Tsukishima (月島), literally meaning "Moon (tsuki) Island (shima)", at the mouth of the Sumida River (隅田川), is a reclaimed land. The history of the island, however, can better be described when written in the following combination of Kanji characters: "築 tsuki" and "島 shima". "築" means "to construct or to be constructed", hence it conveys the meaning "constructed island (築島)".
The yellow part of the map shows the reclaimed land. As you can see, even the area adjacent to the Imperial Palace (the site of the former Edo Castle 江戸城) was reclaimed. The present day Hibiya (日比谷) was the Hibiya Inlet (日比谷入江) in the 16th century.
Reclamation (埋立て) was a state project under the Tokugawa regime and carried out in five stages starting from 1606* and ending around 1636. *(In fact, Ieyasu Tokugawa had begun this work as early as 1592, two years after he entered the Edo Castle.)
The second move toward further reclamation was initiated in the 19th century when the Tokugawa shogunate felt an urgent need to protect Edo (江戸) against incoming ships from the West. The result: "daiba (台場) " or fortress islets with canon batteries (砲台).
The third move took place under the 富国強兵 (enrich the country and strengthen the military) slogan of the Meiji (明治) leaders to catch up with the West, among which was Tsukishima (月島). The mud piling up on the bottom of the Sumida River was dredged and used to construct Tsukishima (築島).
The island was meant for ironworks (鉄工所) with the target set for industrialisation, far from the image we now have of Tsukishima; a flourishing town with Monjayaki (もんじゃ焼き) restaurants.
The image map of the reclaimed land was created by Mr. Toru Hosono (細野透様) and I cut it for my topic. My appreciation to Mr. Hosono.
