|The name of Asagaya comes from "shallow valley"(Asai Tani in
Japanese) along the Momozono river where this region was
located. Later it was written Asakaya in Hirakana (cursive form
of Japanese syllabary). According to old writings, Shogun's
vassal named Asagaya-Uji governed the region around the 14
century. Until the 1920s it had been called Asagaya village with
a lot of rice paddies, and sometimes Japanese Tanukis and foxes
surprised people. It had been called "Asagaya village" until
1932 when the Tokyo government compiled all villages there into
Suginami Ward. |After the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, a lot
of people moved from the eastern part of the city called
downtown Tokyo. The only reason they moved here was said to be
the cheap rents. Among them there were some novelists such as
Tekkan and Akiko Yosano, Torahiko Tamiya, Osamu Dazai, Ashihei
Hino, Masuji Ibuse, etc. who were still poor and not yet so
famous. |In 1958 there was a very exciting and happy occasion
when the first Wakanohana won the emp