One Hundred Famous Views of Edo No.4Eitaibashi Bridge and Tsukuda Island

At the mouth of the Sumida River lay a small island called Tsukudashima. In recognition of the services fishermen of Tsukuda village in Settsu Province (now Osaka) rendered to Iyeyasu Tokugawa to win the decisive Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, 36 villagers were conveyed to Edo and permitted to fish in both the rivers and the sea. In 1644, these villagers were given the above-mentioned island by the shogun to live on. Having come from Tsukuda village, they named the island Tsukudashima.
A duty was imposed on the fishermen to present the whitebait they caught around the island to the shogunate. The fishermen fished year-round but were prohibited from catching any fish other than whitebait during the cold months (November to March), when the fish was at its best. Every evening fishermen went out to sea in boats equipped with a fishing fire and caught whitebait with four-armed scoop nets.
A bridge called Eitai spanned the Sumida River at the north of the island. Hiroshige depicts an ice-cold night scene, with a few of its houses in sight, from beneath the bridge. A fishing boat, a fishing net and two fishing fires burning in baskets attached to poles can be seen behind the bridge stanchion on the left side of the print.
The mouth of the Sumida River was always crowded with large ships that transported goods from all over Japan to be consumed in the large city of Edo.
Ships with lowered sails, some of which are pleasure craft, are seen moored on the right of the print.
The moon is in the tenth day of its lunar cycle and the sky is studded with stars. The mouth of the river was noted for moon-viewing during autumn time.
Villagers on the island who are going out fishing took with them tsukudani as a side dish. These were small fish and shellfish boiled in soy sauce on Tsukudajima. Originally a preserved food, tsukudani became very popular among people all over Japan and remain so today.