Daily Life in Edo, Japan's Capital, 1700–1800 | Calm Bedtime History

It is the fourth year of the Genroku era, 1701, in the eastern capital. The cherry blossoms have fallen along the Sumida River, and the first summer fires are being lit in the watchtowers of the daimyo residences. A city of more than a million souls stretches between the shogun's castle and the flatlands of the east, larger than London, larger than any city in Europe, yet unknown to the world beyond its shores.