The Edo Well Was Not Groundwater? | Room Hunting, Then and Now: Edo ⑦

This is the English edition of our Japanese series 「お部屋探し今むかし」 (Room Hunting, Then and Now). 日本語版はこちら ／ All English articles

At the end of the alley in an Edo row house, there was a shared well. When I hear “well,” I picture a deep hole dug down to groundwater. In the middle of Edo, it seems things were a little different.

The bottom of the well was connected to the water supply

According to an article presenting Morisada Mankō, a record of Edo customs, wells in Edo stored water that was brought in from the outskirts through a water-supply system. A bamboo tube came out of the deepest part of the well and connected to an underground conduit. In other words, a water pipe.

The sources were the Kanda and Tamagawa waterworks. At the peak, six waterways are said to have been in place. The conduits were mainly stone under the main streets, and wooden on the branches.

So the row-house well was the outlet of a water system. Instead of a tap, people drew their water from the well.

Drinking, washing, rinsing rice: all by the well

Well water was for drinking, and also for laundry, bathing and washing rice. It was where the residents met every day. No wonder Japanese still has the phrase idobata kaigi, “a meeting by the well,” for neighborhood gossip.

Once a year, everyone cleaned it together

Things used in common need care in common. Every year, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month was the day of idosarai, well cleaning. Young and old, men and women, all residents were expected to take part.

In today’s terms, it is as if all the residents of an apartment building cleaned the water tank together. A shared space indeed.

Rubbish rules since 1655

One more shared space: rubbish.

According to an encyclopedia, in 1655 Edo banned throwing rubbish into the rivers, and ordered each neighborhood to carry it by boat and dump it at Eitai Island (Sekai Daihyakka Jiten, revised edition).

Neighborhoods set up a rubbish collection point, and from there licensed contractors handled transport and disposal. The contractors’ association was officially recognized as a guild in 1734.

Put it out at a fixed place, and specialists carry it away. The basic shape of today’s rubbish point and collection service was in place about 370 years ago.

Shared spaces shape daily life

The well and the rubbish point were both outside your own room. But you used them every single day.

The same goes for homes today. Is the rubbish area clean? Can you put rubbish out any time, or only on set days? Are the shared corridors and bicycle parking tidy? The quality of management shows in places that photos of the room do not cover. When you compare homes, check the shared spaces too.

A note on sources: I confirmed how the wells worked and the well-cleaning day through an article presenting Morisada Mankō, and the rubbish rules in an encyclopedia. I have not been able to check how wells worked in areas the water system did not reach.

Next time: Edo’s rental shops. They say you could even rent your bedding.

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