Kagurazaka

A district in the northeastern part of Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. The name comes from the slope that runs from Ushigome Mitsuke, which protects the outer moat of Edo Castle, to the Yamanote plateau. It is close to the following stations: Kagurazaka on the Tokyo Metro Tozai Line, Iidabashi on the Tozai Line, Yurakucho Line, and Namboku Line, Ushigome Kagurazaka on the Toei Subway Oedo Line, and Iidabashi on the JR Chuo Line. In the Edo period, it was an area of ​​samurai residences and temples and shrines, but a shopping street was established in the middle of the Meiji period. After the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923), it became a prosperous entertainment district, and in the early Showa period, it was widely introduced by Waseda school writers and theater people, and was said to be more popular than Shinjuku. It was especially lively on Bishamonten festival days, but it was damaged in World War II and has now become a shopping street, with the appearance of many restaurants and other eateries reminiscent of the past. Tokyo University of Science is located here.

[Kiyoshi Sawada]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

東京都新宿区北東部の一地区。江戸城外堀を守る牛込見附(うしごめみつけ)から山手(やまのて)台地へ上る坂の名が地名となった。東京地下鉄東西線神楽坂、同東西線・有楽町線・南北線飯田橋、都営地下鉄大江戸線牛込神楽坂、JR中央線飯田橋の各駅に近い。江戸時代は武家屋敷と寺社地であったが、明治の中ごろから商店街ができた。関東大震災（1923）後から花街として繁華を誇るようになり、昭和初期には早稲田(わせだ)派の文学者、演劇人たちによって広く紹介され、新宿をしのぐといわれた。毘沙門天(びしゃもんてん)の縁日にはとくににぎわったが、第二次世界大戦で戦災にあい、いまは商店街に変わり、料亭のたたずまいや飲食店の多いことが当時をしのばせる。東京理科大学がある。

［沢田　清］

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