Urban Centers and Tourism in Early Modern Japan

When talking about tourism of Edo during early modern Japan, we can say "All roads are connected to Edo". The reasons are there were well-built transport infrastructures and inns, the phenomena called "pilgrimage to Ise" was prevailed, the alternative attendance of all Daimyos was, Buddha statues in the famous temples all over the nation were opened to the public and many people visited Edo for various legal suits. As information about Edo"s tourism spreaded all over the country, touring Edo became more popular. On the other hand, as human-alienation and the insecurity in Edo deepened because of its rapid urbanization, residents in Edo began to tour in order to relax and worship at the shrineㆍBuddhist temple for salvation and mental relief. Many fancy streets in Edo played an important role in temporarily relieving the strain and tension of it"s visitors. The biggest fascination with urban tourism is that there are a concentration of vestiges, busy streets and amusements in which people can be released from human-alienation, tension and anxiety. The tour style which combined worship with enjoyment had occurred in early modern Japan and became common in middle modern times. In the late times, worship and enjoyment began to separate and the full-size tour for only enjoyment started. Although the tour style combining worship and enjoyment had remained during early modern times, the worship was very formal and the tour focused on sightseeing and pleasure. New cultures all over the nation during the era of Edo, were created through this kind of tourism. Many parts of modern Japanese culture were developed through tourism cultures, which can be called "space-transfer". Thus, the urban"s fascination, as the place where a new culture is made with the systematization of a tourism backed by the belief of "pilgrimage to Ise", as the object of tour and as the resource of internal impulse (desire for tour) played an important role in establishing and publicizing the pleasure-seeking tourism in early modern Japan