History

History of Kanagawa
According to an antiquarian book, Kanagawa was named after a river called “Kaminagawa” that fell into the Tokyo Bay. Others believe that a long time ago there was a river named “Kanagawa” and Minamoto no Yoritomo (the first samurai Shogun) assigned kanji characters close to the ones used today. During the Warring State Period, Kanagawa flourished as a port. When the Tokugawa Shogunate was established at Edo (today’s Tokyo), Kanagawa, together with Hodogaya and Totsuka, became one of the famous stages of the 53 Stages of the Tokaido. Kanagawa Station flourished as one of the important post stations serving the heavy traffic of travelers on the Tokaido, an important road that connected Edo and Kyoto at that time

Since travelers went down a slope and entered Kanagawa station from a hill top called Dainosaka, respective daimyos’ processions traveling on the mandatory alternate-year attendance went down the slope at a trot and it looked as if the processions were dancing down the slope. The view of Kanagawa Station is depicted in Hiroshige Ando’s colored woodblock print and the ennui of travelers is described in the famous “Tokaidochu Hizakurige (Traveling the Tokaido on Foot” written by Juppensha Ikku. Source: ＜’Tanakaya’ Memoirs＞

History of ‘Tanakaya’
You will walk into ‘Daimachi’ if you get off the train at the Keihin Kyuko Line’s Kanagawa Station and walk across Aoki Bridge. This area is the old Kanagawa post station but today the area is congested with heavy inbound and outbound traffic between Yokohama and Tokyo. The old Tokaido wound right and went all the way to Hodogaya via Asama Shrine. It is just an ordinary ascent with small stores and factories and the Japanese style restaurant ‘Tanakaya’ is on the left of the ascent since the Edo period.

‘Tanakaya’ was established in 1863. During the early Edo period, the precursor of ‘Tanakaya’ was a small tea stall called ‘Sakuraya’. This small tea stall is depicted in Hiroshige Ando’s “53 Stages of the Tokaido” and was also referred to as ‘Gonpachi Tea Stall’ that served boiled rice and barley topped by grated yam soup. Thereafter, ‘Sakuraya’ was renamed ‘Shimodaya’ managed by Kauemon Takashima and the store was purchased by Yohei Hiruma and was renamed as ‘Tanakaya’ and remodeled it into inn & restaurant.
Source＜The Kanagawa Noren Story: Written by Takeshi Tajima＞　

>return