REKIHAKU

No.160 A Witness to History

"Grand Map of Sakai in 1689 (Genroku 2)"

As its name shows, Sakai was a harbor situated at an important traffic spot at the border between Settsu and Izumi. In the late Middle Ages, this harbor city was located in the northeasternmost part of the East Asian trade route expanding from Osaka Bay to the Inland Sea, and even to the East China Sea. The city is known to have had rivaling warring lords based on its large economic power gained through foreign trade. Particularly from the records of Jesuits who visited Japan, it is known that the city had its own defense system: the city was surrounded by moats, wooden doors at the ends of each town were closed at night, and when the city was threatened, the moats were made deeper and the turrets were built higher. It also had its own system of town management by important merchants called egoshu. Based on these facts, Sakai is deemed to have been an autonomous/free city comparable to European medieval cities.

However, even this medieval city of Sakai yielded itself to the power of Oda Nobunaga in 1569 (Eiroku 12), and its glory as an autonomous city was lost. Furthermore, the moats were filled in by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1586 (Tensho 14), by which the shape of the city was changed and the important merchants were forced to move. The city was then burned to the ground in the Summer Campaign of Osaka in 1615 (Genna 1) and placed under the direct control of the Tokugawa government. After that, it was resuscitated by the "town plotting of Genna." In the early Edo period, the city regained its prosperity temporarily as a base of the vermilion seal certificate trade by itowappu fellows. However, in first half of the 17th century, its road to the prosperity by trade was blocked by the so-called National Isolation Law in the Kanei period. In the Genroku period at the end of the 17th century, the center of economy was moved to Osaka, and at the beginning of the 18th century, Sakai’s function as a harbor city was almost finished due to the opening of the Yamato River in the Hoei period.

Photo 1: Overall view of "Grand Map of Sakai in 1689 (Genroku 2)" consisting of nine fragmentary views

"Grand Map of Sakai in 1689 (Genroku 2)" owned by the National Museum of Japanese History conveys this situation of Sakai at the end of the 17th century. As shown in the overall view (Photo 1), it consists of a total of nine considerably large fragmentary views (see Photos 2 to 8), and when they are pieced together, they make a huge picture map the size of about 30 tatami mats as a whole.The city of Sakai surrounded by moats is divided into four sections by Omichisuji Road (Kishu Kaido) running through the center from north to south and Oshoji Road crossing Omichisuji Road at the center in the east-west direction, and the grid of streets parallel to these roads divides the towns in an orderly fashion into blocks of 60 ken of Kyoto size (approx. 109 m) as a standard size. With the eastern edge of the city where there are temples from north to south, the systematic urban structure common to castle towns of this period is observed. The town plotting method is based on a street-centered community where both sides facing a street make a town in the same way as in a castle town, and wooden doors indicating the town borders are seen at each crossroad. In the town blocks, rectangular plotting of residences is done in an orderly manner with the name of the owner and the frontage and depth indicated for respective premises. It contains information necessary for grasping the locations and the relations among rights of residence in the city, and may be regarded as a basic map for the city’s administrative management by machibugyo officials, sodoshiyori officials, etc.It is clear from posters, etc. that it was actually used for a considerable period.

Photo 2: Scene of research in the Museum warehouse	Photo 3: Central part of Sakai in the early modern Period with magistrates' residences and Tenjin Shrine (Sugawara Shrine)
Photo 4: The Daisen Tumulus (Emperor Nintoku’s Tumulus) is depicted on the upper left.

Where will this Grand Map of Sakai be positioned when it is compared with similar picture maps of other cities? Let's compare it with the city of Edo where numerous picture maps of the city remain. Edo has "koken ezu (picture map of bills of sale)" as an urban map plotting individual residences in the city. It was created in the whole area of Edomachi by order of Edo machidoshiyori first in the Shoho period at the beginning of the 18th century and then in the Kanpo period in the middle of the 18th century. It is a picture map indicating frontage and depth, landowner (or landlord as his delegate), and kokenkin, which is the sale price. It is clear from remaining Machikata documents that it continued to be used as a basic map in Edomachi afterwards. However, in the case of Edo, it is clear from town notices, etc. that there is a picture map called “Genroku kensu ezu” as the premise of this koken ezu, although none actually remaining can be found. In other words, a picture map to grasp the frontage, depth, and owner of each residence in the city was created in the same Genroku period when the picture map of Sakai was created, and this is not just a coincidence. Similar picture maps were also created in other castle towns almost in the same period. Therefore, it is assumed that this Genroku period was an important period in early modern urban governance.

The Edo koken ezu was created for a small number of towns governed by a town administrator, and the number of remaining picture maps is limited. Therefore, the whole picture of Edomachi is not very clear. However, the picture map of Sakai depicts the whole city and includes information not only on towns but also on temples, shrines, and even government offices. Therefore, its value as an urban map document is really high.

Photo 5: The frontage and depth, as well as the name of the owner, are indicated for each residence.	Photo 6: Oshojiguchi Bridge is located in the moat. A placard spot is seen at its foot.

Comparing the town plotting (to be used as a general term for plotting of towns and residences) shown in this picture map with the current topographic features of Sakai, it is understood that although there are naturally some changes due to the recent widening of streets and the constructions on public-use land, the basic skeleton has been maintained almost without change, and the town plotting in the Genna period has determined the skeleton of the city up to the present date. So, how should we consider its relationship with the medieval city of Sakai? Excavation and research have been carried out in each urban area of Sakai, and relics and remains prior to the Edo period have been found in almost its whole area. Together with layers of soil burned several times, relics of a storehouse, a cornerstone building, etc. and remains of ceramics, tiles, coins, etc. have also been excavated. What matters is that it has been made clear that the medieval town plotting before the Genna period was different from that after the Genroku period because the location and the direction of streets as known from street side ditches, etc. are different from the current town plotting. It is also known that the peripheral moats were made in the Edo period, and that because the moats made before the Genna period surrounded the interior considerably, the medieval city of Sakai was quite a lot smaller than that in the Edo period.

In fact, as for this " Grand Map of Sakai in 1689 (Genroku 2)," its photo reprinted edition was published in 1977 (*) with an excellent commentary, and basic research on it was also published. It then became a part of the Museum collection. It may have been in the special exhibition "Western Capital, Eastern Capital" in 2007 where a part of it was opened to the public for the first time. Full-scale research had not yet been started. Recently, it has been decided that the open collaborative research “Comprehensive Research on the Urban Structure of Sakai Shown in the ‘Grand Map of Sakai in 1689’ of the Genroku Period” (lead by Hirotsugu Fujita, professor at Kobe University) is to be started in 2010 as a three-year project. I believe that it is of great significance that researchers of historical geography, archeology, philological history, and architectural history join together to study the urban structure of Sakai based on this “Grand map of the Genroku period,” and that there are also high expectations.

Photo 7: Shrine buildings are also depicted in the precincts of Tenjin Shrine (Sugawara Shrine).	Photo 8: The situation of Tadeiyama Tumulus (Emperor Hanzei’s Tumulus) is depicted.

Finally, I would like to indicate just two tasks in research as a researcher of urban history who takes part in research and has a keen interest in town plotting.

Firstly, detailed research of picture map documents of an early modern city is necessary. The overall shape including moats and neighboring topographic features, street structure, expressions of town/residence plotting, a number of written insertions with letters, and names of merchants, craftsmen, etc. who are assumed to be owners all clarify the city of Sakai and the situation surrounding it. At the same time, the reality of the early modern city of Sakai obtained from it is an important key to answering questions about early modern cities as a whole.

Secondly, there is a question about connection and disconnection between the Middle Ages and the early modern age seen only in Sakai. Looking at the history of Japanese cities widely, only Kyoto and Hakata, in addition to Sakai, in fact occupied a clear position as a city in the Middle Ages and have also survived steadily as cities up to the early modern age. From the viewpoint of town plotting changes from the Middle Ages to the early modern age, Kyoto corresponded to the early modern age by building roads in the town block in the Tensho period at the end of the 16th century while maintaining the skeleton of street plotting from Heian-kyo. On the other hand, Hakata and Sakai transformed their town plotting by changing the streets themselves. This has been made clear from the displacement between excavated streets and ground-level streets. And while Hakata has always not been rich in satisfactory picture maps of the early modern age, Sakai has this “Grand Map of Sakai in 1689.” In other words, Sakai is the city most suitable for clarifying the transformation from the medieval city to the early modern city using the specific clue of town plotting. For this purpose, I would like to emphasize once again that it is necessary to conduct comprehensive, interdisciplinary research.

Tetsuo Tamai (Japanese Architectural History/History of cities, Research Department)

* “Grand Map of Sakai in 1689 (Genroku 2)” Supervised by Atsushi Kobata and Takeo Oda, and Commented on by Naohiro Asao, Hajime Yamazumi, and Koshin Noma (Maeda Shoten, 1977)