One Hundred Famous Views of Edo No.78Teppozu (cannon sandbar) and Tsukiji Honganji Temple

The land protected by the stone foundation wall in this print had previously been a sandbar. The sandbar was used as a test-firing ground for cannons by retainers of feudal lords specializing in artillery. As a result, the land was popularly known as Teppozu (“cannon sandbar”). In later years the test-firing was transferred to a shore at Kamakura southwest of Edo, and thus the marsh behind Teppozu were filled in and land reclaimed by the order of the shogunate. On this land, named Tsukiji (“reclaimed land”), residential quarters for feudal lords and private houses were built. The most conspicuous among them was Tsukiji Honganji Temple, whose grounds covered an area of 39,600m2. Among the believers in the Buddhist sect of this temple were people who lived on nearby Tsukuba Island. They enthusiastically participated in the reclamation of the land on which the temple was built. Being patronized by the shogunate meant that the temple attracted a great number of people on special festival days.
During the Edo period, the central part of the city was interwoven by rivers and moats and, therefore, boats were the most convenient means of transportation. Teppozu was situated at the mouth of the Sumida River and was also close to the centre of the city. Items used or consumed in the city, such as rice, salt and firewood, were brought here from provinces west of Edo city by master ships, then discharged and loaded onto small boats for delivery to their final destination. The two sailboats shown in this print are carrying goods mentioned above to the port located at the north edge of the sandbar. The three small boats in the middle of the river on the left are engaged in fishing. Fishermen in brown coats standing at the bows of two of the boats hold casting nets. Four men in another boat are catching fish with fishing rods.
Above the huge temple hover a group of wild geese.