六本木

Edo era

Roppongiろっぽんぎ

six trees — but nobody agrees which six

  • 六rop — six
  • 本pon — counter for long objects
  • 木gi — tree

'Six Trees.' Which six? Six pines, says one Edo record. Six lords whose names contain 'tree', says another. Street-dandy slang, says a third. The trees, if they ever existed, are long gone — the mystery isn't.

Three competing theories, all from Edo-period records: six great pine trees once stood here; or six daimyō lords whose family names all contain 'tree' (Uesugi's cedar, Takagi's tall tree, Aoki's green tree...) kept mansions nearby; or it's a corruption of 'roppōki', the swagger of Edo's street dandies. The reference literature refuses to pick a winner.

Modern proof

The Mōri Garden at Roppongi Hills survives from the daimyō-mansion era.

source

In the Edo period this was a district of feudal lords' estates.

Tokyo

Sources

  1. レファレンス協同データベース(江戸東京博物館図書室回答: 御府内備考・遊歴雑記・角川地名大辞典の3説整理)[government]
  2. 『角川日本地名大辞典』13 東京都 p.761(諸説あり)[dictionary]
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