One Hundred Famous Views of Edo No.37Sumida River, Ferry at Hashiba and a furnace for making roof tiles

During the medieval period, there was only one ferry on the Sumida River, at a place called Hashiba. This place was therefore a strategically important point for the military, as well as an important place for communications generally. In 1180, on his way back to Musashi Province, Yoritomo Minamoto, the founder of the Kamakura Shogunate, crossed the river. He ordered his retainers to collect as many fishing boats as possible and to place them on the water in a row to make a floating bridge (hashi). The bridge was completed within three days and he and his army crossed the river using this “instant” bridge. Thus this place (“ba”) on the western bank of the river was thereafter called Hashiba.
During the Edo period, no bridge was allowed to be built over rivers, so people had to cross by ferry. The ferry here was the oldest one to cross the Sumida River and was called Hashiba no watashi. Hiroshige has depicted two ferryboats with passengers on them, passing each other in the middle of the river. In Imadocho town, close to the Hashiba landing place, were furnaces to bake roof tiles. The clay was transported here by boat from Boso Peninsula in Shimosa Province, across Edo Bay. The furnaces were only allowed to be constructed here along the riverbank because it was feared that the fire they used might cause a bigger fire. In the print, thick grey smoke is rising from a furnace. The roof tiles baked here were named Imadogawara.
By order of the shogun, many cherry trees were planted on the bank across the river. It became a very popular place among Edo people for viewing cherry blossoms which are vividly drawn amongst green trees and grass. Hooded gulls on and above the river seem to be enjoying a glorious day in spring.
Ariwara no Norihira, a famous poet in the Heian period (794 – 1185), travelled to this area from Kyoto, then the capital of Japan, and happened to cross the river by a ferryboat. Having heard from the ferryman that the bird floating on the river was called Miyakodori, meaning “the bird of the capital”, he composed a short poem asking the bird whether his lover in the capital (Kyoto) is alive or not.