Edo-Tokyo and the Meiji Revolution

Abstract

This essay explores the changing sociospatial structures of Edo-Tokyo as the city emerged as the dominant political, economic, and cultural center of modern Japan through the Meiji Revolution of the mid-nineteenth century (conventionally called the Meiji Restoration). In the process of relocating the capital after the defeat of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the new government replaced the old ruling class through the disposal of the samurai estates that had once constituted most of Edo. The government’s strategy was to divide the city into two territories: the Inner Precinct (kakunai), which would now house the political core transferred from Kyoto, and the Outer Precinct (kakugai), where former feudal lords and others forced out of the center were relocated. The government used the land of kakunai in projects to enhance the authority of the emperor. Meanwhile, land owned by former feudal lords in the vast area of the kakugai was newly rented out to people who were banned from doing business on the street by the government. The government relied on powerful commoners to act as brokers in this redevelopment. In addition, former feudal estates linked Tokyo and the rest of the archipelago by providing dormitories for youth from the lords’ former fiefs. Modern Tokyo was thus configured by political choices made in the immediate context of the revolution. Other castle towns underwent a similar restructuring at the same time. This process of conversion reorganized spatial hierarchies within Japanese cities, creating a dual urban structure that has continued to shape urban development since.