GLIMPSES OF TOKYO’S PAST

Katsushika museum’s assortment of artifacts offers something for all

Areplica of a Kasai boat is displayed in the middle of a local exhibition room at the Katsushika City Museum in Katsushika Ward, Tokyo. The boat is said to have been used since the Edo period (1603-1867), making visitors wonder whether it was for fishing, cargo or other purposes.

In fact, the boat was used for transporting human feces.

Katsushika Ward is surrounded by big and small rivers, including the Arakawa, Edogawa and Nakagawa rivers. In this ward, where farming flourished around the middle of the Edo period, human feces was used as a fertilizer for leaf vegetables such as Japanese mustard spinach and green onions. The Kasai boat was so named because the waste was transported by ship to the Kasai area in the eastern suburbs of Edo, now Tokyo.

It’s hard to believe in the present day, when flush toilets are ubiquitous, that manure pits were everywhere at that time. Operators made contracts with townspeople to gather human waste and sold it to farmers after transporting it to farming villages. Interestingly, the prices of the feces varied, depending on season and location. Human feces from samurai residences were priced higher while feces from jails were traded at lower prices. The boats are said to have been used until the 1960s.

“This ‘human feces business’ is said to have been a side business for affluent farmers,” said Hiroyuki Takahashi, 48, director of the museum.

During the period of rapid economic growth, the population in the ward increased. Farmland was converted into areas for housing and factories. A replica of a home interior typical of the period from 1955 to 1964 is also displayed at the museum.

The toy industry, which began in the Taisho era (1912-1926), was developed after the end of World War II, especially in the western part of the ward. Small factories manufacturing metallic molds and other devices for toys lined the streets. Takara, now Tomy Co., which is known for Licca-chan dolls, has its roots in Katsushika Ward. Classic toys are must-see items at the museum.

Astronomical features are another highlight. The museum’s planetarium has been refurbished with new equipment, including a screen with an 18-meter diameter, a projector and an audio system.

The seats have three buttons on the armrests that allow visitors to participate in quizzes and respond to survey questions during some planetarium programs.

At the astronomical observatory, a stargazing session is held every week, using a refractor telescope. Tatsuyuki Arai, the 54-year-old planetarium director at the museum, said it is rare for such a session to be held so frequently.

“We want people to visit here casually,” he said.

Photos by Taku Yaginuma/Special to The Yomiuri Shimbun A half-size replica of a Kasai boat, which played a key role in the human waste business, is displayed at the Katsushika City Museum in Katsushika Ward, Tokyo.

From far left: One of the nation’s largest refractor telescopes, with a 25-centimeter aperture; A typical living room of the period from 1955 to 1964; Classic toys