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east; kei, capital), and every name borrowed from Shidzuōka, or which could in any way recall the former power and glory of the house of Tokugawa was expunged, and new names were substituted. Some changes for the better were also made at this time. Many of the long streets having, as was formerly the case, a large number of local names given to their various parts, were called by a single name throughout their entire length, or else by the names, first section, second section, etc. About one-sixth of the street names were altered by this late act of the government, and it is of the streets of Tokei, and not of Yedo, that we have been speaking; that is, of the streets of the capital of Japan, as they exist now. The Japanese no longer recognize any such place as Yedo, and do not use the word. Foreigners, however, will very probably retain permanently the name Yedo.
The oldest part of the city of Yedo is the street called Temma Cho (Pack-horse [relay] street). Here, in ancient times, was one of the numerous traveller’s stations on the route from the northern provinces to the southern. In the villages containing relays of horses, coolies, kagos, etc., the Daimios and lesser folk could rest or lodge, obtain entertainment for man and beast, and fresh reinforcements of either. At the present day the people born in the immediate neighborhood of Temma Cho, boast, with pride, their birth in the oldest part of Japan’s capital, believing themselves to be therefore, Japanese of the Japanese, of specially pure blood, and peculiary, children of the Empire of the Rising Sun. The oldest avenue, or large street is called the Tori, which begins at Shinagawa. From Shinagawa, the southern suburb, to Suji Kai Go Mon, (Gate of the Inclined Plane) which is a little north of the centre of the city, the Tori or Main street has, beside its general name, at least thirty local designations. Along the Tori and the districts for a considerable distance east and west of it, throughout its length, is the chief business quarter of the city. Within the immense space of the castle were the residences of the large daimios and their retainers. The fortifications of the castle
