Eisen Keisai, Viewing Mount Fuji from Edo Nihonbashi, c.1818-29 Courtesy of Edo-Tokyo Museum

Dates and Times

Dates	May 26(Sat) - Jul 16(Mon, hol iday), 2012
Venue	1st Floor Special Exhibition Gallery, Edo-Tokyo Museum (1-4-1 Yokoami, Sumida-ku, Tokyo 130-0015) Tel. 03-3626-9974
Opening Hours	9:30 - 17:30, Saturdays 9:30 - 19:30 (last admission 30 mins. before closing)
Closed	Mondays（Open on July 16）

Admission Fee	Special Exhibition	Special/Permanent Exhibition	Special Exhibition Advance Ticket
Adults	\1,000 (\800)	\1,280 (\1,020)	\900
College and vocational school students	\800 (\640)	\1,020 (\810)	\700
Elementary, junior high and high school students, and seniors (65 and over)	\500 (\400)	\640 (\510)	\400

* Prices in parenthesis are for groups of 20 or more. * Combination tickets for special/permanent exhibitions are only available at the museum * Advance tickets on sale Feb 21, 2012 - May 25, 2012 * Admission is free for the following people: children below school age, people with a 　disability certificate proving they are eligible for state or city welfare benefits together with 　up to two carers.

Section One. 　The Bridges of the City of Edo

The exhibition starts with paintings that depict Nihonbashi Bridge as the central bridge of the city and the starting point of the country's highways. From this, its position in the center of the city of Edo and its function as the starting point of the major highways that traversed the country can be easily understood. Illustrations of the roofs of Edo Castle and Nihonbashi Bridge were also used to provide a clear and simple landmark that represented the city in a variety of works.

This section also focuses on the importance of the Nihonbashigawa River that flows below the bridge. Linking with Sumidagawa River that leads to the sea this waterway provided an important route along which culture and various goods were brought into the city. There were also boats that traveled down this river then upstream along the Sumidagawa River, carrying sightseers or passengers on their way to Asakusa and the pleasure quarter of Yoshiwara. In this way, the section aims to introduce the fascination of Nihonbashi Bridge that served as the crossroads between the land and water routes through the city of Edo.

Section Two. 　Depictions of Nihonbashi Bridge with Edo Castle, Mt. Fuji, and the Fish Market

As can be seen in pictures featuring the famous sights of Edo, there were several standard compositions used when depicting Nihonbashi Bridge in paintings. The most common view of the bridge was from the east with Edo Castle and Mt. Fuji visible in the background. This basic composition was sometimes elaborated upon to include the public notices that stood in the square at the southern end of the bridge or the fish market that flourished on the river's northern bank, these pictures being produced in large numbers and becoming extremely popular as characterizing the prosperous splendor of the city.

Alternatively, there were other interesting works that used the same basic elements, but captured them from unusual angles to create bold images of the scene. Again, there were pictures that featured the numerous people who thronged the area around the bridge, depicting the bustling activity there and transmitting the energy of the place.

Although Nihonbashi Bridge was recognized as being one of the most famous sights in Edo, compared to the Sumidagawa River, which was another famous subject for pictures, the majority of its depictions were prints and there were remarkably few hand-painted works. The reason for this may be that the impressions we receive from these pictures of Nihonbashi Bridge are of enthusiastic commerce, the daily lives of the people or the authority of the government and these are not the kind of subjects that people would look for in a hand-painted hanging scroll to display in the alcove of the best rooms of the house.

However, it was this atmosphere of vibrancy that made it famous as an urban center and this section will present works from the Edo period (1603-1868) that typify the image of Nihonbashi Bridge.

Section Three. 　Nihonbashi Bridge During the Period of Westernization

Although the wooden structure of Nihonbashi Bridge that had served the people through the Edo period (1603-1868) remained unchanged, as Japan entered the Meiji period, the old, standardized depictions of it in art underwent a transformation, changing rapidly with the times.

When the first Rickshaws were licensed in 1870, they began to operate from the square in front of the public notice boards to the south of Nihonbashi Bridge, in 1873, the bridge was replaced by a wooden bridge in a Western design, and in 1882 rails for the horse-drawn tram service were laid across it, Nihonbashi Bridge remaining in the limelight. In this way, the Nihonbashi Bridge became famous as a symbol of the Westernization of the country and numerous full-colored prints were made of it using the latest imported paints.

Another reason for the rapid Westernization of the area was that Shinbashi, which is situated to the south of Nihonbashi Bridge was chosen as the site of the first railroad station, linking Tokyo with Yokohama in 1872. In 1882 a horse-drawn tramline was built connecting Shinbashi with Nihonbashi while the same year the railroad was extended to the Ueno, then Asakusa districts. Nihonbashi was situated on the main street of Western culture and retained its prominence as the most famous bridge in the capital.

Due to the appearance of the horse-drawn trams that ran on rails, the road and sidewalk became clearly demarcated for the first time. This is interesting as it means we are able to see an image of the future, when trams and cars became the main form of transport, appearing in full-colored prints dating back to the Meiji period.

Section Four. 　The Stone-built Nihonbashi Bridge

The present-day Nihonbashi Bridge was built in stone and opened to traffic on Aril 3, 1911, marking its first centenary in 2011. Built largely of granite, this Western, arched bridge decorated with bronze statues of beasts from Japanese mythology, replaced the image of the old Nihonbashi Bridge that had existed since the Edo period.

According to records dating back to the first half of the nineteenth century, the old wooden structure had been approximately 51 meters long and 7.9 meters wide. In comparison, the new stone bridge was approximately 27 meters wide, three times the width of the earlier structure.

This beautiful, broad bridge was loved as one of the landmarks of the modern city of Tokyo and many pictures and photographs of it were produced. Luckily it managed to survive the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 and the bombing of the Second World War, and in 1999 it was designated an important national cultural property. This section will look back over the last 100 years since the stone bridge was constructed.