![Hibiya park](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Hibiya_park.jpg)
is a colloquial name for a neighborhood of
in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
. The area along Hibiya Street (
National Route 1) from
Yūrakuchō
is a business district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, situated in between the Ginza and Hibiya Park, southeast of the Tokyo Imperial Palace. The district takes its name from Oda Nagamasu (1547–1622), who was also known as Yūraku (有楽). Oda Nagam ...
to
Uchisaiwaichō
is a district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, at the south-east corner of the ward bordering with Chūō and Minato.
Uchisaiwaichō Station on the Toei Mita Line is located in the area. Parts of the Hibiya Station and Shimbashi Station are also located in th ...
is generally considered Hibiya district. Administratively, it is part of the Yūrakuchō district.
There is no actual administrative district in Chiyoda called "Hibiya" but the name is used in some local place names such as
Hibiya Park
Hibiya Park (日比谷公園 ''Hibiya Kōen'') is a park in Chiyoda City, Tokyo, Japan. It covers an area of 161,636.66 m2 (40 acres) between the east gardens of the Imperial Palace to the north, the Shinbashi district to the southeast and the Ka ...
and
Hibiya Station
is an underground railway station in the Yūrakuchō district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, operated by Tokyo Metro and Toei. The area around the station is generally called Hibiya, which is the southwestern corner of the Yūrakuchō district.
Hi ...
(administratively in Yūrakuchō). Hibiya was part of the old
Kōjimachi
is a district in Chiyoda, Tokyo.
History
Prior to the arrival of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the area was known as . The area developed as townspeople settled along the Kōshū Kaidō.
In 1878, the Kōjimachi area became , a ward of the city of Tokyo.
I ...
ward in
Tokyo City
was a Cities of Japan, municipality in Japan and part of Tokyo Prefecture (1868–1943), Tokyo-fu which existed from 1 May 1889 until its merger with its prefecture on 1 July 1943. The historical boundaries of Tokyo City are now occupied by ...
, before it was transformed into a metropolis.
Etymology
The outskirts of this district are
reclaimed from the ocean, and the "hibi" of Hibiya is derived from the facility for the laver of
nori
Nori is a dried edible seaweed used in Japanese cuisine, made from species of the red algae genus ''Pyropia'', including ''P. yezonesis'' and '' P. tenera''. It has a strong and distinctive flavor, and is often used to wrap rolls of sushi or '' ...
made of
bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...
, whose name is also "hibi". This effectively makes the word an
ateji
In modern Japanese, principally refers to kanji used to phonetically represent native or borrowed words with less regard to the underlying meaning of the characters. This is similar to in Old Japanese. Conversely, also refers to kanji used s ...
, kanji characters used to phonetically represent native Japanese words.
History
In the era of
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
, the
Tokugawa bakufu
The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...
worked out of
Edo castle
is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan in Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. In modern times it is part of the Tokyo Imperial Palace in Chiyoda, Tokyo and is therefore also known as .
Tokugawa Ieyasu established the ...
and the area surrounding Edo castle was developed and landfilled. The fishing village then became an urban area where many
Daimyō
were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and n ...
lived.
On September 5, 1905, Hibiya Park was the initial site of the
Hibiya riots, which expanded into a citywide riot, triggered by the terms of the
Treaty of Portsmouth
A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal perso ...
which ended the
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...
(1904−1905).
After the end of the
Meiji Restoration
The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...
Hibiya, the city of Tokyo had become a modern city for there were many buildings including the
Imperial Hotel Imperial Hotel or Hotel Imperial may refer to:
Hotels Australia
* Imperial Hotel, Ravenswood, Queensland
* Imperial Hotel, York, Western Australia
Austria
* Hotel Imperial, Vienna
India
* The Imperial, New Delhi
Ireland
* Imperial Hotel, D ...
(Tokyo's first western hotel),
Rokumeikan
The was a large two-story building in Tokyo, completed in 1883, which became a controversial symbol of Westernisation in the Meiji period. Commissioned for the housing of foreign guests by the Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru, it was designed by Brit ...
, Tokyo city hall and the Tokyo Club. In the 1930s, the first electric traffic light in Japan appeared at a Hibiya crossing point. The once fashionable district has changed into a business street.
See also
*
Hibiya Station
is an underground railway station in the Yūrakuchō district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, operated by Tokyo Metro and Toei. The area around the station is generally called Hibiya, which is the southwestern corner of the Yūrakuchō district.
Hi ...
, a railway station
*
Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line
The is a subway line in Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by Tokyo Metro. The line was named after the Hibiya area in Chiyoda's Yurakucho district, under which it passes. On maps, diagrams and signboards, the line is shown using the color silve ...
, a
Tokyo Metro
The is a major rapid transit system in Tokyo, Japan, operated by the Tokyo Metro Co. With an average daily ridership of 6.84 million passengers, the Tokyo Metro is the larger of the two subway operators in the city; the other being the Toei ...
subway line that runs through the area
*
Tokyo Midtown Hibiya
is a 190,000-square-meter (2.0 million sq ft) mixed-use development in Yurakucho, Tokyo, Japan. Completed in March 2018, the project includes office, commercial, and dining and entertainment facilities.
The project site overlooks Hibiya Park ...
, a mixed use building overlooking Hibiya Park
*
Yurakucho, an administrative district covering the entire Hibiya area
*
References
External links
Neighborhoods of Tokyo
Chiyoda, Tokyo
{{Tokyo-geo-stub