Modern Shinjuku claims to be the new heart of Tokyo. With futuristic skyscrapers emerging as early as the 1970s, the town has been at the vanguard of Tokyo's urban renewal. City Hall has moved in and new hotels and new office buildings have mushroomed to accommodate the needs of businessmen from all over the world. However, Edo Period Shinjuku was a far cry from today's clamorous prosperity.
Established in 1699 as the new (shin) post-town (shuku/juku) on Koshu-kaido, replacing Takaido further west, Shinjuku had little of the colorful daimyo processions or crowds of travelers that Shinagawa, the famous post-station on Tokaido, enjoyed. Since much of the region along Koshu-kaido was directly owned by the shogun, only three daimyo lords passed Shinjuku on their way to and from their domains in what is now Nagano Prefecture.
Lord Naito, one of the three daimyo, was a hereditary vassal who had sworn allegiance to Tokugawa Ieyasu long before Ieyasu became shogun. As legend has it, Ieyasu granted Naito Kiyonari a vast tract of land in Shinjuku.