“Nishi Koiwa. Where exactly is that?” Someone asked me just the other day. Nishi Koiwa a district within Edogawa ward is an easternmost part of Tokyo. It shares borders with Chiba prefecture.
Nishi Koiwa’s story begins with the ward itself. Edogawa was founded in 1937. It happened with the merger of seven towns and villages in Minami Katsushika District. Koiwa was one of those towns.
Edogawa, and thus Nishi Koiwa, has a sister-city relationship with Gosford. Gosford is in New South Wales Australia. Domestically Edogawa has ties with Azumino. Azumino is in Nagano Prefecture. Tsuruoka is in Yamagata Prefecture.
The area now called Edogawa including Nishi Koiwa was once under the sea. This was about 3000 years ago. The land gradually rose. About 1700 years ago people lived in the north part of the ward. Some Haji potteries were found in Kami Koiwa Remains. A census kept in Shosoin recorded 3 villages in 721 AD. They were Shmamata Kouwa and Nakamura.
From the late Heian to Kamakura period the area was controlled by the Kasai Family. They donated 33 villages to Ise Jingu Shrine. The villages were called Mikuriya. Mikuriya means a place where food for the gods is prepared.
In Sengoku Period Nishi Koiwa was a battlefield. It was between the Hojo and Satomi Clans. The battles of Konodai are famous. The Hojo Clan won. In 1590 Hideyoshi Toyotomi won the Siege of Odawara. The Go Hojo Clan lost.
After that Ieyasu Tokugawa moved to Edo castle. He became the Shogun in Edo. In 1594 he started the Tonegawa Tosen Project. The Tone River originally flowed to Tokyo Bay. Its courses were not fixed and it often flooded. In 1654 the stream went to the Pacific Ocean at Choshi City.
In 1932 Edogawa-ku was born. Today Nishi Koiwa is a vibrant part of Edogawa. It has a rich history and a promising future.
So next time someone asks where Nishi Koiwa is you can tell them. You can tell them it is a place with a past. It is a place that has risen from the sea. It is a place connected to the rest of the world.