Why Is It Called Kichijoji? A Temple Town and a New Village
It is slightly misleading to assume that Kichijoji Station and the district take their name from a temple of that name in present-day Musashino. The place name carries a memory brought by people who relocated from Edo. Rather than memorizing the name alone, understanding why it remained in Musashino changes how the town spreading north from the station comes into view.
Musashino City's historical chronology says that a great Edo fire in January 1658 (Meireki 4) burned the temple town of Kichijoji near Suidobashi, and residents who moved from there established Kichijoji Village by 1659. The name comes not from a temple at the present location, but from the former temple town remembered by the migrants.
This page focuses on the durable framework of the place name and the district where schools and cultural institutions later accumulated, rather than on individual shops or redevelopment. In a quiz, watch for the plausible but incorrect claim that a temple named Kichijoji still stands within the city.
A name left by Edo's temple town
Kichijoji takes its name from the village created by people who moved from Edo's Kichijoji temple town; it is not named for a temple that stood in what is now Musashino City.
Kichijoji VillageKichijoji-mura
The city's chronology records that Kichijoji Village emerged in 1659 after people from the Kichijoji temple town near Suidobashi moved following a fire in Meireki 4 (1658). For questions about the name, the essential link is between the former temple town and its migrants, not the location of a temple today. Place names can preserve a route taken by people rather than simply copying an earlier address.
Source:Musashino City Historical Chronology: Paleolithic Era to 1888
The name KichijojiKichijoji
Musashino City's history material for children explains that there is no temple called Kichijoji within the city. That is the key check when considering the origin of the place name. Instead of looking for a same-named temple at the station, read the name through the history of people who moved from Edo's temple town to Musashino; this also helps expose a common true-or-false trap.
Source:The Place Name Kichijoji
A district later joined by a place of learning
Seikei Gakuen moved from Ikebukuro to Kichijoji in 1924, but the origin of the place name belongs to the much older history of migration.
Seikei GakuenSeikei Gakuen
According to Seikei Gakuen's history, its practical school, middle school, elementary school, and vocational college moved from Ikebukuro to Kichijoji in 1924, when a new school building was also completed. The establishment of the place name and the school's relocation belong to different periods. Treating them as two layers—an origin for the village name and a modern educational institution—keeps Kichijoji's history clear.
Source:History of Seikei Gakuen
FAQ
What is the best first clue when researching Kichijoji's place name?
Start with the route by which people moved from Edo to Musashino, rather than looking for a present-day temple. Reading a name as a record of movement keeps its origin separate from the later school history.
Did Seikei Gakuen's move to Kichijoji create the place name?
No. The school moved in 1924, long after Kichijoji Village had been established. They should be treated as separate histories.