Around Akihabara Station: before it was Akihabara

Akihabara Was Named After a Fire-Prevention Ground

Akihabara's name has nothing to do with electronics. Chiyoda City traces it to a devastating fire in 1869. After the fire, a large open space was established to help prevent flames from spreading, and a fire-protection shrine called Chinka Jinja was enshrined there. Because Akiba Shrine in Shizuoka was associated with protection against fire, people reportedly began calling the area Akiba-no-hara or Akibappara, meaning the field of Akiba. The shrine was later relocated to Taito City. The neighborhood's transformation into an electronics district came much later. In 1949, under orders from the Allied occupation authorities, electrical-goods street vendors from the nearby Sudacho and Ogawamachi areas moved beneath the elevated railway at Akihabara Station. The resulting concentration of merchants helped establish the district's global reputation. The remarkable connection is that a name associated with protecting Edo and Tokyo from fires survived to identify one of the world's best-known electronics districts.

→ Explore the railway arches around Akihabara Station. Akiba Shrine, connected with the name, stands at 3-10-7 Matsugaya in Taito City.

Sources (in Japanese): 千代田区・町名由来板：萬世橋, 台東区・秋葉神社の火渡りの神事

Was Akihabara originally an empty space created to prevent fires?

Akihabara, now famous worldwide for electronics and anime culture, owes its name to a disaster in 1869. During the Edo period, lower-ranking samurai lived in this area, where fires were a persistent danger. After the great fire in Aioicho, the Tokyo government established a firebreak covering approximately 9,000 tsubo, or 30,000 square meters. A shrine dedicated to protection against fire was established in 1870 and later became known as Akiba Shrine. The surrounding open space came to be called Akibahara or Akibappara, giving the district its familiar name.

Akihabara Station opened in 1890, transforming the area into a railway and distribution center. In 1949, under orders from the Allied occupation authorities, electrical-goods street vendors from nearby Sudacho and Ogawamachi were relocated beneath the railway tracks. Radio-parts dealers helped establish the foundation of the electronics district. Interestingly, much of today's Electric Town is officially located in Sotokanda rather than a neighborhood administratively named Akihabara.

→ Leave through the Electric Town Exit and explore the shops beneath the railway tracks, where the postwar electronics trade took root.

Sources (in Japanese): 千代田区・町名由来板『萬世橋』, 秋葉原電気街振興会・秋葉原の由来, 日本交通公社・全国観光資源台帳『秋葉原』