ISSN (Online) 1972-5523 This journal is no longer being updated because: the publisher no longer provides RSS feeds
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Abstract: Rosa Caroli PubDate: Wed, 15 Mar 2022 8:00:00 GMT
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Abstract: Yuko Tanaka The sea, natural rivers, minor rivulets, canals, ditches, moats, ponds and waterside were the very important places for Edo culture. Edo and Tokyo, by dint of these waters, had become an extremely protean city. The Yoshiwara pleasure district served as a kind of cultural salon. It was frequented by the literati and painters of ukiyoe, who featured the district and its prostitutes in their works, which were printed and sold in large quantities by the printing houses, so that the pleasure districts prospered in a kind of interdependency with the publishing world. Yoshiwara had been built at the edge of the sea and even after moving inland it was a place many people would access by riverboats. Journeying along the river was to pass from the real world and enter into another. This different world that one access by a river journey from the real world also holds true for the theater districts. On the other hand, Asakusa was a location often used for important scenes. With its long history, this area is deeply connected with the formation of Edo on the banks of the Sumida River. The Sumida River has been used with particular variety in the culture and stories of Edo. The Ryogoku Bridge, especially, featured in many texts written in the Edo period. In this paper, I want readers to see the variety of images of Edo with water. PubDate: Wed, 15 Mar 2022 8:00:00 GMT
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Abstract: Fumiko Kobayashi This paper follows the process of development of visual representations of Edo in publications from its origins in the XVII century to the XIX century when the city began modernization. They primarily took the forms of illustrations of guidebooks or geographies depicting ‘noted places’ such as temples and shrines. Due to the prosperity of the city and the development of its own culture, they opened up a new avenue of picture books of ‘noted places’ illustrated by ukiyoe artists who played important roles in fostering the unique culture of the city. The idea of ‘noted places’ was expanded to include the locations where its citizens enjoyed seasonal outings through those picture books. These pictures often focused on human figures at these places as their backgrounds, while landscape expression with perspective introduced from the West was also developed in these picture books. In the process of evolution of illustrated works of the city, depictions of people enjoying their lives was continuously essential. The fact is convincing when we take into consideration that representations of cities in the history of East Asian paintings often reflected not only their realities but also the desires of those involved in producing them. The presence of people who led pleasant lives there was necessary to complete the image of the ideal cities.Representations of Edo-Tokyo also sought to keep images of its state in older times within them in various ways. It would appear to be a method of preserving the memory of the city which was repeatedly destroyed by fires and earthquakes and continuously changing its appearance. PubDate: Wed, 15 Mar 2022 8:00:00 GMT
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Abstract: Paola Maschio This paper urges consideration of eighteenth-century popular literature known as gesaku in the analysis of Edo’s urban culture, through a preliminary study of Muda sunago (1786). Muda sunago is a comic book (sharebon) written as a parody of Edo topographies (chishi), mocking in its title the famous Edo sunago (1732). The paper starts by introducing the two works and the genres to which they pertain, then focuses on the structure of Muda sunago and the process through which the comical "famous places" are created. The work is interpreted as a "map" representing Edo through its entertainments, which had an important role in the formation of an urban culture, since they offered an opportunity for drawing together the diverse groups of citizens. The parody of the topography format allows a description of each location, expanding the humor already displayed in the name’s location. While descriptions in topographies always included historical anecdotes, or memories, as an important part of the place, in Muda sunago jokes are disguised as historical anecdotes. An example is shown in the analysis of the "Bay of the Skipjack Tuna", which satirizes the irrational mania of Edo citizens of paying high prices to eat the season’s first skipjack tuna (hatsugatsuo). If in topographies, the memory of Edo was used to evoke and create a shared past, in parodies it fulfils a similar role enforcing in the reader the sensation of sharing a common ground with the author, which is necessary for the humor to be recognized as such. PubDate: Wed, 15 Mar 2022 8:00:00 GMT
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Abstract: Masahiko Takamura Low birth rate and increased longevity, population decline, repeated disasters, and now the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic can all be considered issues faced by cities in the XXI century. One characteristic these problems have in common is that they require a restructuring of cities based on the following question: How do we find an appropriate scale for cities while pursuing a future wherein the urban mechanism supports society rather than the economy' A hint for the historical investigation of this question can be found in the position of sacred sites such as shrines. For example, at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake, many cases were reported of villages’ traditional shrines being located just out of the tsunami’s reach, and thus avoiding damage. Over the villages’ long histories, people constructed sacred sites in safe places, visualising and identifying the appropriate range for these territories based on the area’s topographical characteristics and experiences of disaster.When considering the relationship between urban territories and shrines, it should be noted that sacred sites of this kind enshrined a variety of water deities. The emergence of urban and environmental territories in Edo has been elucidated by plotting water deities and sacred springs that shared a close connection to historical figures through the comparison of ancient and current maps, tracing rivers and aqueducts via a combination of topographical and geological maps, and conducting fieldwork. The significant differences between these and early XIX century shubiki maps or administrative district perimeters are proof that the traditional and environmental boundaries acknowledged since ancient times were more important for people’s activities than administrative ones.The early modern city of Edo completely reconstructed sacred sites that had existed since ancient or medieval times and imbued them with new meaning. In light of this, rediscovering the historical concept of territories could provide hints on their appropriate range with a view to the solution of current problems related to population decline and disaster recovery, both in Tokyo and in other Japanese cities. PubDate: Wed, 15 Mar 2022 8:00:00 GMT
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Abstract: Paul Waley It is often difficult today to appreciate the important role that waterways played in the development of Edo-Tokyo. For most of the city’s history, however, they have been fundamental to its economic prosperity and its cultural landscape. In this chapter, I focus on the city’s main river, the Sumida, and the waterways that drain into it from its east bank, away from the centre of the city. During the Edo period, the east bank presented space for urban expansion. Its many waterways provided extra capacity for the offloading of goods and provisions and the establishment of marketplaces. Indeed, the ubiquity of water and waterways meant that the east bank became the principal site of industrialisation and the problems that accompanied it. Here I take a longitudinal look at the Sumida and the east bank’s waterways. I start with a brief introduction to water and land in the city’s early years. The bulk of this chapter explores the development of waterways and activities along their banks in the XIX and early XX centuries, bridging the change from shogunal to imperial rule. This long temporal span throws a number of changes into relief. The first is the nature of the documentary material, whose nature and idiom changes radically through this period. Second is the process of urbanisation and later of industrialisation that occurred as the east bank became ever more densely populated. The third relates to the waterways themselves, vital to the provisioning of the city, arena of recreation but also source of pollution. PubDate: Wed, 15 Mar 2022 8:00:00 GMT
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Abstract: Makoto Shin Watanabe, Yoko Kinoshita This paper is an overview on the location and concentration of housing types in the Tokyo district, with particular focus on danchi and "mansions" (particularly "tower mansions"). The focus is placed on these two types of housing, the danchi developed by the Japan Housing Corporation, a public housing corporation, and the Tower Mansions developed by the private developers. Neither suburban detached houses, nor the government-subsidized housing other than that of the Kodan, were included in the analysis in order to keep our argument intact.Danchi (public housing estates) built from 1955 to 1970 were mostly built by replacing forests or agricultural areas in the suburbs. Land developments by Kodan as well as by private developers at that time had been concentrated in the inlands. The situation changed after the year 2000, when tower mansions, a building type that featured high-rise and high-density apartment buildings, allowed construction on much smaller plots of land than those in the suburbs, promoting brownfield developments near the city. Consequently, danchi, much of which are rental, and publicly owned, were built in inland, while the tower mansions, essentially privately owned, were located near the city, and near the waterfront. These two contrasting housing examples must be highlighted when studying the state of contemporary housing in Tokyo. PubDate: Wed, 15 Mar 2022 8:00:00 GMT
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Abstract: Haruka Kuryu The public bath called sento in Japan has a long history, and it became popular during the Edo Era. There are many sento in urban areas where the population is concentrated, and there are still 500 public baths in Tokyo. A classic sento, designed like a temple imaging heaven, has an architectural presence in the city. These sento not only have a bathing function, but have always played a role as a local community hub, having many possibilities as a safety net for various social problems such as elderly care and childcare, and for social issues such as local disaster resilience. However, in recent years, sento have drastically decreased, due to the spread of in-home baths, the condition of buildings, inheritance problems and so on. In addition sento occupying large pieces of and are prime targets for real-estate developers. The loss of every sento is lamentable, but of even greater concern is the impact on the neighborhood: empty houses without baths are increasingly abandoned, the shops that regular bath customers visited closed, and people stop walking at the street which were illuminated by the light of bathhouse. The area gradually changes and loses its vitality, as sento had supported the "regional ecosystem". On the other hand, young people and medias have shown increased interest in sento . Indeed, the role of a community hub is being reevaluated at a time when the lack of communication has become a major issue. Recently, there are increasing number of cases in which sento are operated as a modern local salon with various functions such as event spaces, and runner stations. At the same time, more and more public baths are converted into shared offices and galleries. There are cases that citizens use local vacant buildings to voluntarily create a community hub instead of a sento. Also, we are trying to convert sento to cultural assets, in order to maintain and revitalize sento, which is a symbol of the local community, and reorganize the local network. In this paper, I would like to consider the future of past heritage in popular culture through examples of sento. How can we visualize and utilize the local ecosystem that extends from a sento to the entire region' In Tokyo, a city with a high metabolism, I will introduce local cultural heritage that should be handed down to the future, using the historical local base like sento as a case study, and present its current status, various trials, and possibilities. PubDate: Wed, 15 Mar 2022 8:00:00 GMT
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Abstract: Hidenobu Jinnai Up until the 1950s T'ky'’s character as a "city of water" was readily apparent. However, as the city was transformed in the 1960s, through large-scale developments driven by the hosting of the Olympic Games and a broader economic boom, the prominence of T'ky'’s water spaces declined. Yet, by the mid to late 1970s the mega city’s waterfront began showing signs of recovery. In this paper I examine the process of T'ky'’s regeneration as a global "city of water" up until the early 1990s, divided into four phases: (1) Recovery of nature (water quality) and recreation along and in water spaces; (2) Residential projects in waterfront areas; (3) Loft culture (repurposing of warehouses); and (4) Reconstruction of waterfront districts. I go on to describe aspects of T'ky'’s urban development following the collapse of the "bubble economy". Failing to formulate a grand vision for the city, public authorities (principally the T'ky' Metropolitan Government) lost interest in T'ky'’s waterside districts. At around this time, there was a substantial rise in the power and influence of private developers, who focused their interest further inland, on central districts such as Marunouchi, Roppongi, and Shibuya. In waterfront areas, meanwhile, only simple high-rise apartment projects were undertaken. Despite this trend, some interesting new approaches and bottom-up initiatives contributed importantly to T'ky'’s recovery as a "city of water". I present some notable examples of these and comment on how the mechanism of urban regeneration in Japanese cities has differed from that of Western cities. Furthermore, I discuss a novel approach to the study of water cities that we are currently exploring. To conclude, I offer a future vision for T'ky' as a "city of water". PubDate: Wed, 15 Mar 2022 8:00:00 GMT
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Abstract: A cura della Redazione PubDate: Wed, 15 Mar 2022 8:00:00 GMT
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Abstract: A cura della Redazione PubDate: Wed, 15 Mar 2022 8:00:00 GMT
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