There have been the communities such as machi (town) or machiba as a unit of mutual aid across Japan since ancient times, and such communities had a variety of authority as a public unit of self-government in the cities until the Edo period.
古くから日本各地では相互扶助の単位として町あるいは町場という共同体があり、江戸時代までは都市部の公的な自治単位として多くの権限を有していた。