One Hundred Famous Views of Edo No.9Eight streets at Sujikai

Sujikai means “roads crossing diagonally”. The name was originally derived from the fact that a road coming from Nihonbashi to the southeast and another from Shitaya to the north crossed at the square of this print. At the intersection of the roads, a wide square was constructed by order of the shogunate to prevent the spread of a fire.
In fact, eight streets radiated to various parts of the city from this square and Edo people, wanting the name of the place to reflect the number of roads, called the square Yatsu Koji (meaning “eight streets”).
The green bank filled with trees, mostly willows, depicted lying diagonally across the print from right to left, is that of the Kanda River, which supplied water to Edo city. The river functioned also as an outer moat to protect Edo castle, and at Shoheibashi (bridge) built across the river stood a gate and a guardhouse. Both of them are depicted beside the bank. People crossing the bridge were checked at the house, especially women who were leaving Edo because provincial lords’ wives stayed in Edo as hostages.
The road that crossed Shoheibashi (bridge) from the square forked into two, the one going to the right was Oshukaido and the other going to the left was Nakasendo.
On the square are a variety of Edo residents. Wealthy people travelled in a palanquin carried by two bearers shouldering poles attached to it. Undoubtedly, the most ornate palanquin was used by the feudal lord or his family members, and it needed more than two bearers to carry it. The palanquin with the red roof seen in the procession (depicted in the bottom left-hand corner) is probably for a feudal lord’s wife. A halberd, a lance and boxes carried by her retainers are all wrapped in red velvet. The poorer people would travel by foot carrying their few belongings wrapped in a cloth on their backs.
In the bottom right-hand corner is a teahouse with a corner sheltered with reed screens. Beneath them are placed wooden benches for the convenience of travellers. In the distance on the right is Kanda Myojin Shrine, one of the most famous shrines in Edo, surrounded by thick woods. A town developed at the foot of the hill on which the shrine stands.
On the riverbank between here and the mouth of the river flowing into the Sumida River were planted 300 willow trees.