#004 Eitai bridge & Tsukuda-jima

-jimajimajIn Utagawa Hiroshige’s Meisho Edo hyakkei (One hundred Famous Views of Edo) #004 Eitaibashi & Tsukuda-jima, The original painting is here.

When I think of Tsukuda-jima island in the past, I am reminded of the “Tsukuda Festival” in which the late master Kokontei Shincho vividly describes the fisherman’s island, Tsukuda Island. In Hiroshige’s painting, there are many boats moored on the island, which suggests that fishing is thriving there.

I went to Eitai-bashi Bridge in Koto-ku to capture this view.
I decided to skip the “spring” part because it is the fourth view of spring, or the “night” part because it is a night view, or whatever other commitments I should have thought about, and went to take pictures in the middle of winter, in the middle of the day.

Tsukuda-jima, a small fishing village in bygone days, has been transformed today into a city with a skyline of huge apartment buildings, as you can see. It is truly a world apart.

I would have liked to shoot from a lower angle to get closer to Hiroshige’s unique composition, but the restrictions of shooting from the sidewalk along the Sumida River made that impossible. However, if I went too far under the bridge, the upper layers of the high-rise buildings on the other side of the river would be hidden, so this was probably a good compromise.

While I was examining how to take this shot, a Sumida River water bus and a sightseeing boat arrived.

I was lucky to be able to take a good one for the thumbnail along with the full view of Eitai Bridge.