We cannot talk about Shitamachi without mentioning Edo and Edo period wouldn't be without Tokugawa Dynasty.
So, here they are. Ieyasu Tokugawa (top picture), the first head of the clan and few centuries later, Mr Tsunenari Tokugawa, current head of the clan (bottom picture).
I had the privilege of working in the same firm as Mr Tokugawa in Japan and my coleague told me that he couldn't leave the country for a long period of time because he was such an important figure in a historically distinguished family and had to be present at home.
More than a decade later, I was told that was a big fat lie.
Edo was a relatively stable period (1603 - 1867) under the powerful Tokugawa reign. Unlike the preceding eras when there were constant power struggles and wars over control of land, people were able to get on with their lives. Farmers harvested the crops they sowed, fishermen fished in plentiful Tokyo Bay, commoners traded, crafted, had a bit of fun and samurai looked after the place and its people.
Feudal lords and their families lived in posh Yamanote which is the area immediately surrounding the Edo castle. Areas further from the centre and to the northeast of the castle was Shitamachi where towns folk lived and the culture such as traditional music, arts, paintings, performances and poems flourished as its population sored.
Sumida River runs along Shitamachi. She is by no means a trickle of water. Goods and people were transported up and down, across and back the big stream by boats and barges before bridges were built. The firework over Sumida River first started in 1733 and since becoming an annual televised event in 1978, it is now one of the greatest summer spectacles shown not only in Shitamachi but throughout the country. People of shitamachi know how to spend a hot and sticky summer night in style. Certainly not in an airconditioned room playing computer games.
YouTube (2008). Noh gaku. Retrieved October 1, 2008, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeYt0rLyUoA
YouTube (2007). 2007 Noh gaku presentation Part 1. Retrieved October 1, 2008, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-DMlGOUv1Y
YouTube (2007). Pizza Noh gaku. Retrieved October 1, 2008, from http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=BZIIY2P4X3w
YouTube (2008). Noh gaku. Retrieved October 1, 2008, from http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZFA9S8QzXg
