Mita

This area is located in the center of Minato Ward, Tokyo, in Yamanote and west of Tamachi Station on the Keihin Tohoku Line. In the Heian Period, this area was a much larger area than it is today, and was written as Onda. The name of the area comes from the fact that it was a rice field that was offered as tribute to the Imperial Court or Ise Shrine. It is located on a lower plateau in the Yamate Plateau, and in ancient times the Oshu Route passed through it, and in the Middle Ages the Kamakura Kaido Route passed through it. Fukuzawa Yukichi opened a private school in Teppozu (Chuo Ward), which he moved to Shiba, and then moved to this place in 1871 (Meiji 4), where it developed into Keio University. There are many temples along the old road in the south, and in the north there are the Australian and Italian embassies, as well as the Tsunamachi Mitsui Club, where a row of samurai residences remains in one corner.

[Kiyoshi Sawada]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

東京都港区中央、山手(やまのて)・京浜東北線田町駅西方の地区。平安時代は現在より広い地域をいい、御田と記し、朝廷もしくは伊勢(いせ)神宮へ貢を献ずる水田であったのが地名の由来という。山手台地のなかで一段低い台地上にあり、古代に奥州路、中世に鎌倉街道が通じていた。福沢諭吉が鉄砲洲(てっぽうず)（中央区）に開いた塾を芝に移し、さらに1871年（明治4）この地に移し慶応義塾大学として発展した。南部の旧街道沿いには寺が多く、北部にはオーストラリア、イタリア大使館や、一角に武家屋敷の長屋が残る綱町三井倶楽部(つなまちみついくらぶ)がある。

［沢田　清］

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