The roles of the bakufu and the inhabitants of Edo in the formation of a new “meisho” space : the eighth shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune and his plan for the mass planting of cherry trees at Asukayama

In this article I analysed the roles of the bakufu and the inhabitants of Edo in the process of making a space in the city outskirts, once unknown, into a "famous place" ("meisho"). This case is quite rare as it was the shogun Yoshimune himself who was behind the changes. Noticing that people in Edo love "hanami" (cherry-blossom viewing) Yoshimune realized that there was almost no mass planting of sakura（cherry trees）in Edo. This is believed to be the starting point of his project for the mass planting of sakura in several districts of the outskirts of Edo, including Asukayama, Mukojima and Gotenyama. But it was Asukayama to which the shogun paid special attention, once organizing his own hanami party in the spring of 1737. It was a very good promotion for the new sakura "famous place". Also, the closeness of another "famous place", Oji Inari shrine, was important. Gradually, Asukayama itself managed to attract a lot of visitors, and this collaboration of the two “meisho” improved the economic situation of the whole area. The development of Asukayama was started by Yoshimune, but the success of the whole plan was also due to the inhabitants of Edo, as they were the ones who put new life into the area as a new "famous place"