Fukagawa Kiba (Timberyards) from "Guide to Famous Spots of Edo Vol.7"
(Japanese book)
Kiba means a timber yard where timber is stored. In Edo, since Tokugawa Ieyasu had opened the shogunate government, demand for timber had increased due to the construction of Edo Castle, Daimyo residences, temples and shrines and town houses and so, and in 1641 (the eighteenth year of Kan'ei), the government gathered all the timber yards to Eitai-jima. It is then called Kiba (later, Motokiba) and became the origin of the place name. In 1701 (the fourteenth year of Genroku), with the expanding of urban areas and the further increase of demand for timber, Kiba was moved to slightly eastwards, Fukagawa, and that was the birth of the 300,000 square meters of Fukagawa Kiba.