Japan Heritage story
Sakura, Narita, Sawara and Choshi: the Edo closest to the airport
「北総四都市江戸紀行・江戸を感じる北総の町並み」
Four towns in northern Chiba once fed and supplied Edo, and each kept its own old townscape. They are close to Narita Airport, which makes them the nearest taste of Edo for anyone landing in Japan.
Key facts
- Theme
- Castles, Festivals and rituals, Food and sake
- Era
- Edo
- Region
- Kanto, Kyushu & Okinawa
- Official name in Japanese
- 「北総四都市江戸紀行・江戸を感じる北総の町並み」
- Official subtitle in Japanese
- 佐倉・成田・佐原・銚子：百万都市江戸を支えた江戸近郊の四つの代表的町並み群
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 千葉県（佐倉市，成田市，香取市，銚子市）
The story
Edo had a million people, and the Hokuso area of Chiba helped feed it. Goods came down the Tone River by boat and along the roads, and Edo's culture flowed back. An old song even said: if you want to see Edo, go to Sawara, because Sawara's main street beats Edo.
The four towns
- Sakura: a castle town and seat of learning. Sakura Juntendo, a school of Western medicine founded in 1843, made it famous: "Nagasaki in the west, Sakura in the east".
- Narita: the temple town of Naritasan Shinshoji, made popular in Edo by the kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro.Google Maps 成田山新勝寺 (opens in a new tab)
- Sawara: a river port run by merchant families, including the mapmaker Ino Tadataka, and the starting point for Katori Jingu.
- Choshi: a fishing and soy-sauce port at the Tone's mouth, where Edo people came to tour the rocky coast.
See more shrines and temples and castles nearby.
Good to know
- With a long layover or a last day before flying out, Narita's temple street is the easiest to fit in.
- Walk Sawara's canal-side streets slowly; the merchant houses are the reason to come.
- Choshi is the place for fresh fish and soy sauce, two things Edo relied on it for.
Questions travellers ask
Why is Sawara called Little Edo?
Its canal-side merchant houses grew rich on Tone River trade, and an Edo-era song claimed Sawara's main street was better than Edo.
Are these towns near Narita Airport?
Yes. All four are in northern Chiba, and Narita's temple town is closest to the airport.
Where it comes from
More heritage stories from the same area
- Hakone Hachiri: walking the Edo stone road over Hakone
- Hizen: the birthplace of Japanese porcelain
- Iki, Tsushima and Goto: Japan's border islands
- Tamba-Sasayama: a castle town in a folk song
- The Murakami Kaizoku: sea lords of the Geiyo Islands
- The Sugar Road: sweets along the Nagasaki Kaido
- Yatsushiro's stonemasons: the bridge builders of Japan
- Yokosuka, Kure, Sasebo and Maizuru: Japan's naval port cities
Local foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.