Takanawa Ushimachi
Back : Find on a modern map Back : Find on a detailed map of Edo Back : Minato-ku Back : Shiba Takanawa atari no ezu
- Formal Name
- Shibakuruma-cho
- Other Name(s)
- Ushimachi
- Current Address
- Minato-ku, Takanawa
- Description
- A town located between Takanawa's Okido and Shinagawa-shuku Station south down the Tokaido Highway, over the Kanasugi-bashi Bridge spanning the Furu-kawa River past Shibatamachi. During the construction of the Zojo-ji Temple Ankokuden Hall in 1634 and the stone wall of Ichigaya Mitsuke construction in 1636, ox carts were required in large numbers as a means of heavy transport, but there were none in Edo at the time, so the Shogunate government summoned cattle drivers mainly from the cattle dealer Kimura Seibei from Kyoto's Shijokurumamachi to transport the required lumber and stone materials. After the construction was completed, as a reward, the cattle drivers were allowed to settle in this town, and were granted exclusive rights to operate load transportation services using the ox carts, so the area came to be called "Kurumacho" (cart town, but was more commonly known as "Ushicho" meaning "cow town"). According to the Edo Meisho-ki (illustrated guidebook to Edo), there were nearly 1,000 head of oxen at peak. Cart sheds and cattle sheds lined the western side, and the eastern side had an excellent ocean view which was famous as a site for moon-viewing, with large numbers of people gathering and thronging to the area on the moon-waiting until the Twenty-sixth night on July 26 and the harvest moon on August 15.
