History of Nagoya名古屋市

by Michael Riley 2007


Unfinished - Subject to change

This section is taking me much longer than I expected. It is also much longer than I expected. I will work on this over time, as I get to learn more about Nagoya's history.

Last update 8 June 07

Introduction

Part of the modernisation efforts of the Meiji restoration saw a restructuring of Japan's provinces into prefectures and city government changed from family rule to that by government officials. Nagoya as a city was proclaimed on October 1, 1889, but the city and the surrounding areas have had a long and surprisingly interesting history over the last 2000 years. The name Nagoya comes from a 12th century manor called Nagono. The Nagono district today is a short 300 meter walk from Nagoya station toward Sakae.

The fertile plains surrounding the city makes up what is now known as Aichi prefecture, of which Nagoya is the capital. The region around Nagoya has been an industrial center for over 1000 years. The city itself began as as a planned city in the 1600's and has grown so that today it is a modern city of two million people, the center of an industrial heartland that produces around 1.2 percent of the worlds GDP.

Religion and Early Times

This first building in Nagoya that I know about is the famous Shinto shrine Atsuta Jingu which was founded around 1900 years ago (it is located roughly between Nagoya Station and the port). For around 2000 years Atsuta Jingu has been an important religious center.

Atsuta Jingu
Atsuta Jingu in 2007

The buildings of the shrine haves been remodeled and rebuilt many times and were also destroyed in WW2, the current buildings date from the 1950s. The shrine holds the sacred sword Kusanagi-no-tsurugi (the Japanese Excalibur) used by prince Yamato-Takeru in the 3rd century but it is not on public display. Today the shrine is known as the second most important Shinto shrine in Japan and it has around 9 million visitors annually.

Just like in Europe, religion played an important part in the lives of Japanese people. Buddhism came to Japan in the 6th Century and had a profound impact on Japanese art, culture and power politics. Much of the oldest art in Japan is religious. Buddhism co-existed with Shinto-ism and many temples included Shinto shrines until this was forbidden in the Meiji restoration in the 1860s. Confucianism, brought to Japan in the 12th century was not a religion, but more a philosophy that reinforced ideas of class and family obligation.


European contact

Prior to European contact Japan was already an technologically advanced nation. The highly structured society was urbanised, educated and strong in technological and craft work.

In 1543 a Portuguese ship was blown off course, it landed in Japan in the middle of civil war. This initial contact brought new weapons, tactics and religion. This first contact had a profound impact on Japan:

Barely fifty years later, "by the end of the 16th century, guns were almost certainly more common in Japan than in any other country in the world", its armies equipped with a number of guns dwarfing any contemporary army in Europe (Perrin).

European contact and the work of the missionaries in Japan over the next 150 years coincides with the period of re unification of Japan. For me this is one of the most exciting periods of Japanese history. The incredible story of an English sailor called William Adams who becomes a confidant of Tokugawa Iesu is wonderfully told in a book "Samurai William: The Adventurer Who Unlocked Japan" by Giles Milton. Adam’s life was fictionalized in the book and then mini-series Shogun by James Clavell an ex-WW2 POW.

European contact ended in tragedy. Distrust of the expanding influence of priests and a belief that they came as a forerunner to military invasion saw Christianity banned on pain of death and the beginning the seclusion of Japan from the rest of the world from 1641 to 1853, over 200 years.


Unification of Japan

One of the major events in Japanese history was the reunification of Japan between 1568 and 1603. The three major actors in this reunification were all born and in the Nagoya area. Because of this relationship, people dressed as these three men take a prominent part in the Nagoya festival each year.

Oda Nobunaga– 1534-1582 came from Kiyosu Castle in Owari province near Toyoyama (the western part of modern Aichi prefecture) . With brutality, strong allies and good generals, he began the process of conquest and unification, but he died because of treachery before he could complete the task. Oda Nobunaga fought a number of battles around the Nagoya area.


Actor playing the role of Oda Nobunaga in a re-enactment of the battle of Okehazama. Nagoya 2007

Toyotomi Hideyoshi– 1536-1598 was one of Oda Nobunaga’s top generals. Born on Oda clan lands (reputedly near the current Nagoya JR Station) He rose from the position of servant to that of general and later became successor to Oda Nobunaga after his death in 1582. Because of his lowly birth he was unable to get the emperor to pronounce him Shogun, nevertheless by 1590 he had conquered Japan. With failing health, he instituted an invasion of Korea in 1591 and then another in 1597. With the war failing, he died in 1598

Tokugawa Ieyasu– 1543 – 1616 was born in Mikawa Province (the eastern part of modern Aichi prefecture). An ally of sorts to Nobunaga he was able to maintain a level of independence through Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s rule. In 1590 he made a bargain with Toyotomi Hideyoshi and relinquished his traditional home province which bordered on Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s and moved himself and his army to Edo (now Tokyo). After Hideyoshi’s death, Japan split. Different lords backed different contenders, but in 1600 after the decisive battle of Sekigahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu was victorious. The Tokugawa family ruled Japan for the next 200 years

Map tokugawa
The provinces of Japan at the start of the Tokugawa Shogunate from "A History of Japan during the century of early foreign intercourse (1542-1651)", 1903 by James Murdoch and Isoh Yamagata at www.maproom.org. The modern Aichi prefecture is roughly the combination of the Owari and Mikawa provinces.

1612 - 1858 - Tokugawa Shogunate

The Tokagawa family, beginning with Tokugawa Ieyasu ruled Japan from 1603 until the 1850’s during this time a rigid class structure was enforced and by 1641 Japan was essentially closed from the rest of the world.

Though closed to the rest of the world, Nagoya was about to flourish


1610-1612 - big decisions for Nagoya

To consolidate his rule the Shogun built a number of large castles in strategic places around Japan and installed his family in them. Nagoya became one of these projects.

Tokugawa Ieyasu's 9th son, Tokugawa Yoshinao was transferred to Kiyosu Castle (Oda Nobunaga's old castle) to watch over this potentially rebellious area. In 1610, the Tokugawa's decided to create a new provincial capital and to move Kiyosu castle and its castle town about seven kilometers to the site of another old castle built by Imagawa Ujichika in an area called Nagono (the Kanji can also be read as Nagoya).

This new castle became Nagoya Castle and planned city became Nagoya.

A number of famous Samurai of the period were "asked" to contribute to the building of the castle, mainly as a way of emptying their coffers so that they did not have enough money to start a rebellion.

The 10 km Horikawa Canal was built for the construction of Nagoya castle and it still runs through central Nagoya today. (It can be seen near the Hilton Hotel).

Tokugawa Yoshinao, set up in Nagoya Castle, became the founder of the Owari branch of the Tokugawa family. Nagoya Castle became home to the family for the next 16 generations. The Tokugawa family museum in Nagoya holds the family treasures from this part of the Tokugawa family.


The reconstructed Nagoya Castle 2006

Another Nagoya landmark, Osu kannon temple, built in Gifu prefecture in 1324 was destroyed by flood in 1605. Tokugawa Ieyasu moved the temple to its current location in 1612. It has been destroyed by fire since then and the current construction dates from the 1970's.

Quickly merging with a town growing around Atsuta Jingu the new town to be called Nagoya quickly expanded.

Osu Kannon Temple - Site of a large market and electronics district. A Nagoya Landmark- Pam June 2005


The Tokaido Road

The newly built castle town became the most important stop along what became the Tokaido Road, the key road linked Kyoto and Edo (Tokyo). This was the most important road in Tokugawan Japan. (The old road is currently followed by the Tomei freeway and the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, so in many ways it is still the most important.)

When Tokugawa Ieyasu begun the Shogunate, he declared his base in Edo (Tokyo) as the new capital and required all Daimyo lords to spend one year out of every two at the capital. This meant that the main highways connecting to Tokyo, especially the Tōkaidō became very important as the Daimyo and their entourages traveled on a regular basis.

The five key roads in the Tokugawa period had nominated rest stops, the Tōkaidō road itself had 53 stations/stops. In 1601 the ancient Atsuta Jingu was nominated as Miya (meaning Shrine) Station. At Miya station travelers on the road used a ferry to bypass the three rivers that exit around Nagoya city.


Diorama of the Port in the 1600's from the Port of Nagoya museum - May 2007

As a station, a town grew at Atsuta Jingu to support the passing travelers it merged with the town growing around the new castle. These two towns form the core of old Nagoya.

"Hosa" is another name used for Nagoya around this period. The ancient Atsuta Jinja was also known as Horai and Hosa means "to the left of Horai".

Miya Station
Men drawing a festival float at Miya Station. (Station 42) from Ando Hiroshigethe's famous 1831 series of prints, "The 52 stations of the Tokaido Road". These can be viewed online at www.hiroshige.org.uk.

Another key road from the period, the Nakasendo linked Kyoto and Edo via an inland route through the mountains. A glimpse of history can still be seen at Magame/Tsumago an hour and a half drive from Nagoya past Toki outlet Mall, where the post towns and part of the road has been restored.


Postman in Tsumago

Outside Nagoya castle a “castle town” developed. The layout for the town was actually planned and Nagoya ostensibly has a grid system and downtown is especially easy to follow. .

By just 1647, Nagoya castle town had expanded to 8.57 square km, equivalent to to the size of London and Paris at the same point in time.

Tokugawan Industry

The Nagoya region flourished over the next years. The major cities of Kyoto, Osaka and Edo were known for kimono's, porcelein and many other arts associated with the richest in Japanese society. The Nagoya region developed a reputation for technology and manufactured goods which it still maintains today.

The regions around Nagoya, became centres for production of pottery, gunpowder, mechanical dolls and cotton, Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s wars in Korea especially had a dramatic effect to the Nagoya area as many Korean potters were abducted and taken back to Japan creating a range of new styles of pottery..

There are a number of events, towns and regions around Nagoya/Aichi where the traditional industries can still be seen:

The town of Tajimi on the edge of the Gifu prefecture is famous for the mino-yaki style of pottery. Seto, just outside Nagoya is so famous for its stoneware pottery that in Japan seto-mono now refers to ceramics in general. The main street of Seto today has many pottery shops selling traditional rustic styled pottery.

By 1694, another town called Tokoname (actually near the CENTRAIR airport) had 12 kilns making “Tokoname ware”. This style of ceramics had been made in the area since 1100. The roof tiles for the Tokyo imperial hotel (reception building now located at Meiji mura outside Nagoya) were made here. Today at Tokoname you can walk a historic pottery path


Mechanical Clock
From the 1660's Karakuri clocks and clockwork puppet manufacture was another regional specialty.

Traditional Japanese clocks measure time quite differently from a modern clock and the design was quite intricate . Japanese traditional clocks divided each day into night and day and then divided each into six periods. The length of these 12 periods varied depending on how much daylight there was each day.

An example of a traditional clock with a mechanical display can be seen under the freeway on the Wakamiya-odori near the PARCO department store in Sakae. At 12:00, 2pm, 4pm and 6pm there is a mechanical puppet show




Clock\

Mechanical puppets were also used on the top of Dashi floats, in theatres and as family toys.The Handa Dashi festival, near CENTRAIR airport is the largest Dashi float festival in Japan


Daishi Float Nagoya Festival 2006
Karakuri Puppets atop Dashi floats in the Nagoya festival 2006. The floats have three tiers, Puppets on top, then puppeteers, with musicians at the bottom.

Mikawa province was the only place in Japan during the shogunate that was allowed to produce gunpowder and fireworks. Today the fireworks festival in August at Okazaki Castle is known as one of the best in Japan

Arimatsu, was the station before Miya (Nagoya) on the Tōkaidō road.Some of the old road is still preserved at the town, famous for it tie-dying fabrics.

Finally the center of Japanese sword making was in the town of Seki in Gifu prefecture. Known for the best swords and famous smiths, the city now specialises in knives.

The Town developing as Nagoya was also bustling:

In 1611 Yudo Ito started a kimono shop in the new city. Over the follow years. In 1768 the Ito family expanded their business by buying another clothing store called Matsuzakaya near Ueno in Edo (Tokyo). Today the Matsuzakaya department store in Sakae is a Nagoya landmark but few know it is one of the oldest companies in the world still running. (256th on the list).

One of the oldest family businesses in the world also started out in Nagoya. In 1610 Tobei Masataka began a construction business which since the Meiji restoration has transformed to become the Takenaka Corporation, who built the Tokyo tower and Tokyo Dome.

1860- Meiji Restoration

1853 and 1854 saw the arrival of the "black ships", commanded by Matthew Perry at Edo (Tokyo) with the demand of direct trade and the end of isolationism. The demand was backed by guns that the Japanese navy could not compete with and with no choice but to sign a series of “unequal” treaties with the European powers.

The next 15 years saw a struggle between those who wanted change and those who did not. The movie “The last samurai” is set in 1867 during the final struggles between the two factions. In the end the push for change was too great

Japan’s reconnection with the world lead it to an amazing period of change. In essence everything was turned on its head as Japan forced itself to modernise and become an international power. The period of modernisation is usually referred to as the Meiji Restoration, coinciding with the rule of Emperor Meiji (1868 to 1912). Coming from a pre-industrial base by the end of the Meiji period Japan had won separate wars against China, Korea and Russia, the defeat of Russia in 1905 truly put Japan on the stage as an international power.

To the people of Nagoya there must have been enormous change as the class barriers dropped and other changes uprooted their lives. The table below lists some of the changes that took place.

Year Event
1868 all Tokugawa lands were seized and placed under 'Imperial control. Nagoya castle becomes state property
1869 Emperor moved to the imperial palace from Kyoto to Edo. Edo renamed Tokyo
1870 Daiymo not allowed to maintain their own armies
1870 Commoners were officially allowed surnames. A number of laws around the same time were designed to break the class system inherited from the Tokugawa era
1870 Mitsubishi corporation founded. Beginning as a shipping company
1871 the roughly 300 domains (han) were turned into prefectures, each under the control of a state-appointed governor. The area around Nagoya was proclaimed as the Nagoya Prefecture, but a year later the name was changed to the Aichi prefecture.
1872 western style dress compulsory for government officials and functionaries
1872 Public report published that Emperor Meiji enjoyed beef. Leading to the removal to the taboo against eating meat
1872 First Railway opened, by the late 1880s the trip between Kyoto and Tokyo could be completed in a day
1872 Religious freedom instituted - Christianity allowed to be practiced again.
1873 Calendar changed to the Gregorian calendar, changing dates by nearly 3 weeks
1887 Clocks changed so hours now have fixed length, unlike old system where an hour varied in length depending on the hours of sunlight in the day.
1889 Nagoya becomes a city with a civil government and administration
1896 Samurai banned from wearing swords.

Today the theme park Meiji Mura outside Nagoya contains a number of buildings from the Meiji period. The buildings give an idea of the struggle for change during this period.


The bizarre Mayan inspired entrance/lobby and front pool from the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Tokyo Imperial hotel at Meiji mura


Inventors and Entrepreneurs

Being the center of industry in a country that was rapidly industrializing lead to the rise of a number of key figures.

Sakichi Toyoda - 1867 - 1930 a prolific inventor from Shizuoka prefecture, he established his loom business in Nagoya where his sequence of inventions revolutionised the weaving business. In particular, the G Type fully automatic loom. In 2005 Forbes magazine ranked Sakichi Toyoda the 13th most influential businessman of all time.
.
Kiichiro Toyoda - 1894 - 1952, Son of Sakichi Toyoda. Established Toyota Motor Corporation in 1937, manufacturing trucks and what is considered the first fully Japanese manufactured production car (Toyota AA).

The Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology is walking distance from Nagoya station and traces the history of the inventions and the families later move into motor cars under the company name of Toyota.

Toyoda car
One of the first Toyota motor cars in the museum , this one still marketed under the family name of Toyoda.

1891 Great Nobi Earthquake

At 6:37am October 28 1891, the Nobi earthquake occurred. The a magnitude of 8.4 it was the largest earthquake to hit Japan in modern times it killed around 7,000 people. Centered around Nagoya, it was one of the first great earthquakes in Japan that was photographed.

A visiting scientist wrote "Every street on the road between Nagoya and Gifu was destroyed". ("The Cause of the Great Earthquake in Central Japan, 1891" by B. Koto The Geographical Journal, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Mar., 1894), pp. 213-216 )

Nobi Quake
Collapsed bridge in Biwajima, downtown Nagoya from from Metadatabase of Japanese old photographs in Bakumatsu-Meiji Period - Nagasaki University Library

A book of photos taken around Nagoya just after the earthquake has been scanned and is available online See "The Great Earthquake of Japan, 1891" by John Milne and W.K. Burton with 29 Plates by K. Ogawa 1st Edition (ca 1892)

In 1923 the great Kanto earthquake of similar magnitude centered around Yokohama and Tokyo killed around 140,000 in the earthquake and the aftermath. http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/disaster.html

WAR

Japan was at war for much of the first half of the 20th Century, There were wars with Korea and China then Russia in 1904-05, and the seizure of Korea in 1910.

In the first world war, Japan had a treaty with England and fought on the same side as the Entente. Japan seized German possessions in the Pacific and it navy played an under rated role in the war. Many Australian and NZ troop ships to Europe were protected by Japanese ships.

In the 1930's Japan was militarily involved in China. There is much debate over this issue. You can read about it here.

In World war Two, Nagoya,was an important industrial center Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, makers of the Zero aircraft were based in Nagoya. By the end of the war 40 percent of Nagoya had been destroyed by bombing and the resulting fires. At the time Japanese cities were mainly constructed with wood and were very susceptible to fire.. In 1945, napalm was dropped on the city.

Rather than looking at the events of these wars, the wars were important for Nagoya because everywhere in the world war means a need for production and industry, so Nagoya kept growing.

Reconstruction

Reconstruction after the war allowed the city authorities to create wide avenues through the middle of the city. Two 100 meter wide roads were constructed. In Sakae, Hisaya-odori is hard to miss with a wide park in the middle leading up to Nagoya TV Tower. Crossing Hisaya-odori near Parco department store is Wakamiya-odori, separating Sakae from Osu-Kannon. Nine of 50 meter wide roads were also created giving the center of Nagoya an easy to use grid system with a number of wide roads for easy access.


Nishiki-Dori - One of the wide roads in Sakae (April 2007) build in the reconstruction.

Nagoya is the home of Masamura Shoichi the Pachinko king who revolutionised the machines.

Akio Morita - 1921-1999 Born in the Aichi prefecture is the co-founder of Sony corporation, but alas for Nagoya, he went to university in Osaka and started his magnetic tape company in Tokyo.

Toyota Motor company went from strength to strength. In 1959 the silk producing town of Koromo 30 minutes drive from Nagoya was renamed Toyota city.

September 1959 also saw the cities biggest natural disaster, a typhoon in Ise bay broke the banks of the Shonai river and the flooding destroyed over 100,000 buildings. 1,851 people died and half a million people became homeless.

Recent History

In 1980, Nagoya, the favorite, lost the vote to stage the 1988 Summer Olympics 52-27.


World Expo Magnets
Nagoya held the World Exposition in 2005 and the city changed again. Many foreign workers came to the expo. The monorail installed for the expo connects to the existing subway system at Fujigaoka

To the right are our fridge magnets of the Expo characters.






Aichi Expo Entrance Gate
Entrance gate to the Aichi Expo 2005. Enormous clouds and part of Pam's first trip to Japan

Nagoya, A world powerhouse

By 2003 it was estimated that Nagoya accounted for 1.2% of Global GNP.

In 2005 an American academic Ken Jarboe, wrote an article called "Losing the competitiveness challenge" trying to explain why Nagoya was doing so well while American manufacturers were not. The list of companies itself shows why Nagoya, because apart from Toyota:

"About 60% of Nagoya's industrial base is non automotive. Tool maker Makita Corp. and steel maker Daido Steel Co. are both located near Nagoya, as are fax machine and printer manufacturer Brother Industries Ltd. and Yamaha Corp., one of the world's largest makers of musical instruments. The area's kilns turn out everything from industrial tiles to fine china from Noritake Inc. Big diversified industrial companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Inc., run their aerospace divisions out of Nagoya, which is also home to a slew of suppliers to other industries, including die-casters, paint processors, and metal pressers, molders, grinders and refiners" - Ken Jarboe.


Today Nagoya is famous for its ice skaters such as Midori Ito, Mao Asada, Miki Ando

Please email me comments/updates
Design downloaded from FreeWebTemplates.com
Free web design, web templates, web layouts, and website resources!