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45-520: Nagasone Okisato (長曽祢興里) was born in Nagasone-mura, Ōmi Province . The Nagasone family were blacksmiths and produced armor. Kotetsu would continue the family's tradition by becoming an armorer, but moved to Edo to pursue a career in swordmaking around the age of 50. Kotetsu's swords were known for their great strength and their ability to cut through helmets. However, Kotetsu's swords were often faked, and they were so well faked that even Kotetsu himself

90-724: A jōkamachi (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province , became the de facto capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate . Edo grew to become one of the largest cities in the world under the Tokugawa. After the Meiji Restoration in 1868 the Meiji government renamed Edo as Tokyo ( 東 京 , "Eastern Capital") and relocated the Emperor from

135-581: A Japanized version of classical Chinese known as hentai kanbun ( 変体漢文 ) , the massive work was incomprehensible to most Japanese until an edition with furigana glosses was published in 1626. It was given in present to shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603, who obtained the missing section from other daimyos and then ordered the preparation and publication of the Fushimi version of the Azuma Kagami in Kokatsujiban ,

180-699: A fortified residence, probably around the edge of the Musashino Terrace , that would become Edo castle. Shigetsugu's son, Edo Shigenaga ( 江戸重長 ) , took the Taira's side against Minamoto no Yoritomo in 1180 but eventually surrendered to Minamoto and became a gokenin for the Kamakura shogunate . At the fall of the shogunate in the 14th century, the Edo clan took the side of the Southern Court , and its influence declined during

225-500: A refuge. The estate of the upper residence was attributed by the shogunate according to the status of the clan and its relation with the Shogun. The middle residence ( 中屋敷 , naka-yashiki ) , a bit further from the castle, could house the heir of the lord, his servants from his fief when he was in Edo for the sankin-kotai alternate residency, or be a hiding residence if needed. The lower residence ( 下屋敷 , shimo-yashiki ) , if there

270-602: Is heavily biased towards a Hōjō point of view but, because of its painstaking attention to details, it is nonetheless an important document to understand the Kamakura Bakufu . Chinese scholar Weng Guangping (1760–1847) read a copy of the book in China, and found it valuable but marred by errors. After struggling to obtain a complete copy, he decided to correct, expand and amend it using other Japanese and Chinese texts dealing with Japan. After seven years of work, in 1814 he finished

315-681: Is said to have not been able to tell the difference. When presented with a fake on one occasion, he is reported to have said "The blade is mine but the signature is not." Records exist which state that Nagasone Kotetsu only forged thirty one swords bearing the name. There are however other records which directly dispute this, with the Nihontô Meikan showing 50 different mei or signatures for Nagasone Kotetsu. Additionally, there are Honomi records of sword polishers and master appraisers receiving Mumei or unsigned blades from Nagasone Kotetsu, and adding signature to them later after having completely substantiated

360-517: The Battle of Sekigahara in October 1600. He formally founded the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603 and established his headquarters at Edo Castle . Edo became the center of political power and the de facto capital of Japan, although the historic capital of Kyoto remained the de jure capital as the seat of the emperor. Edo grew from a fishing village in Musashi Province in 1457 into the largest metropolis in

405-542: The Imperial Palace . During the Edo period, there were about 100 major fires, mostly begun by accident and often quickly escalating and spreading through neighborhoods of wooden nagaya that were heated with charcoal fires. In 1868, the Tokugawa shogunate was overthrown in the Meiji Restoration by supporters of Emperor Meiji and his Imperial Court in Kyoto , ending Edo's status as the de facto capital of Japan. However,

450-498: The Muromachi period . In 1456, a vassal of the Ōgigayatsu branch of the Uesugi clan started to build a castle on the former fortified residence of the Edo clan and took the name Ōta Dōkan . Dōkan lived in the castle until his assassination in 1486. Under Dōkan, with good water connections to Kamakura, Odawara and other parts of Kanto and the country, Edo expanded as a jōkamachi , with

495-449: The court nobles , its Buddhist temples and its history; Osaka was the country's commercial center, dominated by the chōnin or the merchant class. On the contrary, the samurai and daimyō residences occupied up to 70% of the area of Edo. On the east and northeast sides of the castle lived the Shomin ( 庶民 , "regular people") including the chōnin in a much more densely populated area than

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540-487: The machi , where single floor nagayas , the uranagayas ( 裏長屋 , litt. "backstreet long houses") were located. Rentals and smaller rooms for lower ranked shonin were located in those back housings. Edo was nicknamed the City of 808 towns ( 江戸八百八町 , Edo happyaku yachō ) , depicting the large number and diversity of those communities, but the actual number was closer to 1,700 by the 18th century. Edo's municipal government

585-591: The Confederate warship CSS Stonewall ) was a Japanese navy ironclad in the Boshin War . Nagasone Okimasa , the adopted or biological son of Nagasone Okisato, is often called Kotetsu II . He is also rated as the Saijo Ō Wazamono . Edo Edo ( Japanese : 江戸 , lit.   '"bay-entrance" or " estuary "'), also romanized as Jedo , Yedo or Yeddo , is the former name of Tokyo . Edo, formerly

630-683: The East") is a Japanese historical chronicle. The medieval text chronicles events of the Kamakura Shogunate from Minamoto no Yoritomo 's rebellion against the Taira clan in Izokuni of 1180 to Munetaka Shinnō (the 6th shōgun) and his return to Kyoto in 1266. The work is also called Hōjōbon ( 北条本 ) after the Later Hōjō family of Odawara ( Kanagawa prefecture ), in whose possession it used to be before it

675-479: The Gofunai, creating some complexity on the handling on the matters of the city. The Machi-bugyō oversaw the numerous Machi where shonin lived through representatives called Machidoshiyori ( 町年寄 ) . Each Machi had a Machi leader called Nanushi ( 名主 ) , who reported to a Machidoshiyori ( 町年寄 ) who himself was in charge of several Machis. Azuma Kagami Azuma Kagami ( 吾妻鏡/東鑑 , literally, "Mirror of

720-675: The Uesugi clan, which fell to the Later Hōjō clan at the battle of Takanawahara in 1524, during the expansion of their rule over the Kantō area. When the Hōjō clan was finally defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1590, the Kanto area was given to rule to Toyotomi's senior officer Tokugawa Ieyasu , who took his residence in Edo. Tokugawa Ieyasu emerged as the paramount warlord of the Sengoku period following his victory at

765-529: The castle bordering a cove (now Hibiya Park ) opening into Edo Bay , and the town developing along the Hirakawa River running into the cove, and on Edomaeto ( 江戸前島 ) , the stretch of land on the eastern side of the cove (now roughly where Tokyo Station is). Some priests and scholars fleeing Kyoto after the Ōnin War came to Edo during that period. After the death of Dōkan, the castle became one of strongholds of

810-413: The center of the city's commercial center and the starting point of the gokaidō (thus making it the de facto "center of the country"). Fishermen, craftsmen and other producers and retailers operated here. Shippers managed ships known as tarubune to and from Osaka and other cities, bringing goods into the city or transferring them from sea routes to river barges or land routes. The northeastern corner of

855-531: The city and of the Sumida River , a massive network of canals was dug. Fresh water was a major issue, as direct wells would provide brackish water because of the location of the city over an estuary. The few fresh water ponds of the city were put to use, and a network of canals and underground wooden pipes bringing freshwater from the western side of the city and the Tama River was built. Some of this infrastructure

900-535: The city was considered dangerous in the traditional onmyōdō cosmology and was protected from evil by a number of temples including Sensō-ji and Kan'ei-ji , one of the two tutelary Bodaiji temples of the Tokugawa. A path and a canal, a short distance north of Sensō-ji, extended west from the Sumida riverbank leading along the northern edge of the city to the Yoshiwara pleasure district. Previously located near Ningyōchō,

945-403: The city's fresh water distribution system, garbage collection area and communal bathrooms. A typical machi was of rectangular shape and could have a population of several hundred. The machi had curfew for the night with closing and guarded gates called kidomon ( 木戸門 ) opening on the main street ( 表通り , omote-dori ) in the machi . Two floor buildings and larger shops, reserved to

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990-417: The city. Besides the large concentration in the northeast side to protect the city, the second Bodaiji of the Tokugawa, Zōjō-ji occupied a large area south of the castle. The samurai and daimyōs residential estates varied dramatically in size depending on their status. Some daimyōs could have several of those residences in Edo. The upper residence ( 上屋敷 , kami-yashiki ) , was the main residence while

1035-455: The day of occurrence. Such entries are therefore believed to have been added later. Its content goes from the words and the deeds of the shōgun, officials, and military men to poems, literary pieces, descriptions of hunts, banquets and notes on the weather. It is therefore likely to be a compilation of information about the Hōjō regency period taken from Hōjō, Adachi and other noble houses archives, plus temple and shrine records. Predictably, it

1080-428: The district was rebuilt in this more remote location after the great fire of Meireki. Danzaemon, the hereditary position head of eta , or outcasts, who performed "unclean" works in the city resided nearby. Temples and shrines occupied roughly 15% of the surface of the city, equivalent to the living areas of the townspeople, with however an average of one-tenth of its population. Temples and shrines were spread out over

1125-433: The higher-ranking members of the society, were facing the main street. A machi would typically follow a grid pattern and smaller streets, Shinmichi ( 新道 ) , were opening on the main street, also with (sometimes) two-floor buildings, shop on the first floor, living quarter on the second floor, for the more well-off residents. Very narrow streets accessible through small gates called roji ( 路地 ) , would enter deeper inside

1170-611: The historic capital of Kyoto to the city. The era of Tokugawa rule in Japan from 1603 to 1868 is known as the Edo period . Before the 10th century, there is no mention of Edo in historical records, but for a few settlements in the area. That name for the area first appears in the Azuma Kagami chronicles, which have probably been used since the second half of the Heian period . Edo's development started in

1215-556: The late 11th century with a branch of the Kanmu- Taira clan ( 桓武平氏 ) called the Chichibu clan ( 秩父氏 ) coming from the banks of the then- Iruma River , present-day upstream of the Arakawa river. A descendant of the head of the Chichibu clan settled in the area and took the name Edo Shigetsugu ( 江戸重継 ) , likely based on the name used for the place, and founded the Edo clan . Shigetsugu built

1260-430: The lord was in Edo and was used for official duties. It was not necessarily the largest of his residences, but the most convenient to commute to the castle. The upper residence also acted as the representative embassy of the domain in Edo, connecting the shogunate and the clan. The shogunate did not exercise its investigative powers inside the precincts of the residential estate of the upper residence, which could also act as

1305-476: The maker and provenance of the sword in question, increasing this count even further. This can also easily explain Kotetsu's comment above where he said - "The blade is mine, but the signature is not." However, the fact remains that Kotetsu has been often faked over the past 350+ years, and so both the signatures as well as the style and quality of the blade should be judged closely to determine accuracy. Perhaps one of

1350-475: The most famed Kotetsu blades was a fake: that of Kondō Isami , the commander of the late Edo-era patrol force called Shinsengumi . However, this sword was not a Kotetsu, but instead a sword made by the foremost smith of that era (known in Japanese swordmaking history as the shinshin-to era), Minamoto Kiyomaro, and bearing a forged Kotetsu signature made by master signature-faker Hosoda Heijirō. Nagasone Okisato took

1395-656: The name Kotetsu upon taking the Buddhist tonsure in Edo , at Kan'eiji Temple, in the Ueno district. He was active in the Kantō Region for some time, as well as in Edo itself, passing away in 1678. Two of his most prominent students and successors were Nagasone Okinao and Nagasone Okihisa. "Kotetsu" is used as a name for swords in various anime , manga , and video game series, such as Vagabond , Rurouni Kenshin , Kimetsu no Yaiba , One Piece and Black Cat . The Kōtetsu (formerly

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1440-455: The new Meiji government soon renamed Edo to Tōkyō (東京, "Eastern Capital") and the city became the formal capital of Japan when the emperor moved his residence to the city. Very quickly after its inception, the shogunate undertook major works in Edo that drastically changed the topography of the area, notably under the Tenka-Bushin ( 天下普請 ) nationwide program of major civil works involving

1485-557: The now pacified daimyō workforce. The Hibiya cove facing the castle was soon filled after the arrival of Ieyasu, the Hirakawa river was diverted, and several protective moats and logistical canals were dug (including the Kanda river), to limit the risks of flooding. Landfill works on the bay began, with several areas reclaimed during the duration of the shogunate (notably the Tsukiji area). East of

1530-511: The old movable-type printing. This edition in turn became the basis for the present printed editions. Ieyasu considered the book as the product of historical wisdom, kept it at his side, and consulted it often. The Azuma Kagami is an enormously detailed record of different activities centering on the shōgun with almost daily entries that include even notes on the weather. It used to be considered an official Kamakura Bakufu diary, but it contains sections about events in distant areas written on

1575-681: The residence of their lord. The hatamoto samurais, in direct service of the Shogun, would have their own residences, usually located behind the castle on the Western side in the Banchō area. In a strict sense of the word, chōnin were only the townspeople who owned their residence, which was actually a minority. The shonin population mainly lived in semi-collective housings called nagaya ( 長屋 , litt. "Long house") , multi-rooms wooden dwellings, organized in enclosed machi ( 町 , "town" or "village") , with communal facilities, such as wells connected to

1620-478: The same geographical jurisdiction in spite of their name but rotated roles on a monthly basis. Despite their extensive responsibilities, the teams of the Machi-Bugyō were rather small, with 2 offices of 125 people each. The Machi-Bugyō did not have jurisdiction over the samurai residential areas, which remained under the shogunate direct rule. The geographical jurisdiction of the Machi-Bugyō did not exactly coincide with

1665-602: The samurai class area, organized in a series of gated communities called machi (町, "town" or "village"). This area, Shitamachi (下町, "lower town" or "lower towns"), was the center of urban and merchant culture. Shomin also lived along the main roads leading in and out of the city. The Sumida River, then called the Great River (大川, Ōkawa ), ran on the eastern side of the city. The shogunate's official rice-storage warehouses and other official buildings were located here. The Nihonbashi bridge ( 日本橋 , lit. "bridge of Japan") marked

1710-518: The urban planning afterwards to make the city more resilient, with many empty areas to break spreading fires, and wider streets. Reconstruction efforts expanded the city east of the Sumida River, and some daimyō residences were relocated to give more space to the city, especially in the immediate vicinity of the shogun's residence, creating a large green space beside the castle, now the Fukiage gardens of

1755-520: The very beginning of the shogunate daimyōs , later hatamoto ) officials appointed to keep the order in the city, with the word designating both the heading magistrate, the magistrature and its organization. They were in charge of Edo's day-to-day administration, combining the role of police, judge and fire brigade. There were two offices, the South Machi-Bugyō and the North Machi-Bugyō, which had

1800-483: The world, with an estimated population of 1 million by 1721. Edo was repeatedly devastated by fires, the Great Fire of Meireki in 1657 being the most disastrous, with an estimated 100,000 victims and a vast portion of the city completely burnt. The population of Edo was around 300,000, and the impact of the fire was tremendous. The fire destroyed the central keep of Edo Castle, which was never rebuilt, and it influenced

1845-421: Was any, was on the outskirts of town, more of a pleasure retreat with gardens. The lower residence could also be used as a retreat for the lord if a fire had devastated the city. Some of the powerful daimyōs residences occupied vast grounds of several dozens of hectares. Maintenance and operations of those residential estates could be extremely expensive. Samurai in service of a specific clan would normally live in

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1890-462: Was carefully attributed depending on their position as tozama , shinpan or fudai . It was this extensive organization of the city for the samurai class which defined the character of Edo, particularly in contrast to the two major cities of Kyoto and Osaka , neither of which were ruled by a daimyō or had a significant samurai population. Kyoto's character was defined by the Imperial Court,

1935-489: Was donated to Tokugawa Ieyasu . It originally consisted of 52 chapters, but the 45th is lost. In spite of its many flaws , the document is considered the most important existing document concerning the Kamakura period . The Azuma Kagami was compiled after 1266 under the directive of the Hōjō shikken (officially a regent to a shōgun, but the de facto ruler) and is a record in diary form of events occurring in Japan. Written in

1980-530: Was under the responsibility of the rōjū , the senior officials who oversaw the entire bakufu – the government of the Tokugawa shogunate. The administrative definition of Edo was called Gofunai ( 御府内 , litt. "where the government is") . The Kanjō-bugyō (finance commissioners) were responsible for the financial matters of the shogunate, whereas the Jisha-Bugyō handled matters related to shrines and temples. The Machi-bugyō ( 町奉行 ) were samurai (at

2025-499: Was used until the 20th century. The city was laid out as a castle town around Edo Castle, which was positioned at the tip of the Musashino terrace . The area in the immediate proximity of the castle consisted of samurai and daimyō residences, whose families lived in Edo as part of the sankin-kōtai system; the daimyō made journeys in alternating years to Edo and used the residences for their entourages. The location of each residence

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