Dec. 1, 2021

Thank you for visiting our online exhibition, "Trouble Afoot! Case Files from Edo in the Final Years of the Shogunate". It is a part of Tokyo Heritage Week 2021. We, Special Collections Room of Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library participate the event each year, to present our valuable materials from the Edo and Meiji periods. Some of our collections, such as materials related to the Edo Castle (from the Kora Family), are officially designated as the National Important Cultural Property of Japan.

This is our first attempt at an online exhibition. We show our collections with commentaries. We hope you enjoy our collections remotely, and feel more familiar with cultural properties.

This exhibition has been closed.

Period

November 1-30, 2021

Venue

Online Only (Related exhibition is held in the library. Please see the details below.)

Exhibition outline

This year, we present "Case Files from Edo", an anthology of incidents and disease outbreaks from the final years of the Shogunate government in the mid-1800s.

Part 1. Major Incidents in Edo

Part 1 covers six incidents that took place in the fifteen years from Commodore Matthew Perry's arrival in 1853 through to the regime change to the Meiji government in 1868. The incidents are The Construction of Odaiba, The Sakuradamon Incident, The Assassination of Heusken, The Surrender of Edo Castle, The Battle of Ueno and The Procession of the Emperor to Tokyo.

Part 2. Edo's Calamities

Part 2 presents materials related to the Ansei Great Earthquake and outbreaks of infectious diseases such as cholera. We hope that kawaraban (commercial news-sheets of the Edo period), colored woodblock prints, and other materials show the resilient townsfolk of Edo overcoming these calamities.

Part 3. Edo Castle in the Final Years of the Shogunate

Part 3 focuses on Edo Castle in the Final Years of the Shogunate, providing insights into Edo Castle through materials including architectural drawings selected from the Materials on the Construction of Edo Castle (from the KORA Family).

Related exhibition

We also hold a related exhibition in the library!
You can see 5 of the Important Cultural Properties from the online exhibition in real.

Special Collection Room in Tokyo Metropolitan Central Library (on the 5th floor).

October 30-November 7, 2021 (Closed: November 4)

10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.