The Tokugawa, or Edo, period (1603-1868) witnessed the emergence of a lively urban culture fueled by the wealth of merchants, the work of artisans, and the spirit of play among chônin (townspeople). As the seat of the Tokugawa bakufu and the focus of the sankin-kôtai system for regional lords (daimyô), the city of Edo would attract not only urbanized samurai, but also the providers of the goods and services that they would require. While the elite samurai class may have ruled politically, the cultural trendsetters of Edo Japan were merchants, artisans, courtesans, actors, and those who wrote about them.

In a sense, all roads led to Edo, and the most important one was the Tôkaidô. It connected Kyoto and the bustling wholesale merchant center of Osaka to the rapidly growing shôgunal capital of Edo. Dotted with inns, teahouses, brothels, and relay stations, the Tôkaidô was as celebrated in word and image as Edo itself. There was an array of popular literature, picture-books, and woodblock prints (ukiyo-e, nishiki-e) that depicted the famous sights and variety of life along the Tôkaidô and in Edo. In fact, urban fiction and the mass medium of woodblock prints are perhaps the most insightful forms of historical documentation of the social and cultural life of Edo Japan.

This Engaging Vision provides, via ukiyo-e, a sense of what you might have encountered on a trip to Edo. To begin, join these rural visitors to Edo by tapping them with your finger: