![]() The same natural features that made area appealing to the people of the Kofun Period, also made it appealing this 12 th century samurai. Being on the coast, it was immune from attacks by sea on one side and with so much seafood production and rice production in the area it was a sustainable area. It had a strong current for bringing in goods. He probably chose this area because this is where Tōkyō Bay had a major inlet that became the Sumida River. The most likely candidate is the guy generally considered the first head of the Edo Clan, Chichibu Shigetsugu.Ĭhichibu Shigetsugu moved south and fortified a small hill in 千代田 Chiyoda “Eternal Fields”. So, for reasons unclear (to me at least), someone from this Taira samurai family in Chichibu moved south to establish a new clan. ( Remember that! It’s going to come up again later.) It seems that bearing the name of your territory was an expression of your dominance. So, although these families were of Taira blood, this branch took the name of their fief and became known as the Chichibu Clan. Lords ( daimyō) tended to take the names of their fiefs as family names to establish new branch families. But as a samurai family with imperial blood, you – theoretically –have more power and rank than the average samurai.īy the way, this era marks the true rise of the samurai culture. The family name Taira essentially means you descend from the imperial family of the Heian Period, but you are not 公家 kuge a court family, so your official status is that of a subject of the emperor. Most branch families adapted the butterfly into new designs for themselves. The Taira Clan (called Hei-shi in Japanese) used a stylized butterfly crest called the 蝶紋 chō mon. The same conditions existed here and it’s from here that our story really begins. Whoever is buried in the Maruyama Kofun noticed this potential and most definitely exploited it to his and his subjects’ benefit.įrom Maruyama Kofun, move a few clicks north on a map of Edo and you will see where Edo Castle stood. ![]() In short, the area was defensible and sustainable. The wetland areas were perfect for growing rice. The bay also provided a natural defense as Japanese ship construction technology sucked ass at this time. ![]() The proximity to the bay was great for fishing and growing seaweed and the inlets and rivers were convenient for sending heavy supplies and foodstuffs in and out of the area. Also, the high ground protected villages from tsunamis and flooding. Strategically speaking, these hills were ideal for defense because, duh, it’s better to be at the top of the hill in a ground war than at the bottom. The hilly area surrounding it could provide high areas for residences and villages. The kofun sits an easy walk from Edo Bay and is next to the 古川 Furukawa “the Old River,” one of many rivers and inlets in the area (at the time and, to a certain extent, today). Maruyama Kofun is the largest in the area, so it must have been built for someone powerful. Here you can see the size and keyhole shape of the Maruyama Kofun. But still, their presence here gives us some perspective of how long humans have lived here. It’s fair to say these people were hunter gatherers and don’t really figure into the history of Edo-Tōkyō as an urban space. This is well before rice culture found its way to Japan. The Kantō Plain appears to have first been populated in the Late Jōmon Period sometime after 3100 BC. OK, so let’s go waaaaaaaaaay back before the Tokugawa. PART 2 – LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG ANSWERįor people with too much time on their hands™ Edo’s place name seems to have been quite literal. Thus this new clan was 江戸氏 Edo-shi Edo Clan. ![]() Following standard practice of the time, if a powerful lord wanted to distinguish his line as a new clan, he would take the name of his territory as a surname. In the 12 th century, an influential branch of the Taira clan moved their base from present day Saitama to 江戸郷 Edo-gō Edo Hamlet in 豊島郡 Toshima-gun Toshima District in 武蔵国 Musashi no Kuni Musashi Province.
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