Sanbanchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo


Part of the Banchō area, Sanbanchō is an upscale, mostly residential district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. As of June 2020, the population of this district is 3,666 in 1,707 households. It borders the Tokyo Imperial Palace and the Chidorigafuchi moats to the east, Nibanchō and Yonbanchō to the west, Ichibanchō to the south, and Kudanminami to the north.
Like Yonbanchō, its official English spelling, Sanbanchō, does not follow the Hepburn romanization standard.

History

Similarly to the rest of the Banchō area, Sanbanchō was the site of residences of the Hatamoto soldiers in charge of guarding Edo Castle. Among those, the residence of Sano Masakoto, who became famous in 1784 by killing in the castle an unpopular government official.
In 1804, the Wagakukōdansho,, founded in 1793 and run by the blind scholar Hanawa Hokiichi was moved to Omote-Rokubancho, near nowadays Sanbancho-24. As the Shogunate was nearing its end, Omura Masujiro opened in 1856 Kyukyodo, a rangaku institute in his residence, located next to nowadays Chidorigafuchi National Cemetery.
Tōgō Heihachirō moved to Banchō in 1881 and lived there for 54 years. The location of his residence is the Togo Gensui Memorial Park.
The modern district was created on July 1st, 1933, through a merger of the former districts of Ichibancho, Kami-Rokubancho and parts of Fujimicho 1-chome.

Kyōka

Sanbanchō was the subject of a famous Kyōka by Hanawa Hokiichi during Edo times.

Landmarks