“Tokyo Review 009” Toranomon area-1
Origin of the name “Toranomon”
As I had announced, this is the first post for the Tokyo Review “Toranomon” series.
“Toranomon” is named after the “The gate of Tiger (Tora)” at the southern end of the Edo castle. A part of the remains of this ” The gate of Tiger ” still exists today, at the premises of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology which is at the southern tip of the Kasumigaseki government office district.
Even after this gate was removed in 1873, “Toranomon” was used as the name of an intersection, a station of LRT, and a station of the subway Ginza line.
“Toranomon” was used as the name for the first time when a part of Toranomon 1-chome became “Shiba Toranomon” in 1949. After implementing the new address system in 1976, Shiba Kotohira-cho, Shiba Kamiyacho-cho, Shiba Nishikubo area had been renamed as “Toranomon” (1-chome to 5-chome).
There is a strong theory that the name of “The gate of Tiger (Tora) ” is due to the fact that it was located on the right side of the Edo Castle which is the direction of the White Tiger. The master plan of the Edo Castle was based on the idea corresponding to the four gods of “Genbu, Blue Dragon, Suzaku and White Tiger”, which are the principle of Chinese Yin Yang study. It can also be thought that this “White Tiger” is protecting the direction which corresponds to the “demon’s back gate” of the Edo castle. The picture is the Torii of Kotohira Shrine at Toranomon. You can spot the sculpture of the “White Tiger” on the lower part of the right pillar .
By the way, why is it stated that the Toranomon is situated on the “right” despite the fact that it is located on the south side of the Edo Castle?
Upon the construction of the Edo castle, the planners considered Mt. Fuji as the northern mountain, the Pacific Ocean as the south sea, and the Sumida river as the east river, and so, Toranomon was known to be on the west, the orientation protected by the “White Tiger”. You can find old maps of Edo in which the character “castle” tilted right 90 degrees for the same reason.
There are some other arguements about the origin of the name Toranomon such as:
・ Ota Dokan named it after the story of a tiger which goes a thousand miles and comes back safely;
・ When a tiger was carried from Korea, the gate had been enlarged in order to get the huge cage through;
・ There was a cherry tree named “Tiger’s Tale” in the lord Naito’s house; and so on.
I would like to introduce the story concerning this “White Tiger” later on in another post.
