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Edo Shogunate Capital

Type Object Region East Asia Time 1603–1650

After Tokugawa Ieyasu established Edo as the shogunate's political center in 1603, the city rapidly expanded into Japan's largest metropolis in the f…

Timeline

  1. 1603Edo Castle · Tokyo MetropolisTokugawa Ieyasu was granted the title of shogun and established the shogunate at Edo, making it Japan's de facto political center; construction of the castle and castle town soon began.
  2. 1630–1640Edo · Tokyo MetropolisSamurai residences, merchant districts, and canal dredging advanced in parallel; commercial centers such as Nihonbashi and Asakusa rose, population kept growing, and the spatial and social divisions of Edo's castle town became increasingly clear.
  3. c. 1645–1650Edo · Tokyo MetropolisThe sankin-kōtai system brought daimyō from across the country to Edo regularly; the castle town's population had reached several hundred thousand, and by the 1640s Edo's function as the shogunate capital directing nationwide military-political commands and the distribution of goods was fully established.

Sources