The was a new land development undertaken by a wealthy Osaka merchant, Konoike Zen'emon in mid-

Edo Period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

Japan. It was located in central

Kawachi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the eastern part of modern Osaka Prefecture. It originally held the southwestern area that was split off into Izumi Province. It was also known as . Geography The area was radically different in th ...

in what is now part of the city of

Higashiōsaka is a Cities of Japan, city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 486,464 in 233,124 households and a population density of 7,874 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . The city is known as one of ...

Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nara ...

, Japan. The well-preserved buildings of the management office of the settlement were designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1976.

Overview

In 1704, the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

completed a large-scale

flood control Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...

project which diverted the course of the

Yamato River The is a river that flows through Nara Prefecture and Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is designated Classification of rivers in Japan, Class A by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). The river flows via towns: *Nara ...

and drained a large lake in what is now the northern portion of Higashiosaka. This resulted in a large tract of land becoming available for paddy fields. A wealthy Osaka merchant, the Konoike family, won a bid for development rights over a 119 hectare area, and settled farmers from afar away as

Ise Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today includes most of modern Mie Prefecture. Ise bordered on Iga, Kii, Mino, Ōmi, Owari, Shima, and Yamato Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History The name of Ise appears ...

on these new lands. The main place of residence for settlers was named Konoikehonmachi, which had many waterways, as the settlers used boats for transportation of the harvested rice to the central warehouse. With the establishment of the modern municipalities system in 1889, the area became part of the village of Kitae in Nakakawachi District Osaka. After World War II, a large portion of the area was transformed into a residential area; however, the 13th generation of the original settlers still farm a portion of the land. The was completed in 1707 as the management office of the settlement. The office was responsible for the maintenance and repair of fields, waterways, and bridges, collecting taxes and tenant's fees, official registration of households, pensions for the elderly, and providing police and other public services. It was located in a trapezoidal area surrounded by moats and a wall, and contained five buildings: the main office,

Warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the rural–urban fringe, out ...

s, Library, Granary and Tool Shed. All of these buildings have survived in good condition, and were designated as a National Important Cultural Properties in 1980. They are currently owned and managed by Higashiosaka City and were opened to the public as a museum in 1997. It is about a five-minute walk from Konoikeshinden Station on the

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

Katamachi Line The , officially nicknamed the , is a commuter rail line and service in the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto Metropolitan Area of Japan, owned and operated by West Japan Railway Company (JR West). The line connects Kizu Station (Kyoto), Kizu Station in Kyoto Pr ...

Gallery

KounoikeShinden Kaisyo(27321711183).jpg, Konoike Shinden Kaisho garden

References

External links

Official home page

Osaka Tourist information
{{in lang, ja Higashiōsaka Kawachi Province Edo-period sites Historic Sites of Japan Important Cultural Properties of Japan

Overview

Gallery

See also

References

External links