Newly Designated Cultural Properties of Minato City for FY2025

Since the enactment of the Cultural Property Protection Ordinance in 1979, Minato City has designated several cultural properties each year. For this fiscal year, two properties related to the history of Minato City have been newly designated cultural properties: a set of old documents and a set of historical records.

1. Tangible Cultural Property – Old Documents: Kokenzu of Minami-Higakubo-cho, Miyamura-cho, and Nagasaka-cho (1 item)

A kokenzu is a pictorial register that records information on each town lot, including frontage, depth, area (in tsubo), price ( koken-kin), komadaka (price per unit frontage), landlord’s name, and caretaker’s name. This particular document was created in March 1744 and depicts all of Minami-Higakubo-cho and parts of the adjoining Miyamura-cho and Nagasaka-cho, which correspond to the present-day area around the Toriizakashita intersection. Compared with the towns within the Edo Castle area, extant kokenzu of the peripheral towns that developed from farmland into urban districts with the expansion of the city are rare. This map is a valuable resource for conveying information about outlying towns and town lots to the present day.

2. Tangible Cultural Property – Historical Records: Keio University Mita Speech Society Materials (11 items)

The Mita Speech Society was established on June 27, 1874, within Keio University and was led by Yukichi Fukuzawa and others who were dedicated to the development and practice of public speaking and methods of debate. This society broadly promoted the significance of speeches in which individuals conveyed their ideas to a wider audience and debates where participants exchanged and deepened oral opinions. The society became a source of inspiration for the Freedom and People’s Rights Movement. Moreover, the society contributed to Japan’s modernization as a new form of media by providing many people with access to Western thought, the latest academic research, and critiques of Japanese politics and social conditions. The Keio University Mita Speech Society Materials consist of 11 volumes created and preserved by the society that cover the period from its founding in 1874 to November 11, 1938. These materials, which allow us to glimpse the activities of the society, are valuable not only for Minato City but also for the study of modern and contemporary Japanese history.