Where the name Machiya comes from, what stood here before the station, and what you can still spot on a walk today. Then the events near the station that we have checked on the official pages.
Machiya looks like a name for a neighborhood of shops and townhouses, but its origin may lie in the soil beneath the streets. A local history published by Arakawa City's Board of Education records a theory involving a sticky clay called macchi, once found around today's Machiya 7-chome. The clay was useful for plastering walls and making pottery. According to this theory, the surrounding open land became known as maccha, a name that gradually evolved into Machiya. The explanation remains unproven.
Walk west from Machiya Station along the tram line toward Jigenji Temple in Machiya 2-chome. The older village center lay closer to this temple than to today's busy railway interchange. A road connecting the settlement with Edo passed nearby, while fields spread beyond the clustered houses.
Continue north toward the former Egawabori canal. This waterway once marked part of the boundary between Machiya and Shimo-Ogu villages. Its route survives as a landscaped pedestrian path. The flat streets, old temple, and covered watercourse reveal a neighborhood shaped by farming, clay-rich ground, and village boundaries long before its modern station.
→ Walk from Machiya Station toward Jigenji Temple in Machiya 2-chome, following streets associated with the old route to Edo. Continue toward Egawabori Promenade, where a former canal marked the boundary between two villages. The narrow route preserves the older layout of the neighborhood.
Sources (in Japanese): 荒川区「町屋二・三・四丁目地区まちづくりニュース・町屋の地名の由来」, 平凡社『日本歴史地名大系』町屋村・地名項目データセット
Before Machiya became a busy transport hub, fields and drainage channels covered much of the district. During the Edo period, villagers cultivated vegetables including Mikawashimana, a traditional leafy green. Eastward, the lowlands extended toward the Sumida River. The Egawabori canal helped drain agricultural land and marked a village boundary. Another watercourse, the Yatagawa drainage channel, once ran through what is now the station area.
Factories began replacing riverside farmland during the Meiji period. After the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, many people moved into the district, accelerating the construction of houses and small workshops. Machiya became particularly important in Tokyo's pencil-making industry. Numerous pencil factories operated here during the 1940s and 1950s, including manufacturers recorded in today's Machiya 3-chome and 6-chome.
Keisei Railway opened its Machiya Station in 1931, followed by the Chiyoda subway line in 1969. Former waterways became streets, while fields gave way to shopping areas and housing. Yet walk north from the station and the narrow roads and small workshops still reveal the district's industrial past. The modern neighborhood grew out of the close relationship between water, farming, and manufacturing.
→ Follow Aizomegawa-dori near Machiya Station, a road built over an old drainage channel. Then walk north toward Egawabori Promenade, which follows another former waterway. Small workshops among the houses recall the district's once-thriving pencil industry.
Sources (in Japanese): 荒川区立図書館「荒川区の鉛筆産業を調べる」, 荒川区『荒川区景観計画』第1章・町屋地域の成り立ち
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We list events we could confirm on the official page or official Instagram of the venue or organiser. Details can change, tickets sell out and venues close, so check the official page before you go. Distances are straight-line and travel times are rough estimates. Photos show the venue or its surroundings, not the event itself. Titles and descriptions are our own translations from Japanese. This site contains affiliate links (ads).