One Hundred Famous Views of Edo No.29Sunamura village and the former Hachiman Shrine

Sunamura, literally “sand village”, was located in the southeastern part of Edo city between the Sumida River and the Naka River. The type of land facing Edo Bay in this area was either swamp or tideland which was sometimes washed by seawater.
A man called Sinzaemon Sunamura was the first to reclaim this land in 1659 when he changed it from 6 small islands and turned it into a rice field. His descendants continued his work and finally completed the reclamation of the whole area, which was called Sunamura from the surname of the pioneer.
Hachiman Shrine, before it moved to Fukagawa nearer the centre of the city in 1629, was situated in Sunamura and thus Hiroshige has named the print Moto Hachiman Shrine, meaning “the former shrine”. In the bottom right-hand corner stands a torii, an archway to the shrine. The shrine grounds were abundant in cherry trees and were one of the best cherry blossom-viewing spots in Edo city. Blossoms in full bloom have been drawn in the foreground. Incidentally, the new Hachiman Shirine established at Fukagawa was called Tomigaoka Hachiman Shrine.
Although not sketched in this print, there was a famous miniature Mt. Fuji in the shrine grounds similar to those shown in the prints “New miniature Mt. Fuji at Meguro” and “Old miniature Mt. Fuji at Meguro”, and those who were not able to climb the real one were able to satisfy themselves by climbing one of these miniature mountains.
Swamps are to be seen on both sides of the bank, not having been reclaimed. In fact, the swamp was built up by sand deposits being washed in by waves from Edo Bay or deposited by the wind. Mountains on the Boso Peninsula lying to the southeast of Edo city can be seen on the horizon.