Yokohama Nishi Ward

Description

Near the intersection in front of Nishi-Yokohama station on the Sagami Railway line, there is Hamamatsucho Park. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom and children and families are playing happily.
After the war, when I was a child, there were no parks in the town, and we played bagoma (spinning top toy), Menko (card game), nail hammering game, kick-the-can game, tag, etc. in the fields and on the roads where there were few cars. Since 1950, parks were built one after another in Otani, Hamamatsucho, Kubocho and Ikenoue.
In the corner of Hamamatsucho Park, there is a monument commemorating the repair of Nishitobe-cho Shiota Yokomakura western public and private road, completed in May 1923, just before the Great Kanto Earthquake. Hamamatsucho used to be called Shiota, and there were salt fields around here where salt was made.
It is said that the name Hamamatsucho comes from the pine trees that were planted in the old days when there were salt fields. Mr. Amakasa, the chairman of the local community association, who lives nearby, says: "My father used to call it Shiota. When I was a child, I used to climb on this stone monument and play.” I'm going to look into the salt fields that existed in Nishi-ku.

Title, picture and writing by Taro Suzuki (Nishi ward Cultural Association)
※This is a sketch and writing published in Yokohama Public Relation Nishi ward edition since June 2013. Please be noted that there’s a possibility that information in the article may be changed.

(Published April in 2021)