Outer Moat Waterfront Restoration Project: Edo Castle Outer Moat Projection Mapping 2025

“Outer Moat Waterfront Restoration Project: Edo Castle Outer Moat Projection Mapping 2025,” produced by HITOHATA, INC., was held from Thursday, November 20 to Sunday, November 23, 2025, at Ushigome Moat, part of the former Edo Castle Outer Moat (3-2-8 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo). (Organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government)

Held as part of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s activities to promote understanding of the “Outer Moat Waterfront Restoration Project,” the event projected imagery across approximately 100 meters of the slope of Ushigome Moat, part of the nationally designated historic site of the former Edo Castle Outer Moat, including scenes evoking the outer moat revived through waterfront restoration and digital animations inspired by motifs such as maki-e lacquerwork, wagasa umbrellas, and gold folding screens.

Event Overview

[Name] Outer Moat Waterfront Restoration Project: Edo Castle Outer Moat Projection Mapping

[Dates] Thursday, November 20 – Sunday, November 23, 2025, 5:00 PM – 8:30 PM

*Approximately six minutes of content was projected continuously.

[Venue] Projection: Slope of Ushigome Moat, Edo Castle Outer Moat (approx. 100 m section in Ichigaya-Tamachi 3-chome, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo)

Viewing: Sotobori Park (Chiyoda-ku)

[Content] Held as part of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s activities to promote understanding of the “Outer Moat Waterfront Restoration Project,” the event projected imagery across approximately 100 meters of the slope of Ushigome Moat, part of the nationally designated historic site of the former Edo Castle Outer Moat, including scenes evoking the outer moat revived through waterfront restoration and digital animations inspired by motifs such as maki-e lacquerwork, wagasa umbrellas, and gold folding screens.

[Admission] Free / No advance reservation required

[Organizer] Tokyo Metropolitan Government

[Planning and Production] HITOHATA, INC.

About the Outer Moat Purification Project

In its “Grand Design for Urban Development,” formulated in September 2017, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government set out a policy of systematically restoring high-quality waterfronts such as moats and ponds in cooperation with local municipalities, and in September 2018 it established a study group of the relevant bureaus to begin examining ways to improve the water quality of the outer moat.

Subsequently, the “Future Tokyo” Strategy (March 2021) and the “Future Tokyo” Strategy Version Up 2022 (February 2022) presented the “Outer Moat Purification Project,” which aims to improve the water quality of the historic outer moat, provide a place of relaxation for people working in central Tokyo, and revitalize the entire area by creating a dignified landscape, with the promotion of outer moat purification serving as an opportunity to revive Tokyo as the “City of Water.”

Outer Moat Waterfront Restoration (Tokyo Metropolitan Government)

https://www.toshiseibi.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/bunyabetsu/ryokuchikeikan/mizubesaisei.html

About the Edo Castle Outer Moat

The outer moat of Edo Castle was constructed between 1604 (Keicho 9) and 1636 (Kan’ei 13) through the so-called tenka-bushin, large-scale construction works ordered by the shogunate. Today, the eastern section has been filled in, with only parts such as mitsuke gate sites remaining, while on the western side, from Iidabashi Station through Yotsuya Station to Akasaka-mitsuke, the moat itself remains despite many alterations for railways and other infrastructure. It was designated a National Historic Site in 1956. (Partially quoted from the Tokyo Metropolitan Cultural Property Database)

[Official Photos]

[Main Visual and Event Logo]