One Hundred Famous Views of Edo No.83Sand spit at Shinagawa

A tongue-like spit of sand extends from south to north along the Meguro River into the sea off Shinagawa station. This spit was called Shinagawa Susaki, and on it was a village primarily engaged in fishing. The Tokugawa shogunate imposed a duty on the villagers to present a certain amount of fish that were caught here to the shogunate every month.
On the tip of the spit stood Benten Shrine, a guardian of seafarers, surrounded by pine trees. Its shore was noted for clam digging and was visited by many people from Edo city during the early summer season. For the convenience of visitors, the spit and Shinagawa station were connected by a bridge.
As the first rest station on the Tokaido Highway to Kyoto after leaving Nihonbashi, Shinagawa station was crowded with travellers going to and from Edo. The road was lined with teahouses, restaurants and inns. From the back windows of the pictured houses facing Edo Bay, travellers could enjoy the scenery while eating, drinking and singing songs.
It is said that Hiroshige has depicted moon-viewing point (see No. 82) from a room in the restaurant drawn in the bottom left corner of this print.
The bird’s-eye view of the print shows teahouses and restaurants at Shinagawa station, Benten Shrine with trees standing around it and Edo Bay, on which white sailboats are moving silently. Two breakwater-like walls in the bay on the right are Shinagawa batteries built by the shogunate in 1854 to defend Edo city from an attack by the United States squadron. A gaggle of wild geese is seen in the sky in the distance.