is a district in Naka Ward,

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, bounded by the Ōoka River, JR Negishi Line, Nakamura River, and Yokohama waterfront. "Kannai" is not an official name of the area, but the common term of reference has been in use for over a century. Kannai is the heart of administrative and commercial Yokohama, with the

Kanagawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

Prefectural Government offices, the Yokohama Municipal Government offices, Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters, other governmental offices as well as major business offices within its borders. Kannai encompasses the old districts of Bashamichi,

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

, and Yamashita Park, making Kannai a major tourist destination in Yokohama, rivaling the adjacent Minato Mirai 21.

History

The Kannai region was part of the ocean until the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

when Yoshida Shinden was reclaimed in 1667. Upon reclamation, the streets were lined up according to a

grid plan In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogon ...

. And in the region were auspiciously named after individuals involved with the reclamation, Noh songs, and

Hyakunin Isshu is a classical Japanese anthology of one hundred Japanese ''waka'' by one hundred poets. ''Hyakunin isshu'' can be translated to "one hundred people, one poem ach; it can also refer to the card game of '' uta-garuta'', which uses a deck compo ...

, rather than any ancient names. During the

, was a remote village adjacent to the , one of the 53 stations of Tōkaidō. Upon being demanded by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

declared ''Yokohama-mura'' to be a part of ''Kanagawa'' and then opened its port. The Tokugawa government chose the remotely located ''Yokohama-mura'', to prevent foreigners from entering the bustling ''Kanagawa-juku''. Sales Room at Foreign Trade Building Yokohama MET DP147653

Sales Room at Foreign Trade Building Yokohama MET DP147653

Upon the opening of the Port of Yokohama in 1859, Kannai became the commercial center of the foreign settlement and home of international trading companies and

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes ...

s, similar to

Dejima or Deshima, in the 17th century also called , was an artificial island off Nagasaki, Japan, that served as a trading post for the Portuguese (1570–1639) and subsequently the Dutch (1641–1858). For 220 years, it was the central con ...

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

. As the foreign settlement rapidly expanded, further residential areas, churches, a cemetery and schools were added on the nearby elevated Yamate ''Bluff'' overlooking the harbour. The historic Osanbashi Pier was built adjacent to Kannai in 1894, and has been the international

pier A pier is a raised structure that rises above a body of water and usually juts out from its shore, typically supported by piling, piles or column, pillars, and provides above-water access to offshore areas. Frequent pier uses include fishing, b ...

of the Port of Yokohama ever since. Since the opening of the Port of Yokohama, Kannai saw a sudden influx of

Western culture Western culture, also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culture, Western society, or simply the West, refers to the Cultural heritage, internally diverse culture of the Western world. The term "Western" encompas ...

. According to the Yokohama Municipal Government, the Kannai region boasts many "firsts in Japan", such as

ice cream Ice cream is a frozen dessert typically made from milk or cream that has been flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as Chocolate, cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit, such as strawberries or peaches. Food ...

beer Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches from cereal grain—most commonly malted barley, although wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. The grain is mashed to convert starch in the ...

, and gas lamps. A road was built from ''Kanagawa-juku'' to ''Yokohama-mura''. And on this road, the ''Yoshida Bridge'' was built across Yoshida River, a branch of the Ōoka River. There was a , a "checkpoint", on this ''Yoshida Bridge''. The area inside the ''Kanmon'' (the Yokohama side) was called Kannai (''Kannai'' meant "inside the ''Kanmon''"). Within Kannai, the current location of the Kanagawa prefectural office marked the boundary between the Japanese settlement area on the west, and the foreign settlement area on the east. In 1860, canals were built in addition to the existing rivers, so that Kannai was completely surrounded by water. There was a ''Kanmon'' placed on each bridge, to restrict access, and to prevent contact between

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

and foreigners. The samurai were not allowed into Kannai. After subsequent modernizations over the years, the ''Kanmon'' lost its significance, and was eventually removed. However, even after the abolishment of the ''Kanmon'', the name ''Kannai'' (which originally meant "inside the ''Kanmon''") remains popular to this day. Examples of modern western architecture built in the 1920s and 1930s still remain in Kannai. Buildings of note include: * The Yokohama Archives of History housed partly in the former British Consulate building constructed in 1931.

Kannai today

Today,

Shuto Expressway The is a network of Toll road, tolled expressways in the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. It is operated and maintained by the . Most routes are Grade separation, grade separated and have many sharp curves and multi-lane merges that require cauti ...

and Ōdōri Park occupy the former location of the Yoshida River. The bridge has become part of the road. And a stone monument is all that remains to show the location of the bridge and the river. Today, Bashamichi Street adjoins Yoshida Bridge with the former settlement area of Kannai. On the other side of Yoshida Bridge is Isezakichō. The vicinity of Isezakicho was outside the ''Kanmon'', and was called (meaning "outside the ''Kanmon''"). Today, the name "''Kangai''" has lost its currency, while "''Kannai''" remains in popular use. The JR Kannai Station is based on this name. The Kannai district has seen a revival after the inauguration of the Minatomirai Line in 2004, with better connections to the popular Yokohama Station and Minato Mirai 21 regions. In recent years, due to a change in societal and economic conditions, old office and store buildings are being torn down, in favor of new condominiums; and this has presented challenges for

city planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

Train stations

* Kannai Station ( Keihin-Tōhoku Line—

Negishi Line The Negishi Line () is a Japanese railway line which connects Yokohama Station, Yokohama and Ōfuna Station, Ōfuna stations. It is operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Freight trains also operate on this line, and it is essential f ...

, Blue Line (Yokohama)) * Ishikawachō Station ( Keihin-Tōhoku Line—

) * Bashamichi Station ( Minatomirai Line) * Nihon-ōdōri Station ( Minatomirai Line) * Motomachi-Chūkagai Station ( Minatomirai Line)

References

* Sections of the article were translated from the corresponding article in the Japanese Wikipedia, retrieved on December 30, 2006.

External links

Yokohama Customs House
(nicknamed "Queen's Tower")

(nicknamed "Jack's Tower")

(the main building is nicknamed "King's Tower")
Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History
{{coord missing, Kanagawa Prefecture Naka-ku, Yokohama Neighborhoods of Yokohama

History

Kannai today

Train stations

See also

References

External links