One Hundred Famous Views of Edo No.103Ohashi Bridge at Senju

A highway known as the Oshukaido, Nikkokaido and Mitokaido was a road used if one wanted to travel to northern Japan from Edo. This road met with the Senju Bridge, which spanned the Sumida River. When the bridge was crossed, the highway divided into three roads, each taking one of the above-mentioned names. The one going north was the Oshukaido, the one going west was the Nikkokaido and the one going east was the Mitokaido.
Iyeyasu Tokugawa, the founder of the Edo shogunate, generally did not allow the building of bridges over rivers for fear of invasion. However, due to heavy traffic caused by long processions of lords, merchants and travellers, he reluctantly permitted the building of this bridge in 1594, the first ever built over the river.
Senju was the first station for travellers leaving Edo, and it was divided physically by the river into two parts, specifically, north of the river and south of the river. The main section of the station was in the north, to be found on the right-hand side of this print. Here stood a lodging house for upper-class travellers such as feudal lords.
Lining the street in the station area were 55 lodging houses, as well as teahouses and general stores that sold daily necessities. Furthermore, residents in the neighbourhood were requested to provide 50 porters and 50 horses for the convenience of travellers. The gay quarters here were said to have prospered even more than the licensed quarters at New Yoshiwara. In the main section of the station were many timber wholesalers, and it was also the centre for collecting and distributing vegetables grown nearby.
Hiroshige’s print shows scenery in winter, as evidenced by the merchant traveller with his merchandise on horseback, wrapped in a heavy coat. In the far distance are the Nikko mountains, which frequently appear in the prints of this series.
( Written by Teruaki Hori )