Database: Hygiene and Urbanism

In Ichijōdani, the town of the Asakura family in Echizen Province, archaeological research has shown that almost all the plots in the community—from the large residences of lords or warriors to the small houses (about 6m by 12m) where merchants and craftspeople lived—were designed with a well and latrines. While the concept of shared sanitation facilities was common in the traditional city of Kyoto (and in Ichijōdani too, there was many low-rent houses away from the main street which had access to community wells and latrines), Ichijōdani's design exemplified a new relationship to the concept of hygiene, a strategy that spread throughout society, particularly in new towns developed in the 16th century.

At that time, latrines were used to store manure. They were pits dug into the ground and pumped out on a regular basis to fertilize the surrounding fields. This type of latrine was likely created around the 14th century, when widespread use of "double cropping" increased the need, and popularized the use of manure as fertilizer. In the 16th century, Luís Fróis reported that peasants paid to buy feces from urban latrines and, during the Edo period, the sale of feces from rented communal latrines was an important source of income for landowners.