Hyakunincho district

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. Famous Places and Powerspots of Edo　江戸の名所 .
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Hyakuninchoo　百人町 Hyakunincho district

teppoogumi hyakunin tai 鉄砲組百人隊　100 Riflemen Team
lived here on orders of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Hyakunin (hundred-man) brigade of shooters
100 men musket (teppo) corps

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Teppo-gumi hyakunin-tai, or the Hundred-Member Gun Squad,
was founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu to defend his shogunate in the newly established capital of Edo. The squad was stationed in Shinjuku in an area named in its honor and known today as Hyakunin-cho (hundred-member town).
This Hyakunin-cho is home to the Kaichuinari-jinja Shrine, where many vassals of the squad visited to pray that their every shot hits the target. People later established the shustujin-shiki fair to commemorate the gun squad and also as thanksgiving for the luck bestowed by the shrine.



Today, the fair is held every odd year. Men clad in armor and helmet parade the neighborhood of Hyakunin-cho, test fire matchlock guns and give public demonstrations of battle field exercises.
- source : gotokyo.org/en/kanko/shinjuku



The Koshu Kaido was especially planned by Tokugawa Ieyasu to secure his route to escape Edo in case of an attack.
He had the group of 100 special armed guards live in Shinjuku to help and protect him in case of need.

. Kooshuu Kaidoo, Kōshū Kaidō 甲州街道 Koshu Kaido Road .

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鉄砲組百人隊 Homepage
- source : edo-hinawa.com -



CLICK for more photos of the Teppo-Tai !

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During the Edo period, the villages of 柏木 Kashiwagi and 大久保 Okubo were agricultural districts on either side of Hyakunin-cho where samurai warrior residences were located.
These villages were known as vegetable producing areas. The samurai families cultivated plants and flowers and this a tradition was continued through the Meiji period (1868-1912) even though the samurai class itself had disappeared by then.
The area was particularly famous for its azaleas (tsutsuji).
Since Hyakunin-cho was a residential area of the constables (doshin) belonging to the Hyakunin (hundred-man) brigade of shooters operated by the Bakufu military government during the Edo period. During festivals held at the Kaichu Inari Shrine, they fired ceremonial volleys with firelocks.
- source : kanko-shinjuku.com -


. Ookubo, Ōkubo 大久保 Okubo district, Shinjuku .

. Kashiwagi mura 柏木村 Kashiwagi village, Shinjuku .


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. Kaichuu Inari Jinja　皆中稲荷神社 Kaichu Inari Shrine .
1-11-16 Hyakunin-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo / 新宿区百人町1-11-16

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Star Lanterns at Hyakunincho, Aoyama, Eastern Capital
Utagawa Hiroshige II

. Aoyama 青山 Aoyama district, "Green Mountain" .


At the temple 丸普陀山長楽寺 Choraku-Ji
there is a 鬼形の石 stone in the form of a demon, called
Yashajin 夜叉神 Yasha-jin, the Yasha Deity.
The stone had been in the garden of a member of a family in 青山百人町 Hyakunin-Cho in Aoyama.

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Takano Chooei, Takano Chōei　高野長英 Takano Choei
(1804 - 1850)

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Choei Takano -
Physician and scholar of Western studies. Takano studied Dutch medicine in Nagasaki from a person named Siebold and opened his practice in Edo. He formed the research group of Western studies Shoshikai with Kazan Watanabe and others and delved into the study of Western culture. He was imprisoned for six years for writing “Yume Monogatari” (My Dream Vision), in which he criticized the diplomatic policies of the Shogunate, but he escaped from jail by bribing a prison guard to set fire to the prison. Although he returned to Edo and lived by hiding out in various places, he was eventually arrested and killed.



-- Association with Minato City
He spent his last days of life in his secret hiding place in Aoyama Hyakunin-cho

Choei changed his appearance by burning his face with chemicals and moved around the country, but he eventually returned to Edo in March 1850 and lived in hiding in Aoyama Hyakunin-cho. That area had a concentration of official residences of the Shogun’s foot soldiers and sympathizers, and the grounds of the residence of a foot soldier named Kojima contained a pawnbroker’s annex. Choei ran a medical practice on that premises under the false name of Sanpaku Sawa.

However, on the last day of October in the same year, he was attacked by a Shogunate official in an alley on his return home, arrested, and killed. A stone monument, inscribed with “The hiding place of Doctor Choei Takano,” stands where he died in what we know as Minamiaoyama. It was 48 years after his death before his honor was restored, and a commemorative monument inscribed with Kaishu Katsu’s composition was erected in Zenko Temple in Kita-Aoyama after he was posthumously bestowed the title of Lord.
In 1837, he wrote Yumemonogatari (My Dream Vision), which stressed the need to open Japan to the world after the 1837 attack on an American ship, the Morrison. He continued to translate Western books while on the run and translated such books as Iryo Suyo (Fundamentals of Medical Care). Although he was a brilliant scholar of Western studies and a pioneer in medicine, he had a rather unfortunate life.
- source : lib.city.minato.tokyo.jp -

. Medicine in Edo .


- reference : Takano Choei -

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. Famous Places and Powerspots of Edo　江戸の名所 .

. Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .

. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .


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