 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
||
| The town of Sawara, located 70 km to the
northeast from the center of Tokyo,
might
be thought of as one of the most charming
towns of the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Sawara
is often referred to as "little Edo
(now
Tokyo)", for it retains in its historic
district
a number of well-preserved,more than
a century
old townhouses once common in Edo.
Sawara
prospered as a port town on the Tone
River
in the Edo period and the decades after
the
Meiji Restoration (1868). Merchants
were
engaged in trade with Edo and the neighboring
areas. Breweries of sake and soy sauce
also
thrived. Backed by the prospering businesses,
merchants introduced into Sawara various
building styles of Edo,such as the
heavily-walled,
black plastered townhouse. Walking
through
the streets, you can enjoy not only
the views
of such old townhouses and the river
port,
but traditional tastes such as soba
dishes
and tsukudani,fishes boiled in sweetened
soy sauce, as well. Sawara is also
famous
for the Sawara Matsuri festivals,which
feature
floats carrying magnificent dolls and
for
Sawara Bayashi,a music of gongs, drums,
and
flutes played upon the floats. Though
the
Sawara Matsuri festivals take place
only
in July and October each year, floats
and
dolts can be seen throughout the year
at
Dashi Kalkan (Float Halt). The greatest man in the history of Sawara is Ino Tadataka, a notable geographical surveyor of the late Edo period. He is regarded as one of the greatest pioneers in the modernization of Japan. He traveled throughout Japan surveying,using Western scientific methods and completed the first precise maps of ,lapan. His residence is still extant in the historic district. A museum dedicated to Tadataka exhibits his maps and survey instruments. The central area of the town was designated as a preservation district by the MunicipaLity of Sawara in 1994,and by the National Government as a Historic District in 1996. |
||||
