TOKIO, or YEDO (pronounced Edo, " River-door"), since 1868 called Tokio (" Eastern capital"), the chief city of Japan, is situated in the e. of the mainland, at the head of the bay of the same name, in lat. 35° 26' 30' n., and long. 139° 39 24' east. The river 0-gawa, or Great river, divides it into an eastern and western portion, the latter being by far the larger and more important. For postal and general municipal purposes Tokio has of late years been divided into six great sections, each of which is subdivided into from eleven to fifteen districts. Five of these sections lie to the w. of the river 0-gawa; the sixth, lying to the e., forms the most densely populated part of an extensive suburb, which is for the most part farm-land, but also contains a great number of large timber yards, brick-kilns, etc., and is ramified by a vast network of canals. These canals also serve to join 0-gawa with Nakagawa, which latter river bounds the above-mentioned suburb to the e., and by which a great deal of produce is brought to the capital from the interior. The 0-gawa is a large and rapid river, and is spanned by six wide bridges, whose lengths range from 250 to 350 yards. In 1878, howevgr, a return was made to the old district names, two of which, Honjo and Fuku-gawa, lie between 0-gawa and Nakagawa. Under the Shogun (mistakenly called Tycoon, see JAPAN), Tokio proper was divided into 0-shiro, or the citadel; Soto-shiro, outside the citadel; and Michi or streets. In 0-shiro was the palace of the Shoguns, which, repeatedly burned and rebuilt, as again destroyed by fire in 1872. But the beautiful large parks surrounding it are maintained in good order, and here it has been proposed to build a new palace for the mikado or emperor.
Soto-shiro which engirdles 0-shiro, is partly occupied with palaces and temples; and the more eastern part of it is intersected by the Tokaido, the most important high-road through Japan. It also contains Dai-gaku, the modern imperial university, where native youths get a liberal education and college training for the professions of law, medicine, engineering, and industrial chemistry; as also Kobu-dai-gakko, which is a special school for engineers. One of its numberless bridges is called Nihon-bashi (" bridge of Japan"), and is considered the center of the empire, all geographical distances being reckoned from it. The third of the old divisions of the city forms the exterior part of the city, and contains among others the temple of K'wanon, the most venerated and frequented in all Japan ; that of Confucius, which under the Shoguns was the national university for the study of Chinese literature, and is now converted into a public library of native, Chinese, and European books; and that of Kanda-Niyojin, the tutelary deity of the city.
In this division also is Yoshiwara, the most popular of the five districts of Tokio, set apart for prostitutes.
The population of Tokio was formerly much greater than it is now, because of the Shogun compelling every daimio, or clan-prince, to live in Tokio for a great portion of the year with a large body of retainers. This custom being, of course, extinct since the revolution of 1868, the population has sunk to between 700,000 and 800,000. The area covered by the capital, however, is about 28 sq. m. ; and therefore Tokio, in point of extent, is after London the largest city in the world. It is situated in a great plain, which extends n. and s. about 100 m., and from the coast to the mountains from 20 to 60 miles. This plain is one of the most fertile in Japan, and is tilled with great skill and laborious care, irrigation and manuring being adopted to the fullest possible extent. It is tra versed by many large rivers, from one of which an abundant water supply is brought to Tokio, a distance of 40 miles. Smaller streams intersect the plain in every direction, and form rich and lovely valleys, the ridges between which rise at very few places to more than 200 ft. above sea-level. Tokio is connected with Yokohama by railway, and a large extent of telegraphic line now keeps it in close communication with the s,. n., and W. of the empire. In recent years a very eager desire for the aquiremeut of Euro pean knowledge of science, industry, and political and social philosophy has been mani fested by the people. The classes of the recently established colleges of the capital are crowded with enthusiastic and industrious students. Immense improvement has been made both in the lower and the higher education of the people. In 1873 there were only 12,597 elementary schools, with 1,326,190 pupils. In 1875 the number of schools had increased to 24,225, and the pupils to 1,925,206. Of the 34,000,000 of Japanese subjects, 15.2 per cent are reckoned as of school-age—namely, from 6 to 14 inclusive, and 35.4 per cent of this elementary-school population were in the schools in 1875. Although exter nal evidences of superstition abound in Japan, nothing illustrates the small practical influence superstition has upon the daily actions and thoughts of the Japanese people more forcibly than the marvelously rapid progress that rational European medical science has made in Japan, not merely in the education of a large body of intelligent and well-qualified physicians and surgeons, but still more remarkably in the confidence and faith in the doctors of the new school displayed by the people at large.