Tateishi is a neighborhood in Katsushika, Tokyo

Katsushika, Tokyo

is one of the special wards of Tokyo, Japan. It lies in the northeast of the ward area. The ward calls itself Katsushika City in English.As of 2008, the ward has an estimated population of 429,289 and a density of 12,600 people per km²...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. The name derives from a tiny stone monument called Tateishi-sama (立石様), located at Tateishi 8-37. With its retro-chic shopping streets and small, back-street workshops and factories, the area retains an atmosphere associated with Tokyo's earthy Shitamachi ("low-town") neighborhoods.

The Katsushika Ward Office, the ward's city hall, is located at Tateishi 5-13-1.

Geography

Tateishi is situated on the west bank of the Nakagawa, a river, about 3 km south of the Kameari (亀有) area known to many through the manga

Manga

Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo

Kochira Katsushika-ku Kameari Kōen-mae Hashutsujo

, full title , is a long-running comedy manga by Osamu Akimoto. It has been continuously serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since September 1976, with over 1700 chapters published, making it the longest-running manga series in history...

.

The Higashi-Tateishi ("east Tateishi") neighborhood lies to the south of Tateishi. Tateishi Nakamise (立石仲見世), an old-fashioned shopping street near the railway station, was started soon after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 ended.

Until around 1980, Tateishi was home to numerous small, family-owned factories, though many of these have since closed and small apartment houses now occupy many of their former sites. The neighborhood's chief industries include dyeing

Dyeing

Dyeing is the process of adding color to textile products like fibers, yarns, and fabrics. Dyeing is normally done in a special solution containing dyes and particular chemical material. After dyeing, dye molecules have uncut Chemical bond with fiber molecules. The temperature and time controlling...

 works and doll manufacturing.

Transportation

Tateishi is served by the Keisei Electric Railway

Keisei Electric Railway

The is a major private railway in Chiba and Tokyo, Japan. The name Keisei is the combination of the kanji 京 from and 成 from , which the railways main line connects. The combination uses different readings than the ones used in the city names. The railway's main line runs from Tokyo to Narita and...

 (京成電鉄) through its Keisei Tateishi Station

Keisei Tateishi Station

Keisei Tateishi station is a Keisei Electric Railway station at Tateishi area in Tokyo, Japan.The Katsushika ward office is near the station.A replica of Tateishi-sama is in the platform.-Lines:...

 (京成立石駅). Most trains stopping at Tateishi also serve Asakusa

Asakusa

is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan, most famous for the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals.- History :...

, about 12 minutes away. Narita International Airport

Narita International Airport

is an international airport serving the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. It is located east of Tokyo Station and east-southeast of Narita Station in the city of Narita, and the adjacent town of Shibayama....

 (formerly known as New Tokyo International Airport) is also readily accessible from Tateishi by changing to a limited express train at Aoto, the next station down the line in the Narita

Narita, Chiba

is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is the site of Narita International Airport, the main international airport serving the Greater Tokyo Area....

 direction.

Major businesses

Toy, merchandising, and entertaining giant Tomy Co., Ltd.

TOMY

is a Japanese toy, children's merchandise and entertainment company created from the March 2006 merger of two companies:  Tomy and long-time rival, Takara...

 is headquartered in Tateishi.

Tateishi-sama

Tateishi ("standing stone") derives its name from a standing stone

Standing stone

Standing stones, orthostats, liths, or more commonly megaliths are solitary stones set vertically in the ground and come in many different varieties....

 addressed by locals as Tateishi-sama, sama being a suffix indicating respect

Japanese titles

The Japanese language uses a broad array of honorific suffixes for addressing or referring to people, for example -san, as in Daniel-san. These honorifics are gender-neutral , though some are more used for men or women and can be attached to first names as well as...

. The stone has been at its present location for at least 600 years and is thought to have been carried and erected here given that the area is on alluvial soil. Locals began to worship the stone as an embodiment of the deity Inari during the Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 (ca. 1600–1868), hence the sama in the name. The stone is reputed to have once had a height of 8-24 inches (≈20–60 cm), but today it stands only 1 inch above ground level due to the effects of flood

Flood

A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...

s, subsidence

Subsidence

Subsidence is the motion of a surface as it shifts downward relative to a datum such as sea-level. The opposite of subsidence is uplift, which results in an increase in elevation...

, and breakage by locals who wanted to use a piece of the stone as a talisman against disease or getting shot in battle.