The urban metropolis of Tokyo is one of the world's most famous cities. Formerly known as Edo, the greater Tokyo area covers over 5,000 square miles and is home to nearly 40 million people. During the Meiji Restoration in the late 19th Century, Tokyo quickly became the symbol of a modernizing Japan. Now, Tokyo is one of the leading cities in the world.
Read on to discover the rich, interesting history of Tokyo.
Early Edo: 10th to 17th Century
Before the 10th Century, Edo was likely little more than a small fishing village. Edo was situated in the Kanto region in the central part of Honshu, the largest of the Japanese islands.
Edo became more developed during the 11th Century when the Chichibu clan moved into the area. The Chichibu even changed their name to reflect their new home, becoming known as the Edo clan. Their leader, Edo Shigetsugu, began the earliest phase of construction on Edo Castle to fortify his new territory.
In 1180, the Genpei War broke out in Japan when the Minamoto clan rebelled against their rivals, the ruling Taira clan. Edo Shigenaga, Shigetsugu's son, sided with the Taira but later surrendered to the victorious Minamoto no Yoritomo. After Yoritomo established the Kamakura Shogunate, he appointed Edo Shigenaga as one of his vassals.
Throughout the next few centuries, Edo changed hands between several of Japan's powerful clans. After the Edo clan's power declined during the 14th and 15th Centuries, they were replaced by a vassal of the Uesugi clan called Ota Dokan.
Dokan began a new phase of construction on Edo Castle, and a castle town (jokamachi) began to develop around the fortress. However, Dokan was assassinated in 1486. In 1524, the Uesugi clan was driven from Edo after being defeated by their rivals, the Hojo clan, at the Battle of Takanawahara.
Despite their power in the Kanto region, the Hojo were defeated in 1590 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After his victory, Hideyoshi gave control of Edo and the Kanto region to Tokugawa Ieyasu, one of his former rivals, in exchange for Ieyasu's submission. Hideyoshi went on to unify Japan in 1591.
Ieyasu quickly established his new power base in Kanto, with Edo Castle as his headquarters. He further fortified Edo Castle with new bridges and a moat and expanded the surrounding town. After Hideyoshi died in 1598, Ieyasu launched a bid for power as rival warlords sought control of Japan.
In 1600, Ieyasu's armies clashed with those of his main rival, Ishida Mitsunari, at the Battle of Sekigahara. Many of Mitsunari's allies defected to Ieyasu, changing the course of the battle and Japanese history. Tokugawa Ieyasu emerged victorious and officially established the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1603.
The Edo Period & Tokugawa Shogunate: 1603 to 1868
Under the Tokugawa Shogunate, Edo expanded rapidly and became Japan's unofficial capital city. Even though the Emperor still sat on the throne in Kyoto, it was Tokugawa who effectively ran the country. But despite this golden age of growth, Edo was also hit by a series of disasters.
In 1657, the Great Fire of Meireki broke out in Edo. Strong winds helped the conflagration spread across the city, razing approximately 70% of the city's buildings and killing over 100,000 of the city's 300,000 inhabitants.
During the two-year reconstruction, the city was reorganized and the streets were replanned. Local samurai were given extra funds to rebuild their properties before the shogunate rebuilt Edo Castle. However, the cycle of growth and disaster continued.
Fifty years after the Great Fire of Meireki, Edo was hit by the Hoei eruption of Mount Fuji in 1707. Clouds of ash covered farms and fields around Edo, causing severe famines in the city.
By 1721, Edo had recovered to become the largest city in the world, home to just over a million people. However, in 1855, the Edo earthquake struck the city, killing approximately 10,000 people and destroying nearly 15,000 buildings.
Under the Tokugawa Shogunate, Japan continued to develop as a feudal state ruled by the samurai class. However, Japan also became increasingly insular and isolated itself from the outside world as foreigners were effectively banned from entering the country.
During the late 1800s, some politicians called for Japan to open itself to the outside world again. One of these advocates, a daimyo called Ii Naosuke, was assassinated outside one of Edo Castle's gates by a rebel samurai. This did little to quell the problems that would spell the end of the Tokugawa regime.
From Edo to Tokyo: The Meiji Restoration
In the 19th Century, Western powers like the United States began putting economic and military pressure on Japan. Some Japanese nobles feared that their country would be conquered unless they modernized. That meant overthrowing the Tokugawa Shogunate.
In 1868, after nearly three centuries of Tokugawa rule, the last shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, was forced to resign. He returned control to the young Emperor Meiji, who then stripped him of his titles and seized his lands, including Edo. The city was renamed Tokyo, which literally translates as “Eastern Capital”.
In 1869, Emperor Meiji officially moved the imperial residence from the ancient capital of Kyoto to Tokyo. Edo Castle, the former seat of the Tokugawa clan, became the Imperial Palace. However, the upheaval caused by the Meiji Restoration saw Tokyo's population decrease by more than half. In 1869, 500,000 people lived in Tokyo, down from 1.3 million.
As the Meiji era progressed, Tokyo's population gradually recovered to approximately 1.2 million inhabitants in 1890. To service the growing city, new train stations such as Shibuya and Shinjuku opened in 1885, followed by Tokyo Station in 1914.
However, Tokyo soon suffered another traumatic disaster. In 1923, the city and the wider Kanto region were hit by the Great Kanto earthquake. To make matters worse, the earthquake triggered several firestorms throughout the city. At least 100,000 people were killed, with another 1.5 million left homeless.
Imperial Japan and World War Two
At the end of 1926, Emperor Showa came to the throne, coinciding with a more militaristic Empire of Japan. After effectively becoming a military state under General Tojo, Japan also allied with Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy as one of the Axis powers. Tojo ordered the attack on the American Navy at Pearl Harbor in 1941, launching Japan into World War Two.
After making territorial gains in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, the Japanese were pushed back after the Battle of Midway in June 1942. Earlier in 1942, Tokyo was the first Japanese city to be hit by American bombers during the Doolittle Raid.
In 1944, Tokyo came under sustained bombing raids after the Americans captured Pacific islands closer to mainland Japan. Tokyo's anti-air defenses did little to stop the raids. One night raid in March 1945 killed 100,000 citizens in the opening minutes.
As incendiary bombs destroyed huge swathes of the city, millions of Tokyo's inhabitants fled. After two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the Japanese surrendered, ending the Second World War.
Post-War Tokyo & Economic Recovery: 1945 to 1989
After the war, Tokyo was occupied by American forces for six years as the victors sought to reform and rehabilitate Japan. Despite the horrors of the conflict, Tokyo and Japan experienced an astounding recovery during the 1950s, especially after the Americans pulled out in 1952.
Over the next decade, Tokyo was almost completely rebuilt. The famous Tokyo Tower was constructed in 1958. The city even hosted the 1964 Olympics – the first Olympics held in Asia. In the same year, the 0 Series Shinkansen bullet train entered service on the new high-speed railway between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka.
This period of optimism and growth saw Tokyo's population increase rapidly, from about 3 million by the end of World War Two to over 10 million by 1962. Japan's economy also became the second-largest in the world by 1968.
Tokyo's skyline was transformed throughout the 1970s and 1980s. New high-rise buildings and skyscrapers were built, including Sunshine 60 – which remained the country's tallest skyscraper until 1991. Towards the end of the 1980s, Tokyo experienced a bubble economy as land prices soared rapidly. However, that bubble was about to burst.
Modern Tokyo: 1990 to present
Tokyo and Japan suffered a serious economic setback as the 1990s dawned. The real-estate bubble economy of the late 80s burst in 1991. As a result, real-estate prices plummeted, leading to what became known as the “Lost Decade”.
Economic troubles have continued in recent years, with Japan's GDP rate growing only marginally. While there was some economic recovery during the early 2000s, the global financial crisis of 2008 hit Tokyo and Japan with another setback. Even today, Japan's economy has not fully recovered from the economic downturn of 1991.
In 2011, yet another disaster rocked Tokyo as Japan experienced its most powerful earthquake ever – the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. The earthquake had a magnitude of approximately 9.0 Mw. The disaster severely damaged the Fukushima nuclear plant. As a result of the disaster, Tokyo experienced serious shortages of electricity.
Despite these challenges, Tokyo remains one of the world's greatest cities. Over 3 million tourists visited Tokyo in 2022, with highlights being the Imperial Palace and the Shibuya Crossing. Tokyo also has several beautiful parks and internationally-acclaimed galleries and museums such as the Tokyo National Museum.
Famous Landmarks:
- Senso-ji Buddhist Temple – Completed in 645 AD
- Imperial Palace – First built in 1457 as Edo Castle
- Tokyo National Museum – Established in 1872
- Ueno Park – Established in 1873
- Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden – Opened in 1906
- Meiji Shrine – Established in 1920
- Tokyo Tower – Built in 1958
- Yoyogi Park – Created in 1967
- Shibuya Crossing – Inaugurated in 1973