Edo meisho zue

It was conceived by Saitō Gesshin (1737–1799) who, influenced by the proliferation of famous site guides about places in Japan's Kansai region, decided Edo needed one, too.

From this point forward, Yukio's son-in-law Saitō Yukitaka Agatamaro (1772–1818) began work, undertaking new research to add new sites and re-researching other information; but he, too, died suddenly shortly before he could complete his task.

When he finally managed to bring all the research, writing, editing, and correcting to fruition in 1834, he delivered to the public an innovative and highly detailed human geography that even today serves as a valuable resource for academic and hobby historians of late–Edo-period Tokyo.

His illustrations are credited with contributing as much to the work's fame and long popularity—people still refer to it today for walking tours of historical sites—as does the prose.

The descriptions often include information about the origins of the place or site's name and its history, as well as quotations from well-known works of literature (such as Matsuo Bashō’s haiku) that mention it.