A rusted observation platform on the eastern edge of Nogeyama Hill commands views across central Yokohama -- from the Western houses on the Bluff to the Landmark Tower in the Minato Mirai district. At the hill's foot, behind the up-slope march of buildings, lies Noge, its inconspicuousness emblematic.
For most people, Noge is out of sight, out of mind. This is ironic, because as its name -- meaning "headland" -- suggests, it once jutted seaward, and Noge folk were fishermen until the adjacent inlet was reclaimed for a roadway between the Tokaido Highway and the foreign settlement, founded in Yokohama in 1859. The Kanagawa Magistrate's Office was established on a nearby hilltop, and Japanese troops were garrisoned in neighboring Ota village.
Noge's erstwhile fishermen then became purveyors of goods and services to the bureaucrats. The bureaucracy relocated, but Noge continued to develop as a commercial center. As well as catering to pilgrims to Fudo Noge temple and the Grand Shrine of Iseyama, established on the hills at the quarter's rear in 1870, it served the needs of passengers on Japan's first railroad, opened in 1872 between Sakuragicho and Shimbashi, and workers at Yokohama Dock Co., founded in 1897.