Episode 564 – You Gotta Fight for Your Right to Party, Part 3

This week: outside of big urban riots, how did violence figure into the daily life of the Edo period? To answer this question, we’ll take a look at one particularly well-documented example: youth gangs in the area surrounding Sensoji in the shogun’s capital of Edo.

Sources

Takeuchi, Makoto, “Festivals and Fights: The Law and the People of Edo” and Anne Walthall, “Edo Riots” in Edo and Paris: Urban Life and the State in the Early Modern Era. Eds. James L. McClain, John M. Merriman, and Ugawa Kaoru.

Images

Depiction of Sensoji during the Edo period. The Kaminarimon and the main market area (now Nakamisedori) are to the right.
Depiction of the Sanja Matsuri of 1838. You can see the mikoshi being boated around on the Sumida river.
Artist’s rendering of the 1820 Sanja Matsuri.
Nishinomiya Inari Shrine. Big parts of the shrine were built with “donations” that were “solicited” by youth gangs.

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