ABSTRACT
The new domain capitals were located in areas where water could be used for access trade and urban development. Land transportation was labour intensive, time consuming and expensive, while water, whether by sea, river or canal, provided access through increasingly sophisticated conveyance systems. In 1600 much of Edo was under water as deposition continued to alter the coastline of the area which was to become the lower city. The disturbance to existing patterns of settlement in the creation of a site for the new city were less extreme than at Hikone, where the city was constructed on agricultural land which had been cultivated for centuries and existing farming communities mounted strenuous resistance. In 1687, a kilometre-long canal was built across the original marshland area which divided the delta into north and south sections. In 1744, a further canal was constructed from the fork in the Amu River at the tip of Kawashima, through Emukae to join the Shinhorikawa at Ishiya-cho.
