ABSTRACT
Japan changed dramatically after the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603. Of the many changes, perhaps none had a more profound impact than the growth of cities. The concentration of large numbers of people in urban areas affected the entire society, for urbanization spurred the growth of communications and markets, which in turn provided an environment for cultural developments and even impelled a shared sense of nationhood to spread throughout the archipelago. Although there were comparable urban areas in China, no city in the Western world even came close to Edo in population, and no country approached Japan's level of urbanization. This was true of Edo as well, for as the seat of the shogun's government and site of his castle, it was the biggest castle town of all. Nevertheless, the castle town was the iconic urban form. Let us take a brief look at Edo as an example of how castle towns evolved.
