Roku-ku (Six Wards of Asakusa)--Cultural Magnetic Field of Urban Afterglow and Miscellaneous People in 1971

Roku-ku (Six Wards of Asakusa)--Cultural Magnetic Field of Urban Afterglow and Miscellaneous People in 1971

In 1971, the Asakusa Roku-gu district had already passed its heyday, but it was still rooted in people's lives and memories as a symbolic place of the common people's culture in downtown Tokyo. From the late Meiji period (1868-1912) to the early Showa period (1926-1989), the Roku-ward developed as Japan's most popular entertainment district, with a high concentration of Yose theaters, photo studios, theaters, etc. It was once a gateway to success for performers and actors, and a glamorous culture of plays and entertainment was alive and well.

However, with the rapid economic growth after World War II, the center of entertainment moved to Shinjuku and Shibuya, and the Roku-ward gradually began to sink into the shadows of the times. Even so, the town of Asakusa still retained a strong atmosphere of its former entertainment district and the humanistic atmosphere of the time. In the six wards, strip theaters, movie theaters, and adult entertainment establishments continued to operate, and people who were not part of the geisha world or the water trade came and went, vividly revealing the underside of the city.

In particular, the Kakan Inari, located beside the Kannon Hall, was a place of prayer for such people, and an object of trust for the anxious tomorrows of Yoshiwara prostitutes, geisha, actors, and "floating businessmen" such as fire extinguishers. The shop names and names inscribed on the stone torii gate are the remains of pre-modern urban culture, and the name of Shinmon Tatsugoro, which was donated on the stone torii gate, shows how Asakusa was home to the memory of "Ura-Edo" (the old Edo period).

At that time, Asakusa's six wards were still exposed to the waves of urban redevelopment, but still formed a unique magnetic field where the past and present, the mundane and the sacred, life and death mingled, and just by standing there, the memory of Tokyo as a city quietly spoke to you. Talking about the six wards is nothing but an act of reexamining the light and shadow of the city.