Shinagawa topography and all those slopes

Shinagawa topography

The area to the east of Shinagawa is Tokyo Bay – lots of water, quite deep in parts and in others, remnants of the past can be seen in the mudflats stretching out to the water’s edge in the few as of yet undeveloped areas of shore.

Once upon a long time ago, much of this area, far further inland than it is now was mudflats. Oftentimes used as a place in which to harvest shellfish, the flats over time saw themselves reclaimed, earth piled atop and buildings atop that.

Today, the vast majority of the land that linked the slopes of central Tokyo with the water’s edge has vanished beneath buildings, streets and rail lines.

The slopes remain, however, to the immediate west of the main north south Tokaido train line, and start almost as soon as the flat land on which the train lines and an adjacent road end.

Almost all have their own names associated or related to the residents once to be found in the area with one particularly interesting site actually (pictured) called Katsura-zaka. Zaka is the Japanese term for slope and Katsura, oddly, a word meaning ‘wig’.

Whether this was once an area of tradesmen specialising in wigs…….

Hebi-zaka is another slope not too far away and with hebi a Japanese word for snake, modern residents can only hope the slope never again attracts the beasts it was named after.

Katsura-zaka

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