When I approached the pigeons that were hanging out in front of the station, they all flew away at once

Pigeons flying in front of the Shizuoka station

To the north of JR Shizuoka Station is not only the prefectural government, city and ward offices and other public offices, but also commercial facilities such as department stores and fashion buildings. Aoi Ward, which stretches to the north of the station, is the centre of Shizuoka City. Its name suggests that it has a different character from Suruga Ward to the south. The 'hollyhock(Aoi)' is the crest of the Tokugawa family: after resigning from the shogunate in 1605, Tokugawa Ieyasu entered Sunpu Castle in Aoi Ward in 1607 and looked after Edo as Grand Gosho. This history probably led to the naming of the area where the centre of Shizuoka City is located as Aoi-ward.

Although Aoi Ward seems to have a long history when considering its origin, surprisingly it has a short history. It was created on 1 April 2005, so less than 20 years have passed. Many people may think that the name has a long history because of the weight of its name. But maybe in the meantime many people will come to recognise it as having a history. There are quite a few things that were initially thought to be newly created, but which then turn out to have the face of a long-standing tradition. For example, Hatsumode, which looks like a custom that has existed since ancient times but actually dates from the mid-Meiji period, when the railways were developed.

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