Hon-chō was the first settlement of what was to become the city of Edo. When Tokugawa Ieyasu (subsequent founder of the shogunate) came to the Edo region in September 1590, he started by developing a commercial and residential district. This area of the city came to be known as "Hon-chō" (literally "the original district") because it was both located directly east of Edo Castle's Ōtemon (the great gate), and next to Nihonbashi (the starting point of the five major overland routes to the provinces). Furthermore, the architecture of the area was typified by streets lined with numerous earthen-walled warehouses.