One Hundred Famous Views of Edo No.35Masaki viewed from Suijin woods on the east bank of the Sumida River

By order of the shogun, many cherry trees were planted on the east bank of the Sumida River at Mukojima to make it an excursion site for Edo residents. When the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, many people came here to enjoy the sights.
Suijin woods were located at the north end of the cherry tree-lined boulevard. The tree which boasted some of the most beautiful flowers is sketched in the foreground.
The woods were on a somewhat elevated piece of land and the shrine built there had never suffered from floods. It enshrined Suijin, a god of water that was believed to guard seafarers from drowning, and had seamen as visitors all year round. In front of the shrine stands a torii, a symbolic shrine gate.
Opposite the woods and across the river was the largest licensed quarters of Edo city, called New Yoshiwara, and people who wished to go there usually crossed the river from this point by ferryboat. This ferry was the oldest one to cross the Sumida River and in the old days, travellers heading for the north of Japan crossed here. People called the ferry “Suijin no watashi” on this side of the river and “Masaki no watashi” or “Hashiba no watashi” on the other side.
To the north of the quarters and along the riverbank is a town called Masaki, which is depicted on the opposite bank. On the river a man poles a raft made of logs, transporting them to Kiba (a marketplace for timber) at the mouth of the river.
In the far distance is Mt. Tsukuba, which stands at the northern edge of the Kanto plain and dominates the surrounding lowland.