Old Tokyo walk with LUMIX S5, Mukojima -1

I am spending Golden Week relaxing without going far away, but when the weather is nice, my desire to take pictures is stimulated there. So what should I do?

After thinking about it for a while, I decided to go out again to explore “unexplored areas” in Tokyo. I was in the mood for a taste of “old Tokyo,” so I looked at maps of Nihonbashi, Fukagawa, Oshiage, Asakusa, and so on, and decided, without much deep thought, to go to Mukojima. I thought that area along the Mito Kaido Road, which runs across the Kototoi Bridge from Asakusa, was an “unexplored town” that I had never walked through, even though I had passed by it by car.

The next morning around 10:00 AM, I started my photo walk. I started my photo walk from here.

View of the Sky Tree and Asahi Breweries headquarters looking east from Azumabashi bridge, Asakusa. Clear skies with a dazzling view even in the side light. The weather is expected to get a little hotter.

The equipment I used this time was the Lumix S5 and the Lumix S20-60 standard zoom lens, which was put in a box just before we visited Ashikaga Flower Park the other day, but I thought its weight, size, and angle of view would be ideal for walking around town. So, I decided to slide it on board. However, the 60mm tele-end was not quite enough for my needs, so I carried a K-mount adapter and a TAMRON 90mm lens in my backpack just in case.

Without crossing the Azumabashi bridge, I headed north along the Sumida River. I see a Tobu Railway train coming across the railway bridge.

Cross over to the other Mukojima side of the Sumida river by crossing the Sumida Riverwalk, a pedestrian deck along the side of this railway bridge.

The Riverwalk is a beautiful place to walk in the early spring when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom,
I have a slightly higher concentration of “iron” in my blood than normal people, so my eyes are drawn to the framework of the railroad bridge. It’s emo.

Crossing the Sumida River, there is the water gate. The Kitajukken river, which flows under the foot of the Sky Tree, connects with the Sumida River here.

By the way, this is the first time for me to cross the Sumida Riverwalk, but I have already taken a photo walk around Azuma-bashi Bridge and this water gate before, so I can’t say I haven’t “explored” the area.

So this time, I finally started from the point where the address changes to Mukojima 1-chome. After walking through Sumida Park, I found a magnificent shrine. It is said to be Ushijima Shrine.

There are various stone monuments and statues in the precincts of the shrine, but this guardian dog had the “brightest” expression, so I took this shot.

Passing through the shrine precincts, we continue north with Kototoi bridge on our left. Continue along the street named “Kenban-dori” which deeply feels like old Mukojima.

“Kenban” is the popular name for the office of a three-industry association of local restaurants, geisha houses, and machiai. In modern times, a place in a brothel where geisha were registered and handled such matters as the intermediation of geisha appearing in the audience and the calculation of their tamadai (payment of a geisha’s fee).
– Daijisen digital dictionary –

In case you want to get a little ahead of yourself, the modern Mukojima Kenban has been transformed into a neat little office. With explanations for sightseeing.
In the middle of that watchtower street, I found this place.

すみだスポット - すみだ郷土文化資料館 | 一般社団法人 墨田区観光協会【本物が生きる街 すみだ観光サイト】

I wandered over and stopped by. It seems to be a “local history introduction” facility run by Sumida-ward.
I was a bit skeptical, thinking that this kind of facility is common in rural areas of Japan, but Sumida-ward, Tokyo, is a bit different from those rural towns.

The history of the Sumida River Regatta is on display. This is a rowing competition between universities and schools, famous for the Waseda-Keio Regatta and the Tokyo-Tosho Battle. This event has been held since the Meiji Era (1868-1912). It is very stylish!
Actual oars and boat rudders provided by the people involved, old record photos, promotional flyers, commemorative badges, etc. were on display.
College sports of yesteryear were a time when the value of “college student” was quite different from today’s “good old days of youth for the elite”. It reminds me a little of the movie “Chariots of Fire”. It seemed that the exhibition was held at the right time, but I was so fascinated by the exhibition that I couldn’t stop staring at it.

After leaving the museum, we went north on Kenban Street to Mikakoi Shrine.

The shrine is said to be associated with the Mitsui family, a former Zaibatsu (business giant in old Japan). The Mitsui family’s Echigoya drapery store later became the Mitsukoshi department store, and because of this connection, the lion statue from the Mitsukoshi Ikebukuro store has been relocated to the shrine grounds.

After a little research, I found out that each Mitsukoshi department stores in Japan have had a lion statue installed since the manager’s idea at the time of the founding and opening of the Mitsukoshi Nihonbashi main store. This one was taken over when the Ikebukuro store closed in 2009.

When you go back to the Sumida River bank around the former Kenban office, you will see the staircase here. The river bank is considerably higher than the land in front of us.

What you see on the ceiling in this photo is the elevated Metropolitan Expressway Mukojima Line, so we are climbing to a height that is close to the elevated line.

This is the riverside view at the end of the climb.

A distant view in the direction of the Shirohige bridge. It is a clear and pleasant view. It would have been a little more picturesque if there was a boat passing by or a water bird flying in the sky (if you look closely, you can see a bird flying along the river bank).

So far, S5 and Lumix S20-60 have been producing many pictures in the wide-angle to standard range, including indoors, and I’m getting carried away and this has become a very long article. Let’s start from the riverbank, return to the riverbank, and take a break here.

I will continue in the next article.

 

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