View from Tokyo Water Bus (水上バス) in Sumida River

One of the nice things about traveling around Tokyo is you don’t have to have a plan. You can go pretty much anywhere and still find your way home since a train station is not beyond walking distance no matter where you end up. Such was the case on this day when we were in Asakusa. Rather than ride the subway back home, we got on the water bus in Asakusa, rode to Hinode Pier, walked to Tamachi Station, and rode the Yamanote Line back to Takadanobaba from there. The kids had train passes from Tamachi to Takadanobaba to go to school so it didn’t cost them anything for that stretch of the journey. Today’s photo is from the Sumida River.

Posted on April 22nd, 2013 under Japan. Tags: sumida, Tokyo. Comments Off on Sumida River Cruise

While walking to my daughter’s soccer game in a shitamachi area of Tokyo called Fukagawa (deep river) I came across this marker of one of Hokusai’s famous scenes from his series “36 Views of Mt. Fuji.” The title of the ukiyo-e is “Under the 10,000 year bridge over Fukagawa.” The bridge is no longer there so I’m guessing its existence ended up being only a few hundred years at most.

Turning the corner a bit and looking down the Sumidagawa (a much larger and much deeper river than the Fukagawa–it’s the river in the background of the above which the Fukagawa is draining into) yielded the following modern view.

No chance of seeing Mount Fuji from here anymore with most of the buildings being over 10 stories high. Perhaps if you were on top of one of the buildings you may occasionally have a glimpse. The blue bridge in this image is the Kiyosu-bashi (清洲橋). You can still see fishermen (the guy in the bottom of the photo has three fishing poles in the water) though. Some things don’t change.

If you can understand Japanese, here is some more information on the Katsushika Hokusai ukiyo-e.

Posted on May 23rd, 2011 under Japan. Tags: hokusai, mt. fuji, shitamachi, sumida, Tokyo, ukiyo-e. Comments Off on The meeting of the Fukagawa (深川) and the Sumidagawa (隅田川) – past and present

I never tire of looking at Hiroshige and Hokusai ukiyoe. The internet and books just don’t do justice to seeing them on display in a museum. Today’s photo is from the Tokyo National Museum. This is from Hiroshige’s “100 Famous Views of Edo” series. The English translation is a bit strange as they call it the Ohashi Bridge. Hashi already means bridge so it is like saying the name of the bridge is the big bridge bridge.

I crossed the Sumdia River many times. The ukiyoe that I tend to like the most are the ones I have been to.

Here is the Van Gogh the above mentions:

I must say I like the original much better. Van Gogh’s kanji aren’t so hot either.

Posted on November 18th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: hiroshige, museums, sumida, ueno. Comments Off on Sudden Shower Over Ohashi Bridge