- Japanese: 門前町 (monzenmachi)
Monzenmachi, or, literally "gate-front towns," were towns and cities which grew up around major Buddhist and Shintô sites, especially in the Edo period. The term stands in contrast to jôkamachi, or castle towns.
References
- Moriya, Katsuhisa. Ronald Toby (trans.) "Urban Networks and Information Networks." in Chie Nakane and Shinzaburô Ôishi (eds.) Tokugawa Japan: The Social and Economic Antecedents of Modern Japan. University of Tokyo Press, 1990. p103.